Calvinia – Former Home Affairs staffer Dawn Celeste Pieterson, who used fraudulently acquired death certificates to claim insurance payouts, has been found guilty of fraud by the Calvinia Magistrate’s Court in the Northern Cape.
Pieterson committed the offences multiple times between February 2019 and September 2022 when she was an employee of the Department of Home Affairs based in Calvinia.
Narrating how the crimes were committed, Hawks Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Tebogo Thebe on Thursday, 2 October 2025, said the accused worked at the home affairs office in Calvinia, where she had access to the national population register.
Her modus operandi was simple – she used details from the register to open insurance accounts, and after a while, she created fake death certificates before claiming the payouts.
All the while, the people whose details Pieterson used would none the wiser.
“Pieterson took funeral covers from reputable insurance companies and nominated herself as a beneficiary,” explained Lieutenant Thebe.
“To benefit, she manipulated the national population register by falsely issuing BI-1663 forms (notice of death form) to reflect the fictitious death of the victims.
“The system registered the affected persons as deceased, resulting in a plethora of problems in the victims’ day-to-day lives.”
Investigations into the matter resulted in the arrest of 45-year-old Pieterson.
On Wednesday, 1 October 2025, the Calvinia Magistrate’s Court convicted Pieterson.
The accused was found guilty on nine counts of fraud and two counts of contravention of Section 31 (1) (d) of the Birth and Death Registration Act 51 of 1992.
The matter was postponed to 26 January 2026 for sentencing.
Acting Provincial Head of the Hawks, Brigadier Prince W Mashimbye, has commended the investigation and prosecution team.
