Question NW4019 to the Minister of Home Affairs
08 January 2024 - NW4019
van der Merwe, Ms LL to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
Considering that he has admitted that his department records more than 2,000 fake marriages to foreign nationals annually, what (a) new enhanced measures are in place to verify that a marriage between a South African citizen and a foreign national is genuine and not merely a transaction and (b)(i) steps have been taken to nullify the 2 000 fake marriages per year and (ii) are the full, relevant details in this regard?
Reply:
Honourable Member, it may be very important for me to explain how the figure of about 2000 fake marriages comes about.
These are divided into three main categories; the first category is real fake marriages whereby a Home Affairs official is involved in facilitating a marriage that does not exist. The official gets paid money by the prospective spouse (usually male) who wants documents to sojourn in South Africa through marriage.
Due to the system of BACM (Biometric Access Control Management), a Home Affairs official who practices this type of corruption will not register this marriage on the National Population Register because their fingerprints are needed to do so. Hence it is very easy to pick up this type of marriage once a complaint is made, because of its absence from the Register.
The second category, which is by far the biggest category, is marriages of convenience. This is when the couple agrees to get legitimately married whereby one spouse (usually a foreign male) pays money to the other spouse (usually a South African lady) in return for getting documents to sojourn in South Africa via marriage. It is wrongly believed by both spouses that after the transactions have been completed the South African spouse will then approach Home Affairs to ‘cancel’ the marriage on the basis that it is fake. However, our investigations usually reveal their fingerprints, addresses, and photos which are legitimate on the marriage documents. In this case, we advise them to go to court to start divorce proceedings. Many of them cry foul and publicly blame the Department of Home Affairs.
The third category is whereby an ID of a South African (usually a lady) is stolen and used to go and register a marriage with a foreign spouse.
a) Our measures are the following:
- BACM discourages corrupt officials from registering a marriage on the National Population Register because they will be caught out through their fingerprints
- Introduction of the new Marriage Register (DHA-30) which requires biometrics from the couple at the same time.
- Extensive interviews are conducted with the couple before registration of marriage.
- Letter of non-impediment must be submitted by the foreign prospective spouse to prove that they are not married back home. Such a letter must be written by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the country of origin of the prospective spouse.
b) (i)(ii) Any marriage that is not on the NPR is immediately annulled. Those that are legal but are marriages of convenience, we as Home Affairs are unable to do anything about them. The couple themselves must go to court to divorce, where we have proof that an ID was stolen we also annul the marriage.
From January 2023 to November 2023, 1 614 fraudulent marriages were encountered and 1102 have been expunged. The remainder are still under further investigation.
Reply: Approved / Not Approved
Dr PA Motsoaledi, MP
Minister of Home Affairs
Date: