Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The Department of Home Affairs says yet another marriage fraud syndicate has been smashed, this time in Limpopo's northern most town of Musina.

Assisted by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and South African National Defence Force (SANDF), 15 people, including Pakistani, Bangledeshi and Zimbabwean citizens, were arrested during a raid of a number of shops and homes in the town.

"Initial investigations pointed to a thriving trade in fraudulent identity documents, passports and marriage certificates, as well as the alleged bribing of a few immigration officials," Home Affairs spokesperson Lesley Mashokwe told BuaNews in Polokwane yesterday.

He said a task team from the department recently decided to switch their attention to Limpopo, after receiving a tip-off regarding alleged irregularities.

Explaining the methods used by the fraudsters, Mr Mashokwe pointed out that unsuspecting South African women and teenage girls were often trapped into relationships with smooth-talking strangers, and later found they were "married" to these men.

In many cases, documents issued by marriage officers could be produced to prove the validity of such marriages.

He added that criminals had effectively exploited the fact that thousands of marriages in the so-called homelands of the apartheid era were never properly registered or captured on data systems.

In many cases, documents issued by marriage officers could be produced to prove the validity of the present wave of fraudulent marriages. Amounts of up to R3 000 were being paid to arrange such marriages.

"Some marriages are registered in Zimbabwe and such couples even pass the scrutiny of border post officials, because their travel and marriage documents appear to be in order," Mr Mashokwe said.

According to a statement issued by the department, 431 fraudulent marriages had already been exposed, since the launch of the current "Check your marital status" campaign. So far, 6 169 women had approached the department to verify their marital status.

A senior Home Affairs investigator in Limpopo said a certain Pakistani citizen known as Yussuf Ali registered business enterprises in the province in his wife's name, yet the young woman concerned never even knew she was married to him, Mashokwe added.

Ali and several others would be summarily deported, in terms of legislation in South Africa prohibiting anyone found in possession of false identity and other documents from ever entering the country again.

The department has discovered that many marriages under apartheid homelands were never properly registered or captured on data systems. 'We hope these facts will serve as a wake-up call to all citizens to check the documented status of their marriages with the department," Mr Mashokwe said.