Tamika Thomas

In Cape Town, South Africa there have been a string of false marriages being recorded and made official by corrupt government officials. The Department of Home Affairs said these false marriages were a part of a series of marriage scams created by foreigners seeking permanent residence. These marriage scams were first discovered August 2004. Since then, conditions have steadily declined. Other countries have also experienced similar fraud cases.

Recently, a marriage scam victim, identified only as Fatima, discovered, via a website provided by the government, that she was recorded to have been married since May 16, 2002 to someone she had never met. "We were fooling around in the office and a colleague joked that I should check . . . you never think it can happen to you. I was completely stunned. Even your name can be stolen these days," she said. Fatima is one of the 3,400 people who have been married without their knowledge in South Africa and other countries in Africa.

Since the government has become more aware of this ongoing problem, they have created websites where anyone can check their marital status. They have also created a Check Your Status campaign to inform people of the seriousness of marriage scams. At the August launch of the campaign", Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula admitted her office's blame in the problem. "It is our view that [the] Government needed to take a more active role in identifying and assisting the victims most of whom have been failed by the weaknesses in our own system," she told reporters. So far, more than 17,000 women have reported to Home Affairs or checked their marital status on the government website.

The Department of Home Affairs has provided full financial expenses to annul any false marriages to facilitate the number of victims reporting false marriages. In August, two Home Affairs officials were arrested by the Scorpions special investigating unit for their involvement. They face charges of fraud and corruption for supplying a Chinese national citizenship after he arranged a phony wedding.

In other countries, such as Pakistan and Egypt, government officials have encountered similar problems of false marriages. Reportedly, men in Egypt and Pakistan were paying women to be their pseudo wives. The prices ranged from 15 to 23 dollars a month. These men were trying to avoid new immigration laws that make it tougher to stay in the country. After such an abundant amount of false marriage reports, the Department of Home Affairs is hoping changes to the immigration laws will prevent more bogus weddings.