OFM News correspondent, Isaac Mosia, reports that the syndicate's reach goes beyond Welkom and also operates out of Hennenman, Virginia, and Odendaalsrus under the Matjhabeng Local Municipality. According to Hani Park Ward Councillor, Reuben Tlake, who was approached by the mother of one of the self-confessed Welkom recruiters, “most of the girls are lured under false pretences as they are promised work and thereafter are taken to Bloemfontein which is where they are married to foreign national men using their ID photos and fingerprints”.

One of the ladies has anonymously said that they’re rewarded with between R200 and R500 monthly once married.

The revelation comes on the back of the inter-ministerial roundtable on the draft marriage policy in March 2021, where Home Affairs Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, said he is of the view that the new policy will not only close the legislative gaps of the previous version of the Act with regards to inclusion but will assist in Home Affairs’ fight against fraudulent marriages and marriages of inconvenience.

Motsoaledi stated during that roundtable that his department receives about 2000 queries about illegal marriages a year. The minister said it has been found that some of these syndicates operate with the assistance of Home Affairs officials.

OFM News/Isaac Mosia