Wits Law Clinic plans class-action lawsuit against home affairs department

Wits University’s Law Clinic has announced that it will be bringing a class-action lawsuit against the home affairs department for its apathy in dealing with fraudulent marriages. According to Wits, the majority of the victims are women who have been battling for years to have the fraudulent marriages expunged.

The statement reads: “The Wits Law Clinic, which represents indigent members of the public, has experienced an increase in the number of victims whose lives have been wrecked by fraudulent marriages. The victims, who have been married to strangers without their knowledge, tell stories of violation, despair and anger at the destruction of their lives, which is heightened by the state’s lack of response to their plight.”

The law clinic, which has been battling the department since the early 2000s, has called upon victims of marital fraud to come forward to join the lawsuit. Professor Philippa Kruger from the family, gender and child unit at the law clinic said fraudulent marriages also affect children born to the mothers who are trapped in such marriages.

She said many of the children do not have birth certificates and are unable to acquire identity documents later in life while many women are left with negative credit ratings that ruin their employment opportunities.

Advocate Erin-Diane Richards, who is working with the clinic, said the department has a constitutional obligation to assist the victims.

“We need to start seeing a decrease in the current levels of civic apathy towards inaction in the public service, where it's found to exist. Citizens must demand accountability from those that they have elected because the reality is that democracy cannot function properly in the face of civic apathy,” she said.

The department of home affairs had not replied to SowetanLive by the time of publishing.