We can understand the desire to clamp down on fake marriages, but the decision by the department of home affairs to ban all asylum seekers from marrying was lazy thinking in the extreme. Add the fact that it trampled on human rights and South Africa’s constitution and we can understand why a Nigerian pastor, now living in Port Elizabeth, was willing to robustly fight the directive.

When Emmanuel Paulking Oche Ochogwu fled Nigeria for fear of religious persecution, falling in love was probably the last thing on his mind...