HIV-marriage loophole

A bizarre legal loophole means that illegal immigrants in South Africa can marry women who are HIV-infected which will allow them to stay in the country:

Illegal immigrants in South-Africa are paying penniless HIV-positive women just £44 to marry them in order to secure their citizenship.

A legal loophole, however, is preventing authorities in the city of Port Elizabeth, from stopping the new scam, which was noted by the department of home affairs at the end of last year.

Dissident members of a syndicate had informed the authorities of the operation, which is reportedly based in the south-eastern township of KwaZakhele.

During a recent raid in the region, the police discovered that most of the illegal immigrants arrested, were married to South-African citizens but were not actually living with them.

A senior immigration officer described how foreigners and local residents prey on HIV-positive women, who are financially hard-up and offer them as much as R500 (£44) for marriage and pay witnesses R150 (£13) to sign the register.

After the ceremony, all contact is then broken between the new “spouses”.

Mongezi Fanteni said, “It’s a pity that this happens at a time when the department is currently fighting illegal scam marriages and now there is this new trend which seems to be quite difficult to oppose.”

Out of a population of 44.8 million, the tally of South-African women living with the fatal HIV virus topped 5.1 million in 2003 and authorities are clueless as to how many people are involved in the “Aids-marriages” scam.

What is clear, however, is that these women are specifically being targeted because they will soon succumb to the virus, leaving their “husbands” not only with a guaranteed South-African citizenship but also free to start a new life in the country they were so desperate to stay in.