Hon Speaker, recently a Pietermaritzburg woman discovered that, according to Home Affairs, she has been married for the past 10 years to a man she has never met. She never lost her ID. This clearly shows that Home Affairs still has more to do in dealing with issues of corruption. The matter was reported and the department has not been helpful in providing a quick and effective solution to this problem of a woman who is suffering because of the administrative incompetence of many Home Affairs offices.
A mechanism must be in place to ensure that such incidents are dealt with swiftly instead of things taking months to happen, because this is an example of the seriousness of corruption within provincial offices of the Home Affairs.
Victims of fraud should not suffer due to the actions of certain corrupt Home Affairs officials. When individuals follow proper procedures in their quest to clear their names, there should be a quicker way to resolve these cases. The department should have a dedicated unit to investigate such cases and to ensure that those involved in this type of fraud are identified, arrested and given lengthy jail terms. Thank you. [Applause.]