Mom lifts the lid on recruiting syndicate that lures women into marrying foreign men for SA citizenship
|Published
Dorelle Josephs of Lavender Hill exposes a syndicate which coaxes young vulnerable women to sell their innocence by marrying a foreign national looking to gain citizenship. She claims she was recruited to marry a man she never met and was paid R750. BRENDAN MAGAAR African News Agency (ANA) Dorelle Josephs of Lavender Hill exposes a syndicate where young vulnerable women sold their innocence by marrying a foreign national to gain citizenship. She claims she was recruited to marry a man she never met and was paid R750. BRENDAN MAGAAR African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - A mother has lifted the lid on a fraudulent marriage syndicate that recruits vulnerable women, coaxing them into marrying foreign nationals looking to gain citizenship for work permits.
In an exclusive interview with the Weekend Argus, a self-confessed recruiter admitted she had lured young women to marry foreign nationals but had now left that lifestyle behind.
The recruiter, identified as Mrs S, said: “All of those men are already out of the country.
“That was men who wanted to work here and they wanted a work permit and the only way they could get a work permit was if they were married to a South African girl, then I was introduced to that girl (Josephs). That was already 15 years ago, I am an old woman now, I am not doing that business anymore.”
One of the victims has come forward, appealing for help to find the stranger she had married in a bid to free herself from the marriage and move forward.
In 2008, Dorelle Josephs was 22 years old and addicted to drugs.
Josephs was approached by a recruiter while walking with her friend in Lavender Hill, who asked her if she wanted to make R750 by agreeing to bring her identity book with her to the department of Home Affairs in Wynberg.
Josephs saw the opportunity as a quick fix for drugs and agreed.
“I was walking with my friend named Anna and I was on drugs that time and this girl approached me and asked me If I don’t want to marry a foreign man and then I will get paid for it,” she said.
“A day later she came back to me and asked me to bring my identity book.
“We went to Wynberg Court and I saw the man there and the one recruiter signed as a witness.
“That was the last time I saw that man and I was paid R750.”
Now 14 years later, Josephs who has since turned her life around, has discovered that she is still married to the man named Zillur Rashid Mohammed.
Now permanently employed, she wants to divorce Mohammed in order to retain her maiden surname.
She said she was one of many women recruited.
According to documents, Josephs’ surname was automatically changed to Mohammed.
Her mother, Charmaine Josephs, a well-known humanitarian and activist for women and children’s rights, missionary and former drug dealer who also turned her life around, confronted the recruiter this week in a bid to clear her daughter’s name.
Two weeks ago, Josephs and her mother visited Home Affairs in order to apply for a Smart Card ID.
Josephs is a City of Cape Town employee and had forgotten about her drug binge decision of marrying a man she didn’t know in 2008.
“The system kicked out a surname called Mohammed and when I received my Smart Card it said Mohammed,” said Josephs.
“It immediately took me back to the bad decision I made then while being on drugs.
“I asked Home Affairs for a copy of the marriage certificate in order to start searching for this man because I want a divorce and I knew there were more girls like myself who were approached because they were vulnerable.
“I was at first afraid to tell my mother and then I came clean. I need to find this man now and I was told to search for him publicly in order for me to get a divorce.”
Charmaine said a syndicate was luring young women like her daughter.
“I was very disappointed when she received her new identity card and it said Mohammed,” she said.
“This was a business that they were running using young women and it needs to be exposed in the media because the document said civil marriage and when this man dies or my daughter, what will happen and how does she find him.”
Charmaine confronted the recruiter. “That is my daughter and now she has to fight to clear her name because she is married to a man she never met.
“This is not right because it also robbed these women of their opportunities.
“This is also a warning to other young women who are vulnerable and make such decisions and fall prey to such syndicates.”
A woman who helped the main recruiter lure the women told the Weekend Argus that she had stopped the business when she realised that it was wrong.
The woman who asked not to be identified said she was glad the Josephs’ had approached the media.
“I only did it twice and when I was recruiting the second girl, I told myself this is not right and I was never involved again because look now what the after-effects are for people like Dorelle,” she said.
Matrimonial and family lawyer, Attorney Zubin Naidoo of North South West Attorneys, said there was a provision in the law which allowed someone to get a divorce from their spouse if they have lost contact.
“The law has a mechanism which you can use if you have lost contact with your spouse, if this person is a South African citizen where they do not know where this person is, they can make an application called a substitutional service.
“It would have to be advertised in the newspaper and preferably in the suburb or community where this person is living.
“The law also makes provision via technology where an email address could be used to serve the order, if there is an email address known to the applicant or you can even do with a previous attorney which your spouse might have used in the past.
It is the same for South African citizens who are married to foreign nationals, he said.
“If the person is a foreign national, the law does not change the process because the person is married to a South African citizen and they need to abide by the laws governing South Africa.”
Another attorney, Advocate Adrian Samuel, said the applicant applying for divorce needed to make the search for the spouse public. “There is a process whereby there needs to be an advertisement in the newspaper.”
Weekend Argus made numerous attempts to obtain comment from Home Affairs media manager David Hlabane and his colleague, spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza, and despite promises of feedback, they did not respond to calls, emails or WhatsApp messages.
Hlabane, did, however, say that they would be investigating the recruiter’s claims.