Pakistani asylum seeker charged with falsifying SA marriage certificate

A South African woman who was married to a Pakistani asylum seeker has laid a charge of fraud against him for falsifying documents from the department of home affairs in Port Elizabeth following their nuptials.

According to the charge sheet, the Pakistani national – whose name is known to The Citizen – faces two charges.

“Fraud – got marriage certificate fraudulently and threatened to kill unborn child.”

A source close to the case said the Pakistani national spilt the beans when he was arrested in February 2022 for falsifying port of entry documents, as well as his marriage certificate.

“The person who was investigating the matter said ‘on confession, [name withheld] confessed that his attorney had orchestrated and organised his marriage certificate and said nobody will ever find out’.”

“He even confessed the fact that this was taken to Port Elizabeth and that’s where they got the documents,” said the source.”

According to the documents in the possession of The Citizen, there was an impediment on the marriage where it stated that the marriage could not be registered in South Africa until the Pakistani national could prove he is not married in his home country, which he failed to do.

The South African woman – who preferred to remain anonymous and is living in fear – said she met the Pakistani national while they were in school together, shortly after he arrived in the country.

The couple married on 12 October 2018 out of community of property as per the anti-nuptial contract, and according to Islamic rites as per the Islamic faith and law on 13 October 2018.

Following their marriage, the woman claims she was used as a “cash cow” and made to support her ex-husband’s family’s lavish lifestyle while living with them as the daughter in-law of the house.

She said he verbally abused her in front of his family members during their marriage.

“I did not even consider the legal mechanisms that were available to me in the form of the domestic violence act as I was too in love with him, we were pregnant with our baby and soon everything would be coming up roses.”

She, however, said the situation worsened and she feared for her unborn child’s life.

“I couldn’t have imagined my child having to face any more trauma in the future as a result of the hatred and animosity projected towards us by him and his family.”

“My family feared they would lose their daughter and their unborn grandchild. I had no option but to run for mine and my unborn child’s life,” she said.

“Before I absconded in December 2019, his mother bent down grabbing my feet in an attempt to grip them so I could trip and fall and lose my baby,” she added.

She said there was a lack of privacy in her marriage; her ex-husband allowed his family to barge into her bedroom at any time without knocking.

“I once asked his mother for a little privacy in my bedroom and I was threatened by his brother that he would ‘break my face’ as his mother needed to know everything and what privacy did I need? The keys to the bedroom were taken away, and the keys to the bathroom were snatched from me.”

The woman also claims her ex-husband warned her on several occasions that he had so-called “contacts” who would help him get rid of her.

“He warned me that he was not scared of any person regardless of who they were or what status they held. This ‘contacts’ thing was at first nothing short of a joke until I got to know how he got his South African non-citizen identity document within three days of us getting married.”

“After hearing him and his family nonchalantly chat about how they go through the border and how to get people out of the country. It scared the wits out of me,” she said.

She said her ex-husband now wants unsupervised access to their child and if granted, he would flee South Africa and they will not be traced nor found as he is a flight risk.

The couple divorced Islamically by way of Talaq on April 2020 and obtained a civil divorce on 18 May 2020.

The matter is expected to be heard in the Randburg Magistrates Court on 3 June.

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