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Gigaba urged to stop home affairs from presiding over marriages

Source: Sabc, 12/07/2016


Religious leaders have called on Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba
to stop home affairs officials from administering marriages.

They argue that marriage is a holy institution that should be left to
religious leaders to administer.

Gigaba was meeting various religious leaders in Kayamandi Township
near Stellenbosch.

Home Affairs wants to end fraudulent marriages so its officials have
to be able to administer marriages.

If left solely in the hands of religious leaders, there's no guarantee
that fraudulent and marriages of convenience won't take place.

Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba says, "We have instances where
some priests have come forward to register fraudulent marriages and
marriages of convenience knowingly, and so we try and curb all of this."

However, the minister has assured religious leaders that the
department is training marriage officers from different religions to
administer marriages.

At the same gathering, Gigaba divulged that more than 200 000 eligible
voters still need to collect their identity documents from home
affairs offices around the country.

Those eligible to vote will need those IDs to cast their votes on
August 3.

"We are in conversations with municipalities about how to resolve
that, so that indigenous people can be provided the transport to come
and collect their documents."

The department will also open all its offices on August 3, so that
those who want to vote can still collect their IDs.


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