South Africa: ‘Fake marriage’ costs DRC-born home affairs official his SA citizenship
Published: 22/Dec/2021
Source: The Sowetan (South Africa)
By Philani Nombembe
A home affairs official’s professional ambition has had unintended consequences for him.
Mbemba Pierre Mahinga faces a bleak 2022 after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed his application to stop the home affairs department stripping him of his SA citizenship.
In 1996 Mahinga, now 55, arrived in SA from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as an asylum seeker, and home affairs alleged he engaged in a marriage of convenience to get citizenship.
He worked at home affairs, where a promotion exposed problems with his CV.
Mahinga has been engaged in a legal battle with the home affairs minister and director-general since 2016, when the minister revoked his citizenship and terminated his employment.