Elezo Libanda
Katima Mulilo, Aug. 2 — Poverty and high unemployment have driven young Namibian women in the Zambezi to marry foreigners who after being issued identify certificates become Namibian citizens by virtue of marriage.
A large number of Namibian women have married foreigners for financial gain, as the young women are promised heaven on earth, some receiving once-off payments and some signing contracts to be paid monthly instalments that will often not be honoured.
An undercover investigation by NDN shows that most women got married to foreigners they don’t even know, as they just met their hours before getting married.
This involves middlemen who do all financial arrangements, and the women are often paid as much as N$5 000 or as low as N$1 000 prior to signing documents.
The worst is that after getting married to Namibians, the so-called husbands will arrange for the relocation of the real wives and families from their country and the Namibian “wife” will watch from a distance as they enjoy the hospitality in the land of the brave.
The situation is often difficult to reverse because even parents may not be aware that their daughters are married.
One of the victims who only wanted to be known as Lunza, says the man she married has relocated to another region, and she has lost contact with him as he changed his contact details.
What complicates her situation is that the Namibian father of her children wants to marry her and she is scared he might find out that she is already legally married to someone else.
“I don’t know what to do,” Lunza says.
Various attempts to get a comment from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration proved futile.
