Andrew Stegmann

‘Home Affairs changed my name against my will’

Johannesburg – More than 170 women have filled out a form in the past week indicating the Department of Home Affairs had changed their surnames against their will after they got married.

A petition was set up after journalist Sarah Emily Wild took to social media when she found out during the municipal elections her surname had been changed to her husband’s.

Wild, along with the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), set up a questionnaire for women in the same position.

They hope to take the matter to the Equality Court.

Marriage registration forms allow women three options: keeping their own surname, taking their husband’s surname, or creating a double-barrelled surname.

Wild said she was angry that her choice – to keep her own name – had been ignored.

She was convinced Home Affairs officials were deliberately changing women’s names.

“The reason I’m having this fight is because they changed my name against my will. I gave Home Affairs an instruction and they chose to ignore it,” Wild said.

She said despite Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete telling a radio station the department would contact her to resolve the issue, she was still waiting to hear from them.

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Andrew Stegmann

Two home affairs officials arrested for fraud, corruption, extortion

Johannesburg – Two Home Affairs officials in Limpopo have been arrested for fraud, corruption and extortion, the Hawks said on Saturday.

The 36-year-old, an assistant manager at Giyani Home Affairs, was arrested after a long and profound investigation that started in 2012, Captain Matimba Maluleke said.

“The suspect allegedly solicited bribe from Asylum seekers from different countries during his tenure as the manager of Refugee Centre at Beitbridge Home Affairs,” Maluleke said.

Maluleke said the man appeared in the Musina Magistrate’s Court on Friday and his case was postponed until Monday, he would remain in custody.

A second suspect, a 42-year-old immigration officer was arrested for allegedly stamping the passport of an illegal immigrant who was detained for being in the country illegally.

She was granted R2 000 bail on Friday, and is expected to appear before the Musina Magistrate’s court on September 28.

Andrew Stegmann

Google automates itineraries, travel tips

Destinations on Google, a platform that helps users discover and plan their holidays by offering travel tips and itineraries, has rolled out in South Africa. Google first announced the platform in March this year.

The platform is available exclusively on mobile, with Google citing a 50% increase in travel-related questions on mobile phones in 2015.

When searching destinations such as Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban, Google now brings up an overview of the destination, while clicking on the “travel guide” tab pulls up itinerary options. Cape Town itinerary options include “Waterfront and Robben Island”, Table Mountain Area Highlights”, “Top Sights on the Cape Peninsula” “Historical Cape Town”. These itineraries are put together using an algorithm based on online searches.

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Andrew Stegmann

FG seeks solution to business impediments, visa bottlenecks

The Federal Government has set up a technical committee to provide solutions to impediments to business and investment in the country.
The committee, which was set up by the Ministers of Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Trade and Investment on Friday in Abuja, was expected to also resolve among others, visa and immigration issues that hinder foreign direct investment.
Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.) who hosted his colleagues, Geoffrey Onyeama (Foreign Affairs) and Okechukwu Enelamah (Trade and investment), explained that the government was concerned about easing the process of doing business in the country.
He said part of the strategy was to immediately convene a committee that will look at all the processes with a view to refining them for local and foreign investors to come in and do business.

Dambazau said, “Government will look at all the issues on how the process can be refined in a way that government can deliver the best services that Nigerians and foreigners want and of course investors need secure environment and we are tackling this to encourage foreign investors to come into the country to invest in a good environment.

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