Couples urged to register customary marriage before deadline

The Department of Home Affairs Deputy Director-General, Thulani Mavuso, has encouraged the public to register qualifying customary marriages before the special registration period closes today.

The special registration period, which began on 1 September 2024, enables parties to customary marriages that were not registered within the prescribed period to regularise their marital status.

This includes marriages concluded before the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, which came into effect in November 2000, as well as those concluded thereafter but not registered within the required time frame.

Mavuso says failure to meet today’s deadline doesn’t automatically invalidate the marriage.

“If the process is not finalised, it does not invalidate the marriage.

The marriage is still valid, but we encourage people to come forward.

Because one of the disadvantages of not registering is the difficulty in proving that you are married without a Home Affairs certificate in an event that something happens to one of the spouses.

At the point where we have to deal with matrimonial property after the death of the spouse, the difficulty to prove is quite difficult,” adds Mavuso.

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