Nigerian man who identified as a Zimbabwean national denied spousal permit
A Nigerian man who also identified as a Zimbabwean national had his application for spousal permit dismissed in an unopposed matter.
In an application at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Valentine Ezihe submitted an affidavit under the name Marshall Banda. In the affidavit, he identified himself as a Zimbabwean man living in Centurion, possessing a Zimbabwean passport with an unverified number.
According to the supporting affidavit, Ezihe's spousal application had been pending for two years without a response or decision from Home Affairs.
In June 2025, he served a notice of motion on home affairs and the director general of home affairs.
Ezihe asked the court to direct home affairs officials to issue a decision on the outcome of his application within 30 days.
In May 2025, Banda's affidavit, which claimed to be from Ezihe, was deposed and commissioned to support the notice of motion.
Later, Ezihe's supplementary affidavit, which supports Banda's affidavit, was deposed and commissioned in June 2025. This occurred without the prior leave of the court.
Ezihe's legal representative argued that there were no legal provisions requiring the parties to obtain leave before supplementing their court submissions.
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Welz, who has fought alongside Modisane for several years, said that she, her family and her father, former Constitutional Court Justice Johann Kriegler, were grateful that the first step had been taken to give Modisane the dignity and opportunity she deserved. 'Just seeing the smile on her gogo's face was more than we can say. Now is a chance to put her life together, to go and get her bank account, to go and get on her first flight, to get her driver's licence, to vote. There are so many opportunities now. This means everything,' Welz said. Daily Maverick spoke to Modisane's grandmother, Barbara Modisane, as she waited for her granddaughter to collect her birth certificate. Speaking in Setswana, Barbara said, 'I am content, I am at peace. We have been fighting this battle for so long, and now we can finally rest.' Justice delayed Going to Home Affairs' offices in Germiston was not the original plan. After waiting for more than four months for Home Affairs to comply with the court order, Modisane and her supporters planned to hold a media conference to shed light on her struggles. Daily Maverick visited Modisane, Welz and Justice Kriegler at their home in the heart of Johannesburg on Monday as they prepared for the media conference where she was to share her years of 'struggle, humiliation and denial of basic rights, including healthcare, education, and financial freedom'. During the interview, Modisane detailed how her mother, who was also an undocumented South African citizen, died from cancer because she was denied medical care, a result of her being undocumented. Modisane shared how she struggled to register her two children's birth because she was not recognised as a citizen, and how she could not finish school because of her documentation status. 'I don't know what I would have done if I were allowed to finish matric, but I know I would have furthered my studies. I was bright in school, but I wasn't given the opportunity to see how far I could go in life,' Modisane said. Justice Kriegler, one of the first judges appointed to the Constitutional Court, said that it was a miscarriage of justice that Home Affairs failed to comply with the order in the time frame stipulated by the court. 'I had assured this young woman that the law would see her right, and I had faith in the law. I lived the law my whole life. To realise that the Department of Home Affairs did not listen to the court left me profoundly disappointed and disenchanted.' Mere hours after the interview, Home Affairs called to say her birth certificate was ready. Even now that Home Affairs has finally complied with the order, Justice Kriegler cannot help but feel disappointment. 'This should never have taken this long. It should not take a court order and the threat of a media briefing for a South African citizen to be acknowledged in her own country. While we celebrate this development, we must also reflect on the many other individuals who remain stateless and unheard, and recommit to ensuring that no one else is forced to fight this hard for something that should be automatic and just,' he said in a subsequent media release. Responding to Daily Maverick's inquiry into why it took the department four months to comply with the court order, Thulani Mavuso, spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs and Deputy Director-General of Operations, said: 'Registration of the birth of the applicant was concluded after the period stipulated by the court because of legal consultations the Department had to undertake in light of the lack of documentation required for foreign births, as per Regulations on the South African Citizenship Act, 1995, as amended. Before the court judgment, the applicant had submitted an application for foreign birth without the required full birth certificate, verified by the country of origin (Zimbabwe).' Statelessness remains a prevalent and under-recognised problem in South Africa. There is no dedicated mechanism for identifying statelessness and no official statistics for statelessness exist. It has been estimated that at least 10,000 people in South Africa are stateless. Thandeka Chauke, a statelessness expert for Catalyst for Change, said that women were disproportionately affected, which resulted in intergenerational cycles of legal invisibility. 'In Primrose's family, four generations have been impacted. It's a stark reminder of how bureaucratic inertia can hollow out the promise of constitutional rights. That she received her first identity document only at the age of 36, and only after relentless advocacy, a parliamentary briefing and a court order, is unconscionable,' Chauke said 'As we mark Women's Month and reflect on the legacy of the march against apartheid pass laws, we are reminded that documentation is not just about legal formality; it is a gateway to dignity and belonging 'South Africa's legal framework is strong, and the Department of Home Affairs has shown its willingness to act in complex cases. Continued investment in training, sensitisation and implementation can help ensure that many others in similar situations are assisted more swiftly and compassionately,' she said. DM
