Home Affairs, Safety and Security Minister Lucia Iipumbu has linked the marriage-record verification exercise to decades-old gaps uncovered during the Ministry's digitisation process, which began in 2021.

She was responding to IPC MP Vilho Ihemba, who sought clarity on whether the exercise covers recent marriages or records dating back several decades.

Iipumbu explained that some marriage registers had never been submitted to the Ministry or captured in the national population register. Others remained at churches and magistrates' courts, leaving gaps in the official records.

These omissions can complicate applications for replacement marriage certificates, updates to marital status, spousal benefits and estate administration.

"During this migration, it was discovered that a significant number of physical registers from marriage officers have not been submitted to the Ministry or captured in the national population register system. Some of the marriage books and records were still kept at churches and some magistrate courts."

The minister reported that about 3,000 historical marriage records have been recovered from South Africa, while efforts to retrieve further records continue.

The Ministry is urging people whose marriage records may be missing or incomplete to visit their nearest regional or sub-regional Home Affairs office for verification.