143 DIVORCES IN 3 MONTHS

MBABANE - Over 140 married couples have divorced in three months.

The Ministry of Home Affairs Performance Report for the Second Quarter of 2022 indicates that 143 marriages ended between July and September. These include those which were contracted under the Eswatini Customary Law and civil rites. The figure includes both divorces and annulments.

According to the Oxford dictionary, a divorce is a legal dissolving, termination and ending of a legally valid marriage. A divorce ends a legal marriage and renders the spouses single again. An annulment, on the other hand, erases a marriage by declaring the marriage null and void and that the union was never legally valid.

The report indicated that the highest number of divorces and annulments, 58, were recorded in August. In September, 43 were ended while 42 were recorded in July. Despite the divorces that were recorded, still a significant number of couples got married in the same period. The report indicated that 1 152 couples married under Eswatini Law and Custom. A majority of the marriages were registered in September. A total of 512 marriages were registered in September, 406 in August and the least, 234 in July.

Another 905 couples married through civil rites. At least 271 got married in July, 302 in August and 372 in September. The report concluded that a number of weddings took place in September and in total 2 057 marriages were registered in those three months.

Birth

In addition, the report also shows that over 9 000 birth registrations were recorded in three months. The most registrations were in August. A total of 3 659 birth certificates were issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in August, while 3 515 were recorded in July. Over 2 000 death certificates were issued in the last reporting period. Most of them were issued in August. In the three months; July, August and September, the ministry issued 796, 785 and 644, respectively.

The ministry also issued 13 947 national identity cards. The report showed that 5 082 were issued in September, 4 836 in July and 4 029 in August. Overall, the ministry generated revenue of E8 840 580 in three months, which was a decline from the over E9 million that was collected from the first quarter. The largest share of revenue was E4 169 260 collected from permits and the least collected was E900 from emergency passports.

The highest positive percentage change is seen in refugees’ passports, followed by international passports and travel documents. The changes are 63, 37 and 15 per cent, respectively. This indicates that more foreigners have been granted refugee status by the National Refugees Advisory Board. The opening of all borders in the country and suspension of the COVID-19 certificates as a requirement to cross the border has made people feel free to move in and out of the country.

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