Lobatse High Court nullifies 'fake marriage'
There is need to review the Marriage Act to make it difficult for couples who are merely "testing" waters to enter a legal marriage, and to also ensure that marriage is treated as a contract to be abided by.
This is in view of the increased number of cases of marriages being nullified before Courts. This was reiterated by Lobatse High Court Judge Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe when handing down judgment in a case in which a couple, Precious Rantutu (nee Koosaletse) and Keabetswe Rantutu, who were married in community of property had their marriage solemnised on 9 May 2019, barely three years into their marriage called it quits.
The applicant in this case being Precious Koosaletse Rantutu, had approached the High Court in Lobatse on 21 September seeking the following reliefs:
That the parties' marriage is declared null and void; that the respondent be ordered to pay alimony in favour of the applicant and in an amount to be determined by the court, and that the respondent be ordered to pay the costs of the application.
Court heard that the basis of the applicant seeking the annulment of the parties' marriage is founded on a number of allegations which include that the respondent after having met with the applicant and the two fell in love, he allegedly made false representations that include claiming he is from South Africa, while in fact he is from Mogoditshane right here in Botswana.
Rantutu allegedly told the applicant that he studied medicine at Harvard University in the USA, but the applicant later discovered that "he had never even been inside an aeroplane."
The applicant was later shocked when the respondent claimed he had been recruited for jobs in the medical fraternity but rather chose to go into business. The respondent reportedly also claimed that he came from a family of business people and that he was a "trust fund" child being the only male child, which also turned out to be a fib.
The applicant discovered that the respondent did not come from a family of business people, that while his mother is from Serowe, his father is not from Rustenburg, SA, as he claimed.
The applicant felt disgruntled because the respondent apparently used his background as bait to claim that he could maintain her lifestyle and also scammed her of several amounts of money which he took from her under the pretext that he was investing in several businesses which all turned out to be a scam as the respondent does not have any substantial businesses to speak of.
In fact, on the marriage certificate, the respondent noted his profession as 'sound engineer' instead of medical doctor.
Justice Ketlogetswe noted in his verdict that the respondent that the application does not meet and satisfy the threshold set out in Section 22 of the Matrimonial Causes Act which is concerned with the annulment of marriages.
"The applicant has specifically relied on sub-Section 3 of Section 22, supra, for the relief that she seeks from Court. "This provision allows a party to move a marriage which is avoidable on the ground that his or her consent to the marriage has been obtained by fraud or force to the approval of the High Court for an order of decree."
The Court asked that the respondent be asked to pay the costs of the application. The respondent was also asked to pay a sum of P140, 000 which the applicant alleges she acquired fraudulently from her under the pretext that he was going to invest it in some business and had expected to be "rewarded handsomely" for this investment but this was no to be.
The Court indicated that the said amount falls squarely on a claim based on damages listed and not as a loan but rather as fraud, although there has to be evidence to this effect.
On the issue of damages, the Judge indicated that the applicant has made out a case for nullifying her marriage and on the issue of the P140, 000 claimed by the applicant against the respondent, it is the position of the Botswana law that a claim for damages cannot be brought on the basis of motion proceedings.