First she laughed it off, thinking the civil servant was playing a joke on her, but she later broke out in tears as he informed her that her chosen one was Fabian Oshi, born May 1, 1978 who appeared to be a Nigerian national.

More than 3000 women in South Africa have, unbeknown to them, been married off to foreigners in a scam involving corrupt home affairs officials helping men from Africa, Asia and Latin America get South African citizenship.

Flooded by complaints from women who find out they have tied the knot without consent, the government is launching a campaign beginning next week to encourage South African women to check their marital status.

The nationwide campaign complete with television ads and posters will advise South African women to visit their local home affairs office where a special desk will be set up to handle the status checks.

A total of 3387 complaints have been filed since 2001 by women who have been married to foreign nationals from Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, China, India and Brazil who allegedly paid about R5000 (?670) for a marriage certificate that will lead to South African citizenship.

Bronwyn's "big day" allegedly took place in Mhala, a village close to the border with Mozambique and Swaziland, on April 14, when South Africa held elections and all government offices were closed.

"It was a huge shock," says Cheryl, 41, Bronwyn's mother, speaking at their modest villa in a working class district in eastern Johannesburg which they share with five cats and two dogs.

Because the marriage took place on that date, Bronwyn, a 22-year-old multimedia student, was able to get a quick annulment.

Other women are not so lucky. Many only learned of their new status when they turned up to register their "real marriage" and were told that they had to divorce their first husband or face charges of bigamy.

An investigation launched in the city of KwaMhlanga, east of Pretoria, found that a home affairs official had registered some 40 fake marriages a month, choosing single women at random from the national register.

Thus far, 2009 marriages have been scrapped, 1020 are under review and 245 have been referred to the courts. A further 85 cases were reviewed but no action was taken, according to Leslie Mashokwe of the home affairs ministry.

In some cases, women were paid to lend their identity papers and only found later that they were used to register a fake marriage.

Home affairs officials have pledged to quickly deal with the cases to ensure that women who were married without their knowledge regain their single status.