The Star reported that the wife's encounter had led to her falling pregnant. The child was now four-years-old.

The newspaper did not name the man and his wife to protect the child's identity.

The Star reported that, according to court papers submitted to the Western Cape High Court, the man moved to South Africa in November 2003, met a South African woman soon after and married her the next month.

He was issued a permanent residence permit in March 2004 and applied for citizenship.

In late 2007 or early 2008, home affairs officials met his wife, and told her that "due to corruption," all nationals married to foreigners had to be re-interviewed.

The man was reportedly "appalled" to later learn from the department that his wife had given birth, as he had not known she was pregnant.

In a letter from the department in June 2010, he said it was stated that his marriage was invalid because his wife had a child with another man.

To keep his permit, he had to make submissions to show they had a "good-faith spousal relationship" for at least three years after the permit was issued.

If the department found otherwise, his permit would be revoked and he stood to be "arrested and permanently expelled from this country".

After submitting his representations to the department in July 2010, and receiving no response, he took the minister of home affairs and her director general to court.

The Star reported that in May the court compelled the department to provide the Pakistani man with a response to his representation within 30 days, however, he had yet to receive a response.