Marriage Bill drawn up
13 Jul 2023
The draft Marriage Bill has been drawn up.
The home affairs department published the draft Marriage Bill in Government Gazette 48914 for comment.
Cabinet approved the proposed legislation in June 2023 for publication for comment.
In a statement, cabinet pointed out that the draft bill gives effect to the White Paper on Marriages in South Africa approved by cabinet in March 2022.
The draft bill empowers the home affairs department to develop a single Marriage Act for the country.
It also seeks to ensure that all marriages are concluded in accordance with the “principles of equality, non-discrimination and human dignity” as provided for in the Constitution.
The draft bill allows “South Africans and residents in the country of all sexual orientations, as well as religious and cultural persuasions, to conclude legal unions in line with the constitutional principles”.
The draft bill aims to:
- rationalise the marriage laws pertaining to various types of marriages;
- provide for the recognition of marriages entered into by spouses regardless of the religious, cultural, sex, gender, sexual orientation or any other belief of the spouses;
- provide for the requirements for entering into a marriage;
- provide for registration of marriages;
- provide for the legal consequences of a marriage;
- provide for consent to enter into a marriage;
- provide for age determination;
- provide for equal legal status and capacity of spouses to a marriage;
- provide for the designation of marriage officers;
- provide for solemnisation of marriages;
- provide for the dissolution of marriages; and
- provide for matters incidental thereto.
Comments are invited until 31 August 2023.
Article sourced from Sabinet.
See also:
- Validity of a customary marriage
- Legal documents required for marriage
- Muslim marriages recognised
- Civil Union Amendment Bill sent to NCOP
