IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MARRIAGE BILL UPDATE

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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: MARRIAGE BILL UPDATE

• 31 January 2026
• In the Spotlight
• SA Legal Academy

Tabled in December 2023, the Marriage Bill lapsed when Parliament rose for the May 2024 elections (as SA Legal Academy reported at the time). Having been revived in July that year, since November 2024 the Bill has been the focus of nationwide public hearings hosted by the National Assembly’s Home Affairs Committee. These are expected to end in Limpopo province during the first week of February 2026, according to a recent committee media statement.

Should the Bill be adopted by the committee, passed by the House and sent to the NCOP for concurrence, as a section 76 piece of proposed new legislation with implications for provincial government the Bill will then be subjected to hearings hosted by each provincial legislature. Meanwhile, the National Assembly committee has also received oral representations (during parliamentary hearings held in December 2025).

As has been widely reported, the Bill’s overarching objective is to harmonise existing marriage laws into a single statute. To that end, the Bill seeks to provide for the full spectrum of civil, customary and religious marriages regardless of sexual orientation, religious belief or cultural practice.

An analysis of some 35 committee statements on the public participation process tends to point to widespread concern about two provisions in the Bill:

• 18 years as the minimum marriageable age (which many participants believe should be increased to 21 or older, especially given that many 18-year-olds are still in school), and
• marriages of convenience between South Africans and foreign nationals (which many participants believe should be subjected to stricter controls to curb fraud).

Issues on which divergent views were expressed included provisions in the proposed new piece of legislation for:

• local cultural and religious practices, with many participants expressing concern about the Bill’s:
  • perceived western cultural bias
  • predisposition towards protecting minority rights, and
  • underlying threat to the preservation of cultural and family values
• same sex marriage (to which many religious and traditional leaders were apparently vehemently opposed)
• polygamy (opposed by many religious leaders, with calls made to strengthen provisions on the right of a marriage officer to refuse to solemnise a union going against their religious beliefs), and
• property rights, for which the Bill is perceived to make inadequate provision in the context of:
  • polygamy, and
  • long-term cohabitation outside the bonds of marriage (on which the Bill is apparently silent).

Many participants in the hearings also expressed concern about the extent to which the Bill overlooks Muslim marriages under Sharia law.

Regarding customary marriages, calls were made for the Bill to:

• prohibit ‘ukuthwala’ (kidnapping underage brides for older men)
• prohibit ‘ukungena’ (forcing a widow to marry a brother of her deceased husband), and to
• provide for a ceiling on ‘lobola’ (the traditional bride price).

In addition, many participants in the hearings expressed reservations about provisions in the Bill:

• for the compulsory registration of customary marriages (which they consider unworkable), as well as
• sub-clause 6(2)(a), requiring written consent from a first wife before her husband enters a polygamous arrangement.

In the view of some hearings participants, the Bill’s sub-clause 6(2)(a) could also be unworkable (especially given the subservient status of women in certain cultures, impacting on their ability to negotiate). Its constitutionality is also in question, as SA Legal Academy reported in September 2025.

On provisions in the Bill intended to prohibit child marriage:

• as an additional measure, some participants in the process proposed a maximum 10-year age gap between prospective marriage partners, while
• concern was expressed that broadening the range of persons qualified for service as marriage officers could make the ban on child marriages unworkable, especially given the extent to which they are perceived to be common practice in some cultures.

In that context, one participant drew attention to a possible anomaly between the minimum marriageable age (18) and the legal age for consent to sexual intercourse (16).

Several calls were made for the Bill to provide polyandry as well as polygamy.

Once the Limpopo province hearings have been concluded, the committee’s support staff will prepare a summary of input received throughout the public participation process. This will be presented to the committee, at which point the Department of Home Affairs will be invited to respond to concerns expressed by members of the public as well as suggestions made for improving the Bill. The committee will then proceed with what are likely to be lengthy deliberations about the best way forward.

• Bill
• SA Legal Academy report on September 2025 committee statement
• January 2026 committee statement on the public participation process

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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