MARRIAGE BILL: CLAUSE 6A CONCERN (CHIEF STATE LAW ADVISER)

MARRIAGE BILL: CLAUSE 6A CONCERN (CHIEF STATE LAW ADVISER)

• 17 September 2025
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

The Marriage Bill’s sub-clause 6(2)(a) on the requirements of a polygamous marriage may not pass constitutional muster, according to a Department of Justice & Constitutional presentation document circulated at a recent meeting of the National Assembly’s Home Affairs Committee. The document quotes the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser as having expressed concern about the sub-clause, which requires any husband who is a member of a royal family and wishes to enter into a ‘further marriage’ to obtain consent from any existing wife/wives informed by ‘the customs and conditions’ of that family.

Noting this concern but nevertheless choosing not to elaborate on it, a committee media statement on the meeting also refers to the Department of Home Affairs’ failure to ‘receive certification on the constitutionality of the Bill before it was tabled’. The issue has been flagged for attention once a nationwide public participation process now under way has been concluded and parliamentary hearings conducted.

As SA Legal Academy has already reported, among other things the Bill seeks to:

• ‘rationalise’ existing legislation on the ‘various types of marriage’, and
• provide for the requirements for monogamous and polygamous marriages.

Please click the links below for more information:

• Bill
• presentation document
• committee media statement
• SA Legal Academy report

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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