BDFM Online
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
CAPE TOWN - Only President Thabo Mbeki's signature is now needed for SA to become one of a handful of countries to have legislated in favour of homosexual marriages.
This follows the approval in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) yesterday of the Civil Union Bill, which gives equal status in law to homosexual partnerships or marriages. The bill has had a torrid time on its way through Parliament, with opposition coming from religious groups, traditional leaders and from within the ruling African National Congress (ANC) itself.
The bill has to be signed into law by midnight tomorrow if the deadline of the Constitutional Court is to be met. The court ruled this time last year that Parliament had one year in which to give equal rights and status to homosexual couples such as those enjoyed by heterosexual couples in the Marriage Act.
The ANC had to again use its political muscle to get the measure through. The Democratic Alliance (DA), because of the sensitivity of the issue, allowed its council members a free vote while all the other parties opposed the legislation.
For one last time they railed against the ANC, with Johannes Tlhagale of the African Christian Democratic Party, Jeanette Vilikazi of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Frik van Heerden of the Freedom Front Plus and Neville Hendricks of the United Independent Front leading the charge.
The ANC was repeatedly accused of acting in bad faith by having extensive public hearings and then refusing to take account of the opinions it was offered. They said that 80%-90% of SA did not want the law in place but the ANC was pushing it through.
In many of the submissions to Parliament, traditional leaders, religious groups and others called for the constitution to be changed rather than the bill be placed on the statute books. Failing that, they called for a referendum to test the strength of public opinion.
Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, introducing the debate, again gave the undertaking that laws governing marriage would be reviewed. She said the question of why the ANC was determined to enact the bill had been raised.
"Why is it that government feels compelled and determined to pass a piece of legislation that has caused so much controversy? The answer to that question stems from our belief in the struggle for equality of all people in the true sense of the word," Mapisa-Nqakula said.
She said the South African Law Reform Commission was reviewing SA's marriage laws when the constitutionality of the Marriage Act was challenged in court.
Mapisa-Nqakula said she was aware that the bill was "one of the most difficult pieces of legislation to engage with, but I hope that all of us will understand the responsibility of each one of us to provide leadership to our nation, even if it seems hard".