Legislation: Customary Marriages Amendment Bill released

A draft Recognition of Customary Marriages Amendment Bill was published last Thursday, along with the required pre-tabling explanatory summary, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. Once in force, the Bill will further regulate ‘the proprietary consequences’ of customary marriages entered into before the Act’s commencement in November 2000 – bringing it in line with the requirements of a November 2017 Constitutional Court judgment in which sub-section 7(1) was found to ‘discriminate unfairly against certain women in customary marriages’. As Legalbrief Today has already reported, the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development has confirmed that the Bill’s passage through Parliament will provide for ‘extensive public participation’ in the National Assembly, NCOP and provincial legislatures.

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