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4h ago

South Africa’s Top Court Overturns Apartheid-Era Ban on Husbands Taking Wives’ Surnames

The court found the restriction discriminatory, setting a two-year deadline for Parliament plus the president to amend the law.

FILE - A man walks downstairs outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 15, 2017. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
The court ruling opens the way to South Africa's parliament changing the law to allow men to take on their wives' surnames
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Overview

  • The Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional a provision that barred husbands from adopting or hyphenating their spouse’s surname.
  • The invalidated rule comes from the 1992 Births and Deaths Registration Act, which allowed only women to change family names when marital status changed.
  • The ruling stems from 2024 lawsuits by two couples—Andreas Nicolaas Bornman and Jess Donnelly-Bornman, and Henry van der Merwe and Jana Jordaan—who alleged gender discrimination.
  • The decision upholds a lower-court finding, with Justice Loena Theron stating the law discriminated based on gender.
  • Reaction online was mixed, with supporters calling the move progressive and critics citing tradition, while context includes South Africa’s 2006 legalization of same-sex marriage and recognition of customary polygamous unions.