Overview

• The Constitutional Court declared the Births and Deaths Registration Act’s surname provisions unconstitutional and set a two‑year window for legislative fixes.
• The ruling upholds a 2024 lower‑court decision, with Justice Loena Theron finding the regime discriminatory on the basis of gender and calling it a colonial import.
• Under the 1992 law, only a woman could change her surname upon marriage, which blocked husbands from taking or hyphenating a spouse’s name.
• The case was brought by two couples—Andreas Nicolaas Bornman and Jess Donnelly‑Bornman, and Henry van der Merwe and Jana Jordaan—seeking hyphenation or a wife’s surname for the husband.
• Reaction on social media was sharply split, with supporters framing the move as progress and critics warning it clashes with cultural traditions.