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LANDMARK VICTORY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN GAYS BY WINNING THE CASE AGAINST THE DEPARTMENT OF HOME AFFAIRS ON EQUAL RIGHTS FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES


Last Friday [Feb 12 1999] the judgement of the South African High Court in Cape Town was handed down in the case the NCGLE and 13 other applicants took against the Department of Home Affairs after it failed to recognise the rights of same-sex couples, especially if one of the partners was a foreigner.

(The NCGLE is South Africa's National Coalition of Gay and Lesbian Equality, a platform of over 80 organisations.)

Thanks to Zackie Ahmat of the NCGLE in Cape Town and to Jeff Handmaker of Lawyers for Human Rights, the entire decision of the Court can be downloaded here:
judgment in HTML (57kb)
judgment in TXT (51kb)
judgment in MS Word (80kb) or zipped (22kb)


 

Links to South African gay websites:

q.co.za - complete queer resource online
http://www/q.co.za/

Gay culture directory (Mail & Guardian)
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/jump/j-soc_gay.html

Talk about gay rights (chatroom) (Mail & Guardian)
http://www.mweb.co.za/mgboard/wwwboard/top-gay/index.html

If you are interested, we can e-mail you the entire decision in Word (as attachment). Please reply to NiZA documentation

 

Underneath you will find as abstracted information, the order that was judged:

THE ORDER


1. Section 25(5) of the Aliens Control Act 96 of 1991 is declared invalid to the extent that the benefit conferred exclusively on spouses is inconsistent with section 9(3) in that on the grounds of sexual orientation it discriminates against same sex life partners
   
   
2. the declaration of invalidity of section 25(5) is suspended for a period of twelve months from the date of confirmation of this order to enable parliament to correct the inconsistency;
   
   
3. the exclusion of same sex life partners from the benefits conferred by section 25(5) of the constitution constitute special circumstances requiring the grant of an application for exemption made in terms of section 28(2) of the Act by a same sex life partner of a person permanently and lawfully resident in the Republic. This part of the order shall remain in force for as long as it takes parliament to correct the inconsistency.
   
   
4. Under section 172(2)(b) of the Constitution second and further applicants are exempted, in terms of section 28(2) of the Act, from the provisions of section 23 thereof.
   
   
5. No action may be taken against them in terms of the Act arising out of their living, working or studying in the Republic.
   
   Respondents are ordered to jointly and severally pay the applicants' costs including the cost of two counsel.
   

Zackie Ahmat of the NCGLE wrote us:

"The High Court judgement in the Immigration case. Three issues are pertinent:

1. The case will now go to the Constitutional Court for final decision;
   
2. Until Parliament changes the law all lesbian and gay people will be covered by exemptions from the Act; and
   
3. we won!!!.
   

It is crucial that this message is spread as far and wide as possible.

Special thanx to LRC (particularly William Kerfoot, Adv. Wim Trengove and Steve Kahanovitz) and Advocate Anton Katz. Special thanx also to Clint, Josie, Fanta and Kevan (who burnt the midnight oil)."

Azim Koning, Coordinator




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