Constitutional Court to rule on a case to allow a husband to take wife’s surname. Image credit: Pixabay
(The Post News) – The Constitutional Court will hand down judgment on Thursday on whether Section 26(1)(a) to (c) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act is unconstitutional insofar as it unfairly discriminates on the basis of gender, by failing to afford men the right to assume the surname of women after marriage.
South African men cannot at present take their wife’s surname or have their surnames hyphenated. The Constitutional Court appears likely to change that.
This comes after the applicants, Jana Jordaan and Henry Van Der Merwe, as well as Jess Donnelly-Bornman and Andreas Nicolas Bornman turned to the apex court in March this year for a confirmation of invalidity against the said section.
Van Der Merwe was denied the ability to take on the surname of his wife Jordaan and Bornman was denied the ability to hyphenate his surname to include his wife’s surname, Donnelly. The applicants successfully challenged the said section in the Free State Division of the High Court.
However, it still needs the constitutional invalidity to be confirmed by the apex court in order for it to take effect. Judgment will be delivered at 9:00 am.
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