South Africa’s highest court has overturned a law that barred husbands from taking the surnames of their wives. According to the constitutional court, the law amounts to gender based discrimination, demanding immediate effect of the ruling.
In a victory for two couples who brought the case, Henry van der Merwe was denied the right to take the surname of his wife, Jana Jordaan. Similarly, Andreas Nicolas Bornman was blocked from hyphenating his surname to include that of his wife, Jess Donnelly-Bornman.
Parliament will now have to amend the Births and Deaths Registration Act, along with its regulations, for the ruling to take effect. The two couples described the law as obsolete, violating equality rights enshrined in the South African Constitution.
They successfully challenged the law in a lower court, but asked the highest court to confirm its ruling.
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South Africa to reopen Steve Biko inquest
South African prosecutors have announced that they will reopen an inquest into the death of prominent anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko.
The case will be reopened on the 48th anniversary of Biko’s death on September 12.
According to a report, the founder of South Africa’s black consciousness movement died almost five decades ago in police custody. His death sparked outrage across the world, becoming an international symbol of the struggle against the race-based apartheid system in South Africa.
Concerning the case revival, the organisation said, the goal is to lay evidence before the court to make a finding. This involves investigations relating to whether the death was brought about by any act that involves or amounts to an offence. On the part of any person. the
Biko, founder of South Africa’s Black Consciousness Movement, died in a prison cell in 1977, aged just 30. He had been beaten into a coma by police who had arrested him nearly a month earlier.
