The South African Cabinet warned on Wednesday against defying the Constitutional Court ruling on same-sex marriages.
The Cabinet had noted, during its fortnightly meeting at Tuynhuys, the public discourse on the draft Civil Unions Bill, government communications head Themba Maseko told a media briefing afterwards.
”While every individual or group has the right to express their views openly on the matter of same-sex marriages, Cabinet emphasised the need for everyone to be reminded that there is a Constitutional Court ruling that the current definition of marriage in the Marriage Act was unconstitutional.
”Participants in the debate should not conduct themselves in a manner that suggests that they want to defy the decision of the Constitutional Court on this or any other matter,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of approaching the court to extend the December 1 deadline for a law on same-sex marriages, Maseko said the issue had not arisen.
Cabinet had noted many stakeholders had already made their views known and Parliament was currently conducting public hearings on the Bill.
”The hope is that by the time the deadline arrives, Parliament would have found a way of resolving all the outstanding issues on the Bill,” he said.
On Saturday, several thousand Christians marched through Cape Town’s city centre to protest against the bill. — Sapa