Last-ditch attempts by religious groups to block the controversial Civil Union Bill suffered another blow on Monday when the National Council of Provinces’ (NCOP) social-services committee gave it the green light.
Following an exhaustive public hearing process on the measure, the committee voted in favour of the legislation, defying religious groups’ calls for the Bill to be either abolished or revised.
With the African National Congress fully behind the measure, certain churches had relented on their previous calls for the Bill to be scrapped completely, and instead requested that any reference to the term ”marriage” be removed from the legislation.
However, the committee voted for the draft Bill to be passed in the same form as adopted by the National Assembly this month.
Opposition parties objected to the measure, saying the committee’s approval of the legislation was a ”forgery”.
”Why are we fast-tracking the passing of legislation that a majority of South Africans don’t want; this is forgery,” said the Inkatha Freedom Party’s Jeanette Vilakazi.
To be considered for adoption by the NCOP on Tuesday, the proposed law seeks to afford gay and lesbian couples the same legal status as married heterosexuals.
Parliament is working to meet a Constitutional Court deadline of December 1 to correct what the court ruled in December last year was an unconstitutional definition of marriage in legislation.
Once the NCOP has approved the Bill, the way is open for President Thabo Mbeki to sign it into law before the deadline. — Sapa