The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed the controversial Civil Union Bill on Tuesday, paving the way for President Thabo Mbeki to sign the measure into law.
The legislation, intended to afford gay and lesbians couples the same legal status as married heterosexuals, has drawn fierce criticism from opposition parties as well as religious groups.
”By approving this legislation, this house is at odds with the wishes of a majority of South Africans who have overwhelmingly rejected it,” said Inkatha Freedom Party MP Jeanette Vilakazi.
The measure — approved in the National Assembly earlier this month — was opposed by most opposition parties, while the Democratic Alliance allowed its members a free vote on the issue.
Religious groups had called for both houses of Parliament to either consider revising the measure or scrapping it altogether.
With their pleas having been ignored, their only hope now lies with Mbeki.
He has to sign the legislation for it to become law.
It now remains to be seen if he will approve the Bill, particularly given that submissions made during extensive public hearings indicated overwhelming public discontent over the proposed law.
Parliament has been 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.
Last-ditch efforts
On Monday it was reported that last-ditch attempts by religious groups to block the Bill suffered another blow when the 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 Vilakazi. — Sapa