The National Council on Wednesday passed the private member’s bills introduced by Swapo lawmaker Jerry Ekandjo to define the term spouse and amend the Marriage Act of 1961.
Ekandjo last week introduced a bill on the definition of a spouse, which seeks to explicitly define the term spouse, invoking articles 81 and 4 of the Namibian Constitution to contradict a decision of the Supreme Court of Namibia on same-sex marriage.
He also tabled a bill to change sections of the Marriage Act, including to define the terms marriage, same-sex marriage, and spouse. The bill further seeks to prohibit same-sex marriage, prohibit the solemnisation of same-sex marriages, and to deny the recognition of same-sex marriages.
The bills were passed with minimal amendments and were overwhelmingly supported by both sides of the house.
The definition of spouse bill sailed through the committee stage without objection.
The marriage amendment bill is the fifth bill that was passed by the National Council within three weeks.
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