{"id":755831,"date":"2024-02-28T16:13:45","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T14:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=755831"},"modified":"2024-05-09T14:23:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T12:23:31","slug":"new-divorce-laws-for-south-africa-waiting-for-ramaphosas-signature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/755831\/new-divorce-laws-for-south-africa-waiting-for-ramaphosas-signature\/","title":{"rendered":"New divorce laws for South Africa waiting for Ramaphosa&#8217;s signature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/static.pmg.org.za\/B22-2023_Divorce.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Divorce Amendment Bill<\/a> has been passed by the National Council of Provinces and now only needs President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s signature to become law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill amends the Divorce Act, which the Constitutional Court in the <em>Women\u2019s Legal Centre Trust v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others<\/em> said was unconstitutional as it excluded Muslim marriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The non-recognition of Muslim marriages in civil law meant that a person, especially a woman, who is married in terms of Islamic law had no right to seek a divorce from a court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The interests of Muslim women and minors or dependent children of Muslim Marriages were thus not safeguarded to the same extent as children of other marriages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Divorce Act also fails to provide for the redistribution of assets and for the forfeiture of patrimonial benefits on the dissolution of a Muslim marriage in the same manner as other disbanded marriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the Divorce Amendment Bill aims to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To insert a definition of a Muslim marriage,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To provide for the protection and to safeguard the interests of dependent and minor children of a Muslim marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To provide for the redistribution of assets on the dissolution of a Muslim marriage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To provide for the forfeiture of patrimonial benefits of a Muslim marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>That said, the Bill does not constitute or replace an Islamic divorce. Those wishing to be granted a religious divorce will still need to follow Islamic law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other Bills <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NCOP also sent two other Bills to Ramaphosa, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/static.pmg.org.za\/B38-2023_Eskom_Debt_Relief.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/755615\/new-cannabis-laws-for-south-africa-how-much-you-can-carry-and-whats-still-illegal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cannabis for Private Purpose Bill. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill aims to amend the&nbsp;Eskom Debt Relief Act&nbsp;of 2023, which offers interest-free loans to the embattled power utility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new Bill provides for payment of interest by Eskom on amounts advanced as a loan, with the Finance Minister setting the rate of interest.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Eskom does not comply with the established requirements, the Minister can reduce payments to the SOE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, the Cannabis for Private Purpose Bill established a new legal framework for adult private use of cannabis while also narrowing and clarifying the limits related to children and the use and possession of the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/755753\/take-home-pay-increases-in-south-africa-but-storm-clouds-are-gathering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Take-home pay increases in South Africa \u2013 but storm clouds are gathering<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Council of Provinces has sent three more Bills to the President&#8217;s desk, with three months left until the National Election. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":676621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-755831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755831"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771283,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755831\/revisions\/771283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}