Many MPs support changes to marital law

Gothataone Moeng | Wednesday April 2, 2014 10:35

 

If the bill is passed into law, married couples will be allowed to change their marriage regime from one type to another (either in community or out of community of property) up to a maximum of two times.

Presenting the bill for second reading on Monday, the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs (MLHA) Edwin Batshu said the Married Person’s Property Act, which was enacted in 1970, has been overtaken by various developments in the country. Emerging challenges dictate for the re-enactment of the law to simplify it, introduce new amendments and strengthen the existing provisions to deal with the identified challenges.

Clause 5 of the new bill is similar to Section 7 of the Act and provides that the provisions of the law do not apply if the couple are subject to customary law. Therefore the couple’s property devolves in accordance with customary law unless the spouses have exempted their property from the application of customary law.

Under this clause, spouses can sign forms meant for marriages out of community of property, or in community of property, but exclusion to exclude the application of customary law to their property, opting instead for the property to be regulated by common law.

“The import of this provision is that a marriage solemnised under the Marriage Act is governed by civil law only in so far as the marriage is concerned but for purposes of matrimonial property, the applicable law is customary law,” Batshu said.

Another new provision in the bill is Clause 7, which provides for correction of errors in marriage instruments by application to the High Court by either the registrar of marriages or the affected spouses.

Many Members of Parliament (MP) supported the bill. Some, however, such as Maun West MP Tawana Moremi were worried about the allowance, by Clause 8, for couple to change their marriage property regime up to a maximum two times.