The Women's Legal Centre on Friday upset lawyers in the Western Cape High Court when it pointed out that nine counsel had been appointed by the state to argue the organisation's application for the recognition of Muslim marriages, and all nine had advanced the same argument.

All the advocates representing the state had argued that it was not within the court's jurisdiction to determine the matter, according to a News24 report quoting Advocate Nazreen Bawa SC. ‘It required (all of them) to say that. It's not good for the taxpayer,’ Bawa said.

Anwar Albertus SC, for the Minister of Home Affairs said he was ‘flabbergasted’, adding: ‘It's highly offensive – there was something worthwhile for each of us to say.’ And Andrea Gabriel SC, for the President, said she ‘resented the notion’ that counsel was a waste of taxpayers' money.

The application for the recognition of Muslim marriages was brought by the Women's Legal Centre, which said it was aimed at providing Muslim women and their children with legal protection upon divorce.

This, the non-profit law centre explained, was being sought due to the ‘continued failure on the part of government to fulfil the obligations on it by the Constitution to recognise Muslim marriages as valid marriages for all purposes in SA, and to regulate the consequences of such recognition’.

The matter is being heard by judges Siraj Desai, Gayaat Salie-Hlophe and Nolwazi Boqwana. Desai said the matter was complex, as it was not only to regulate future marriages, but also those which exist. ‘It's a difficult process, which must reflect the contractual agreement by the Sharia (Islamic law) and modern society,’ he commented.

Judgment was reserved.

Full News24 report