Couples in unregistered customary marriages have until 31 August 2026 to register these unions with the Department of Home Affairs.

This applies to marriages conducted under African Customary Law, both before and after the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act was enacted in 1998.

Home Affairs said registration is crucial for providing legal recognition and documentation, such as a marriage certificate, for these unions.

The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act was introduced to legally recognise marriages based on African Customary Law and address historical gender inequalities, writes IoL.

While marriages entered into after the Act are legally valid if they meet specific criteria, such as both parties being over 18 and consenting, many customary marriages remain unregistered.

The department extended the deadline for the registration of these marriages.

The courts have grappled with the complexities of customary and civil marriages in SA. In a judgment issued last year, the Limpopo High Court made it clear that it is not legally possible for both a customary marriage and a civil marriage to co-exist alongside each other.

Parties are either married by customary law or by civil law, Acting Judge M Mangena said in a legal battle between a husband and wife as to which regime is applicable to them.

‘It is a big legal issue that has pre-occupied judicial and non-judicial minds for centuries, and it appears it will be like this for as long as black people have a choice whether to marry either by customary law or civil law.’

This is because in African culture, a marriage is not an event but a process involving not only the parties getting married but also their families and children.

‘It is a cultural process with legal consequences as opposed to a legal process with cultural consequences,’ he said.

Full IoL report