FEATURE: Namibia court to rule on same-sex marriage as debate on homosexuality rages

The Law Reform and Development Commission directed the Namibian government to abolish the country’s sodomy law, which it said violated fundamental rights as well as creating and enforcing a culture of homophobia and intolerance against the LGBTQ+ community.

RUSTENBURG, June 1 (ANA) – Same-sex couples married outside Namibia will have to wait until January next year to know whether their union is recognised in the Land of the Brave.

The high court in the capital Windhoek reserved judgment after hearing oral arguments in two cases in which President Hage Geingob’s government was sued to recognise same-sex marriages concluded in other countries.

Judge Hannelie Prinsloo set a January 20 deadline to deliver a ruling, but indicated the judgement could come earlier.

Namibian citizen Johann Potgieter and his South African husband Daniel Digashu, as well as German citizen Anita Seiler-Lilles and her Namibian wife are suing the government to give legal recognition to their marriages, concluded in South Africa in 2015 and in Germany in 2017 respectively.

The matter came to court as cabinet was expected to pronounce itself on the abolishment of the common law offences of sodomy and unnatural sexual offences following Justice Minister Yvonne Dausab’s submission of a related report.

In the report, the Law Reform and Development Commission directed the government to abolish the sodomy law, which it said violated the fundamental rights of affected individuals as well as creating and enforcing a culture of homophobia and intolerance against the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and others) community.

Dausab said the recommendations of the commission would be considered through normal legislative processes.

She said the government could not police or regulate the private life of Namibians, adding that the LGBTQ+ community were human beings entitled to all the protections afforded by the Namibian Constitution under the Bill of Rights and the principles of state policy.

Various groups have weighed in on the debate on homosexuality in Namibia in recent weeks, which was triggered by reports that the government was considering abolishing the common law offences of sodomy and unnatural sexual offences.

The youth league of the ruling Swapo party has described the debate on homosexuality as satanic and demonic, calling on parliament to instead debate socio-economic issues affecting Namibians.

In this stance, the youth league has the support of Swapo’s Elders’ Council, which stressed in a recent statement that homosexuality was illegal in Namibia.

“We as elders of our people support the view of the Swapo Party Youth League that says that members of parliament should discuss issues of bread and butter to improve the living standards of all Namibian people. In fact members of parliament must respect the view of the people who voted them (in),” council secretary Mukwaita Shanyengana said.

Daily newspaper New Era reported that the Christian Democratic Voice party had condemned those supporting the legalising of homosexuality, which it slammed as “unbiblical and immoral”.

Party leader Gotthard Kandume noted that as stated in the Christian bible, God had created Adam and Eve as the first male and female humans for a reason, adding that if homosexuality was allowed, the country should also brace itself for a demand next to legalise bestiality.

Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters member of parliament Kalimbo Iipumbu told New Era that his party’s position was that homosexuality should not be entertained at all cost.

Another daily newspaper, The Namibian, reported that the sodomy law was part of 33 apartheid-era laws considered obsolete and needing to be repealed.

In 2018, former justice minister Sacky Shanghala asked the southern African country’s Parliament to scrap about 144 discriminatory and outdated laws because they had been overtaken by more relevant legislature.

– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa