Botswana church and cultural groups said in court Tuesday they opposed a bid by a gay couple to have laws against same-sex marriage overturned, in a landmark case for the region.

Bonolo Selelo, 41, and Tsholofelo Kumile, 39, have taken Botswana’s government to court, arguing that the Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it specifies only a “bride” and “bridegroom” can marry.

South Africa is the only country on the continent that recognises same-sex marriage, although homosexuality has been decriminalised in Botswana and other countries in southern Africa, including Angola, Lesotho and Mozambique.

Court papers seen by AFP say the couple were denied permission to register their marriage last year, with officials advising them to wed in South Africa instead.

The influential Dingwetsi Association non-profit, which promotes marriage and opposes divorce, said the case was “likely to have a cultural impact because the country’s customary law only recognises marriage between a man and a woman.”

A lawyer for the Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana, which encompasses 75 churches, said the organisation believed same-sex marriage “goes against the beliefs of their members who are Christians.”

Church ministers also had a vested interest because they administer marriages, he said.

Botswana’s High Court in 2019 decriminalised homosexuality, previously punishable by a jail term of up to seven years.

However, of Africa’s 54 countries, only about 20 do not currently criminalise same-sex relations with countries such as Uganda, Senegal and Niger recently tightening anti-LGBTQ laws.

AFP