South Africa abstains from adopting African Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values
via GhanaWeb5 min read
South Africa has formally abstained from adopting the draft African Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values during the 4th Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Sovereignty and Values held in Accra. The South African delegation, led by politician and Member of Parliament Zandile Majozi, cited fundamental conflicts with South Africa’s Constitution and international legal principles. The primary point of contention is the charter’s definition of marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman, which contradicts South Africa's legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2006 and its constitutional prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The draft charter, which emerged from conferences between 2023 and 2025, aims to affirm traditional family structures and protect African cultural values against perceived foreign ideologies on gender, sexuality, and reproductive rights. The Accra conference sought to build momentum for the charter ahead of a potential presentation to the African Union General Assembly.
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