Secular vs

1. Are the parties generally competent to conclude a marriage? 2. Are the parties competent to conclude a marriage with each other?

Age and being already married.

12 for girls and 14 for boys.

Being of the same sex and being too closely related.

The Marriage Act and the RCMA.

They may apply to the Department of Home Affairs to alter the sex description on their birth certificate.

The court held that registering the alteration could not affect the validity of an already existing marriage under the Marriage Act.

Parties in the direct line of descent, such as parent and child, are absolutely and forever prohibited from marrying each other.

Parties in the collateral line, such as uncle and nephew or niece, may legally marry each other if they are two or more generations removed from their common ancestor.

A spouse may not marry their ex-spouse's parents or children, but may marry their ex-spouse's siblings.

An adoption order creates an impediment to marriage between an adoptive parent and an adopted child, but an adopted child may still marry any other member of their adoptive family.

Secular marriage officers are public service officers such as magistrates and officials of the Department of Home Affairs, while religious marriage officers are appointed from a pre-approved religious organization.

The appointment procedure for religious marriage officers under the Civil Union Act differs from the procedure prescribed in the Marriage Act. The Civil Union Act only allows for the appointment of a religious officer from a pre-approved religious organization.

Religious officers can refuse to solemnize a civil marriage or civil union that does not conform to their religious denomination or organization’s rites, formularies, tenets, doctrines, or disciplines.

Misrepresenting oneself as having the authority to solemnize a civil marriage or civil union is considered an offense.

It requires that a civil union be solemnized “in a public office or private dwellinghouse or on premises used for such purposes, with open doors”.

No, the Act does not expressly provide for the solemnization of civil unions in religious buildings.

The default formula asks the “husband” or “wife” to declare that there is no lawful impediment to their marriage and to call on all present to witness that they take each other as their lawful “wife” or “husband”. If both parties reply in the affirmative, they will be asked to give each other their right hands, and the marriage officer will declare the parties to be lawfully married.

The failure to register a marriage or life partnership will not lead to the invalidity of the relationship.

Consent of the bride, consent of the bride's father or guardian (can be replaced by the mother if the father is deceased or not competent to give consent), payment of lobolo (negotiation regarding the customary marriage and payment of lobolo is a fundamental stage, but full payment is not required)

The consent of the first wife is required for the validity of a subsequent customary marriage entered into by her husband, as established by the constitutional court in MM v MN, based on the human rights of equality and dignity.

The marriage must be valid according to the law and formalities of the place where it was concluded (lex loci celebrationis), and recognizing the marriage must not offend public policy.

Polygamous marriages were considered against good morals (contra bonos mores) and not recognized. However, since South African law now recognizes most types of marriages, it would be difficult to not recognize a foreign marriage in South Africa on the basis that it offends public policy.