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South Africa’s Constitutional Court has struck down a law preventing men from adopting their wives’ surnames, calling it discriminatory and a “colonial import.” The law, dating back to the apartheid era, only allowed women to change their names upon marriage, but the court ruled this violated the constitutional right to equality. The ruling highlighted that in many African traditions, women kept their birth names and children took maternal clan names. The case was brought by two couples—one seeking hyphenated names, the other a husband wanting his wife’s surname. The court suspended the current legislation and directed the government to amend it within two years. The ruling sparked diverse reactions online, with some people praising it as a progressive step and others criticizing it as cultural erosion.
DW