Same-Sex Couple Sues for Marriage Rights in Botswana

Bonolo Selelo met Tsholofelo Kumile on October 1, 2023, at a Pride event in Gaborone, Botswana. Two months later, they moved in together. Over the Easter holiday in 2024, Selelo proposed to Kumile during a hike. A year later, when they went to the local government office to register their marriage, they were told it was illegal.

“That was pretty predictable. But I don’t think they expected our reaction,” Kumile said, looking at her partner with affection. “She never backs down.”

The couple has taken the case to court, demanding the right to marry. The trial is scheduled for July 14 and 15. If they win, Botswana would become the second African country to legalize same-sex marriage, after South Africa in 2006. However, the case faces strong opposition from the government, religious groups, and traditionalists.

Selelo, a lawyer, worries about Kumile’s future if she dies. “I feel I can endure a lot of legal pressure, but I don’t want her to be harassed if I am no longer there to protect her. Marriage would give her the protection that no other institution can provide,” Selelo shared.

Botswana decriminalized same-sex relations in 2019 when the High Court ruled the colonial-era ban unconstitutional. That decision was upheld after an appeal in 2021. Now the government is defending the ban on same-sex marriage. A spokesperson for Botswana’s Minister of Justice said: “The Marriage Act provides that a valid marriage is between a bride and groom, or wife and husband, implying a union between a man and a woman. The law does not provide for same-sex marriage.”

However, the couple argues that another law, the Interpretation Act, supports their case because it states: “In legal texts, words importing the masculine gender include the feminine, and words importing the feminine include the masculine.”

Most of southern Africa and the island nations on the continent are relatively liberal compared to the rest, where 32 of 54 countries criminalize same-sex sexual activity. Since 2012, Lesotho, Mozambique, Seychelles, Angola, Mauritius, and Namibia have legalized same-sex relations. However, some countries have passed harsher laws, such as Uganda in 2023 and Senegal this year, increasing prison terms for consensual same-sex acts and criminalizing the “promotion” of homosexuality.

Public opinion in Botswana towards LGBTQ+ people has become more negative since the 2019 ruling. According to a 2021 Afrobarometer survey, 50% of Batswana said they would like or not mind having a homosexual neighbor. Three years later, that figure dropped to 41%.

Legabibo, an LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group, is running a “Lorato Ke Lorato” (Love is Love) campaign. “We want to show we are ordinary citizens, not asking for special rights,” said Matlhongonolo Samsam, who leads the campaign.

On the opposing side, the Dingwetsi Association, a traditional women’s group promoting heterosexual marriage, is seeking to join the case. Grace Silver, who founded the group in 2015, worries about divorce rates and family breakdowns. “This is our culture. We need to protect it,” she said. Moshe Morebodi from the Botswana House of Prayer and Transformation argued: “Gay rights are part of a Satanic cult.”

About 80% of Botswana’s population is Christian. Tshepo Ricki Kgositau, a member of the LGBTQ+ group in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, said: “It’s disappointing to see conservative interpretations from some members of the religious community. If you don’t know love, you can’t say you know God.”

Kgositau married her husband in South Africa in 2017, but her husband is not allowed to enter Botswana because she has not legally changed her gender. “That is truly devastating,” she said. For Brendon Tereki and his partner Tashatha, the case brings hope. “I really want to get married,” Tereki said, after having his first date with a man in public with Tashatha’s help.