20 Nov 2013

There is need for all marriage officers to understand the Marriage Act if they are to be more effective in the performance of their duties, the Kgatleng District commissioner, Ms Wame Samapipi has advised.

Speaking during a management of marriage workshop recently, Ms Samapipi said marriage officers should be aware of the legal impediments as laid out in the Marriage Act to avoid legalising marriages that were not supposed to be legalised.

She said they all had a role to play as stakeholders in the marriage institution to make sure things were done according to the law. She expressed concern that dikgosi, police and pastors did not attend to marriage issues even though it was something which they were supposed to do.

Ms Samapipi further said the workshop would help all stakeholders to know their roles and fully interpret the marriage act and explain it the same way. She said district commissioners and dikgosi from other regions had been called in because they all used the same Marriage Act.

The DC said customers should not be disgruntled when they wanted services from the stakeholders. Ms Mosetsanagape Busang, who is the assistant district commissioner in Kgatleng, said the overall objective of the workshop was to have stakeholders involved in issues of the institution of marriage coming together to share experiences and have a common understanding and interpretation of the different acts that are related to marriage.

She said they should know the legal impediments to marriage, married persons’ property act and protection of children. Ms Busang added that stakeholders should understand the differences and similarities between customary and common law marriages.

She said participants should be in a position to understand better issues surrounding this institution and be in a position to refer issues to relevant stakeholders whilst able to attend some without necessarily having to refer. ENDS