16/09/2025
[ IN THIS WEEK'S IBA LEGALBRIEF AFRICA ]
A landmark ruling by South Africa's Constitutional Court, enabling men to assume the surnames of their wives, has come under fire from traditional leaders and cultural experts for being 'disrespectful and unAfrican'. The Constitutional Court ruled last week that a section of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act is unconstitutional as it unfairly discriminates on the basis of gender as it fails to afford men the right to assume their wives’ surname. The ruling has unleashed anger from traditional leaders who say it undermines African cultural practices, erodes family identity and threatens succession norms.
In Kenya, the killing of respected lawyer and former head of a political parties' dispute tribunal Mathew Kyalo Mbobu has sparked outrage. Mbobu was driving home on Tuesday when a gunman on a motorcycle pulled alongside his vehicle and opened fire on a busy road in Nairobi. The Law Society of Kenya expressed concern over threats faced by lawyers, adding that the killing had ‘all markings of a predetermined assassination’. ‘Too often, advocates have been victimised and targeted for the work that they do,’ LSK president Faith Odhiambo said. It follows the recent assassination of South African insolvency lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk in his law office, which underscores a chilling trend in the country: the targeted killing of professionals in high-stakes financial investigations.
And a US judged has raised concern that the Trump administration had, ‘with a wink and a nod,’ deported a group of African nationals to Ghana, only to have Ghana redirect them to their home countries where they may face torture and persecution. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan is still weighing what, if any, power she has to order protections for the group of Nigerian and Gambian citizens, who were abruptly sent to Ghana last week. The immigrants had all won legal protections from being deported to their home countries over fear of being persecuted or tortured. Their lawyers say the Trump administration is circumventing those protections by sending them to Ghana, only for Ghana to prepare to re-deport them to their countries of origin.
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