Same sex couple sues gov’t for right to marry

10 December 2025

A legal battle has begun at the High Court as a same-sex couple pur­sues mar­riage equal­ity. The couple, Bonolo Selelo and Tsho­lofelo Kumile, has taken the gov­ern­ment to court, chal­len­ging the Mar­riage Act, which they say for­bids same-sex mar­riages.

They are spe­cific­ally chal­len­ging Sec­tion 10(2) of the Act, arguing that it viol­ates Sec­tions 3, 7, 12, 13, and 15 of the Con­sti­tu­tion.

In papers seen by The Mon­itor, Selelo details their love story. The couple says their union began in Octo­ber 2023, and they moved in together two months later. They were engaged a year later, when Selelo pro­posed to Kumile dur­ing the Easter hol­i­days.

“I asked her not only to be my wife but also my life part­ner, for us to share our lives,” Selelo says.

After the engage­ment, the couple informed their friends and fam­ilies and began plan­ning an engage­ment cel­eb­ra­tion, which they hos­ted in Tlok­weng around June 2024. Fol­low­ing this, they began plan­ning their wed­ding.

“My fiancée and I desire to be mar­ried to each other in a civil mar­riage in accord­ance with the Mar­riage Act CAP 29:01 and to enjoy the rights and pro­tec­tions that flow from a civil union,” Selelo states.

In pur­suit of form­al­ising their union, the couple says that in April, accom­pan­ied by two wit­nesses, they went to the Depart­ment of Civil and National Regis­tra­tion— Mar­riages Office at BBS Mall to register for the pub­lic­a­tion of banns. They were rejec­ted. They say officers informed them that two women can­not marry under Bot­swana law. The pair was then referred to the head office, where they say they were again met with res­ist­ance.

The couple argues they tried to explain that noth­ing in law for­bids mar­riage based on sexual ori­ent­a­tion, cit­ing the mar­riage of Sir Ser­etse Khama and Lady Ruth Khama as an example of a union once con­sidered uncon­ven­tional but not illegal.

“We were advised that per­haps it would be best for us to go and get mar­ried in South Africa. We were fur­ther told that other couples had come before us and were given the same advice,” Selelo says.

However, the couple argues that get­ting mar­ried in South Africa would mean they can­not enjoy the rights and pro­tec­tions of mar­riage in their home coun­try. They fur­ther argue that their mar­riage “in no way, man­ner, or form pre­ju­dices the enjoy­ment of any rights or freedoms of any other indi­vidual”.

“My fiancée and I seek to form­ally cre­ate a fam­ily between the two of us through mar­riage. We too seek to enjoy the same rights, dig­nity, and recog­ni­tion as het­ero­sexual couples in Bot­swana in rela­tion to sol­em­nising our mar­riage,” the couple states. 

Accord­ing to the couple, being denied this right “not only deprives us of mater­ial rights such as inher­it­ance and med­ical decision-mak­ing but also per­petu­ates social stigma against same-sex couples.”

“We are treated as second-class cit­izens in our own coun­try when we are fully con­trib­ut­ing mem­bers of soci­ety,” they argue. 

The case returns to court on Feb­ru­ary 6, 2026. 

Source: https://www.mmegi.bw/news/same-sex-couple-sues-govt-for-right-to-marry/news