Renthia Kaimbi
Confusion over the legal status of same-sex marriage in Namibia appears to have been fuelled by a WhatsApp message circulating on social media, which claimed that the High Court had ruled in favour of same-sex marriage.
The claim appears to have preceded concerns raised in the National Assembly by works and transport minister Veikko Nekundi, who on Tuesday questioned whether a recent court ruling had effectively legalised same-sex marriage in Namibia.
However, the office of the judiciary and the ministry of justice and labour relations have clarified that same-sex marriage remains illegal in Namibia.
Executive director in the office of the judiciary Bernhardt Kukuri confirmed to the Windhoek Observer, after checking with the Registrar of the High Court, that there has been no ruling legalising same-sex marriage in Namibia.
The WhatsApp message, dated 14 September 2026 and attributed to Ohangwena-based academic and political activist Erastus Shipanduleni Mwahafa, claimed that the High Court had ruled in favour of an LGBTQ activist who had taken the government, the justice ministry, the office of the attorney general and the ombudsman to court.
The message went further to claim that “a man can now legally marry a fellow man” and that women could similarly marry other women, while also suggesting that same-sex couples could have families, raise children and seek religious blessings.
Mwahafa described the alleged development as a concern and called on parliament to consider a national referendum on same-sex marriage.
He also proposed the legalisation of polygamy as an alternative, arguing that the recognition of same-sex relationships would worsen what he described as an existing imbalance between men and women in Namibian communities.
“Some women may end up poisoning fellow women to gain men… True speaking we already have hundreds of thousand men in prisons, that means most single ladies are without men because their men are either incarcerated, mentally ill or disabled,” the message reads.
The message was presented as Mwahafa’s personal opinion and expressly stated that it did not represent any organisation, church or political party.
It is unclear whether the message was the direct source of Nekundi’s remarks, but the timing and similarity of the claim suggest it may have contributed to the confusion.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Nekundi expressed concern over what he understood to be a court decision allowing same-sex marriage in Namibia.
Justice and labour relations minister Fillemon Wise Immanuel, however, rejected the interpretation and explained that the Supreme Court judgment handed down in May 2023 did not legalise same-sex marriage within Namibia.
Instead, the judgment concerned same-sex marriages that had been legally concluded outside Namibia and whether those marriages should be recognised for immigration purposes.
“The public needs to know that the May 2023 case was for immigration purposes. There was a legislative intervention culminating into the promulgation of the Marriage Act 14 of 2024 which unequivocally defines marriage, whether civil, customary or hybrid, as a union of persons of the opposite sex,” Immanuel said.
Immanuel further said he was unaware of any other court judgment that had specifically legalised same-sex marriage in Namibia.
“In so far as our legal and constitutional order is concerned, same-sex marriage is still impermissible on the Namibian soil,” he told the Windhoek Observer.
When contacted for comment, Nekundi expressed his opposition to same-sex marriage saying: “If they are saying there is no such high court judgement, then that is excellent,” further cautioning that “they must never try again to recognize such a thing in Namibia.”
