Bonolo Selelo and Tsholofelo Kumile stood at the centre of a Botswana courtroom this week, asking the state to recognise what they already know to be true: their marriage. The Department of Civil and Registration refused to register their union in May 2025. Now the couple has taken the fight to the High Court, where a five-judge panel heard two days of arguments in Gaborone on 22 and 23 October. A ruling is expected on 2 April 2027. If it goes their way, Botswana could become only the second country in Africa to legalise same-sex marriage, after South Africa in 2006.
For Selelo and Kumile, the case is not abstract. When the department declined to register their marriage last year, the practical consequences of that refusal became the substance of a constitutional challenge. Together with LGBTQ+ rights organisation LEGABIBO, the couple argues that the state’s refusal to recognise their relationship through civil same-sex marriage violates their rights to dignity, equality, non-discrimination, privacy and autonomy, as well as freedom of expression and association.
Those arguments carry weight beyond the courtroom door. LEGABIBO has been blunt about what exclusion means in daily life. “Exclusion is not symbolic; it denies practical legal protection,” the organisation said in a Facebook statement. It pointed to the areas of life where recognition matters most: property and inheritance rights, medical decision-making, spousal maintenance, taxation, social security benefits, and the legal security and stability of children raised in same-sex households. Each of these, the organisation argues, is left vulnerable when a couple’s marriage goes unrecognised.
The hearings themselves drew people from both sides of the question into the streets of Gaborone. Supporters of marriage equality gathered outside the court with rainbow flags and placards reading “Love does not harm” and “marriage 4 all”. Opponents from Christian groups held their own signs, stating “we say no to homosexuality” and “Mosadi le mosadi nyaa”, a phrase meaning a woman and another woman, no.
Inside the court, the state defended its position. Government lawyers argued that marriage serves the purpose of procreation, that same-sex marriage conflicts with Botswana’s culture and traditions, and that it violates religious freedom. The state also maintains that lawmakers, not the courts, should decide whether to introduce marriage equality. LEGABIBO reported that the respondents in the case, which include the government, the Botswana House of Prayer and Transformation, the Dingwetsi Association and the Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana, based much of their arguments on Christian doctrine.
Meanwhile, the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which is supporting LEGABIBO in the case, framed what is at stake for the people the law touches. “The matter is not only about challenging the administration and the Marriage Act at its core, but this case is about whether the State can treat one group of adult citizens differently because of the sex of the person they love and want to marry and then argue that this does not affect their constitutional rights,” the organisation said.
More detail on the hearings and the expected timeline is available at https://www.mambaonline.com/2026/10/24/botswana-same-sex-marriage-case-hearings-court-ruling-expected-in-2027/.
For the couple and those standing with them, the wait has already begun. Judgment will come more than a year after the arguments ended, leaving Selelo and Kumile and families like theirs in a holding pattern on questions that shape their everyday lives: who may make medical decisions for a partner, who may inherit, whose children enjoy legal security. LEGABIBO has made clear that the pause in proceedings does not mean a pause in the work. “As we await the court’s decision, our work continues,” the organisation said. “We will keep educating ourselves, sharing knowledge, challenging harmful narratives and advocating for a future where dignity, equality and justice are not conditional on who we love.”
When the five judges deliver their decision in April 2027, the outcome will determine whether the refusal that set this case in motion stands, or whether Selelo and Kumile’s marriage becomes legally real in the eyes of their country.