The government is edging cautiously into one of its most sensitive social debates, as it reviews marriage laws while maintaining an officially neutral stance on homosexuality.
Serowe South MP Leepetswe Lesedi asked the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Pius Mokgware whether the government might legalise same-sex marriage and how it is responding to growing calls for broader LGBTQ acceptance.
The minister’s reply reflected a government balancing legal precedent with political caution. Botswana, Mokgware said, has not adopted a position with regard to homosexuality, but operates within the framework set by the courts. A landmark 2021 ruling by the Court of Appeal of Botswana upheld the decriminalization of same-sex relationships, striking down colonial-era provisions that criminalized same-sex intimacy as unconstitutional.
‘Consensual same-sex intimacy is therefore not proscribed,’ Mokgware said, adding that public confusion persists over what the judgment permits. In essence, he said, the ruling simply means such relationships are no longer criminal offences.
Marriage, however, remains defined in more traditional terms. The current law recognises unions only between a man and a woman. Yet the government has begun reviewing the Marriage Act, a process that could open the door, at least procedurally, to reconsidering that definition.
‘My ministry is currently reviewing the Marriage Act in line with the Constitution of Botswana,’ Mokgware said, adding that consultations with stakeholders would include ‘issues such as this one’, a cautious reference to same-sex marriage.
The government appears reluctant to move faster than public opinion. It keeps no official data on sexual orientation, Mokgware said, arguing that such matters fall outside the remit of civil registration systems. Nor has it embarked on a centralised campaign to promote LGBTQ acceptance, framing the issue instead as ‘cross-cutting’ and requiring dialogue across society.
That leaves country in a familiar position, legally progressive by regional standards but socially and politically incremental. The courts have dismantled criminal penalties, yet the state has stopped short of endorsing broader recognition.