Earlier this year the Constitutional Court set a deadline for 1 December for legislation to be passed by Parliament to legitimize same-sex marriages. The hotly debated bill was approved by 230 votes to 41 in the 400 member national assembly, but must now still be approved by Parliament's second house, the National Council of Provinces, before it can be signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki.

The bill is not due to be debated in the National Council of Provinces until November 27, which leaves President Mbeki at most 72 hours to sign the bill into law to meet the deadline set by the Constitutional Court.

The chairperson of the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project, Jonathan Berger, said the new bill was a "victory for gay and lesbian people".

However, he said many aspects were still unsatisfactory. Section 6 of the bill, regarding freedom of conscience, indicates that marriage officers are allowed to object to marrying same-sex couples, but not heterosexual pairs. And what is most problematic for Berger is that the Marriage Act remains unchanged. He said there was no rationale for having two separate pieces of legislation that mean same-sex couples are kept out of the scope of the Marriage Act.

"There are many inconsistencies," he said.