Namibia to amend laws to make divorce smooth

Namibia wants to amend the law to make it easier for people to divorce, chairperson of the Law Reform and Development Commission Yvonne Dausab said Monday.

Dausab, who paid a courtesy call to President Hage Geingob, said the existing laws have aspects that make it very difficult for smooth divorces.

Currently, those who marry in the north of the country - infamously known as red line marriages - automatically marry out of community of property.

"We should not have a differentiation between people who get married in the North, and those who get married in the central or southern parts of Namibia," Dausab said, adding that this piece of legislation is outdated.

According to Dausab, there will be a default property regime which requires that every person who will marry in community of property, unless they choose not to.

Other laws the commission is looking at is the Preventing and Combating of Torture Bill, which they hope to submit to the justice ministry for consideration soon.

"We are hopeful that we will meet some of our targets," Dausab said.

In addition, Dausab said the commission should be allowed time to carry out thorough research since they follow a number of processes.

"We take our research very seriously. We must sometimes delay a little bit and have a good law in place than rush it, as we have seen in many cases where people sue you for the unconstitutionality of a law," she said. Endit