CAPE TOWN – South Africa's highest court has ruled that husbands are now legally allowed to take on the surnames of their wives.

The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that certain sections of the current Births and Deaths Registration Act are "unconstitutional", as they "unfairly discriminate on the grounds of gender".

The ruling was made after two couples approached the Constitutional Court.

One man, Henry van der Merwe, was not allowed by the Department of Home Affairs to take the surname of his wife Jana Jordaan, while in the case of the second couple, Andreas Nicolaas Bornman was disallowed from hyphenating his surname to include that of his wife Jess Donnelly-Bornman.

The matter was heard on March 4, and judgment was delivered on Thursday. Cited as respondents in the matter were the minister of home affairs and the minister of justice and constitutional development.

"The tradition of women taking their husbands' surname was a colonial import. This practice reinforced patriarchal norms where women were seen as subordinate to their husbands and expected to assume their identity," said the Constitutional Court in its ruling.

"The declaration of invalidity is suspended for a period of 24 months to enable Parliament to remedy the defects by either amending existing legislation or passing new legislation within 24 months, in order to ensure that all persons are afforded the right of assumption of another surname," it said.

In addition, the minister of home affairs was also ordered to pay the applicants' costs in the Constitutional Court, including the costs of two counsel.