South Africa has abstained from the adoption of the African Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values at the 4th Inter-Parliamentary Conference currently underway in Accra, Ghana.
According to the South African delegation, the Charter’s definition of marriage as solely between a man and a woman is inconsistent with the country’s Constitution and the international legal principles it upholds.
The position was announced by the head of the South African delegation, Zandile Majozi, during deliberations at the conference on Friday, June 5.
“Understand where we are now and the explanation that you have given, I want to state that in good faith, as South Africa would like to reserve our rights in not adopting the Charter. Because it contradicts the Constitution of South Africa, especially in Chapter 2, and also does not align with the regional and international laws that we believe in. So, we would like to reserve our rights not to adopt,” She said.
This comes after the Executive Secretary of the National Coalition for Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, Moses Foh-Amoaning, called on African legislators to resist advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, arguing that claims linking such rights to international human rights law are misleading.
Speaking at the 4th Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values on Thursday, June 4, 2026, Mr. Foh-Amoaning urged African lawmakers not to be swayed by arguments suggesting that LGBTQ+ rights are protected under international legal frameworks.
“Don’t be fooled by the human rights argument. It is a lie from hell,” he told participants at the conference.
He described LGBTQ advocacy groups as pursuing a deliberate agenda and accused them of using deceptive narratives to advance their objectives.
“This is an agenda-seeking set of people who are clear on what they want and their hallmark is deception and that’s what I want to expose,” he said.
Mr. Foh-Amoaning further argued that references to sexual rights, constitutional rights and human rights in support of LGBT issues were not grounded in international law.
“So when you hear them talking about human rights, sexual rights, constitutional rights, it’s all false,” he said.
