Section 20A
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Section 20A of the Immorality Act, 1957, commonly known as the "men at a party" clause, was a South African law that criminalised all sexual acts between men that occurred in the presence of a third person. The section was enacted by the
Immorality Amendment Act, 1969 The Sexual Offences Act, 1957 (Act No. 23 of 1957, originally the Immorality Act, 1957) is an act of the Parliament of South Africa which, in its current form, prohibits prostitution, brothel-keeping and procuring, and other activities related ...
and remained in force until it was found to be unconstitutional in 1998 by the Constitutional Court in the case of ''
National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Justice ''National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality and Another v Minister of Justice and Others'' is a decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa which struck down the laws prohibiting consensual sexual activities between men. Basing its ...
''. The text of the clause was the following: The prescribed penalty was a fine of up to R4000 or imprisonment for up to two years or both. "
Sodomy Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sodo ...
" and " unnatural sexual acts" were offences in the Roman-Dutch common law of South Africa. These offences criminalised, ''inter alia'',
anal sex Anal sex or anal intercourse is generally the insertion and thrusting of the erect penis into a person's anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex information, anpage 118for information about the clitoris. ...
, oral sex, intercrural sex and mutual masturbation between men, but did not apply to, for example, men merely touching or kissing each other. In January 1966 the police raided a gay party, at which about 300 men were present, in the Forest Town suburb of
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
. This, and a number of subsequent raids on parties and clubs in various cities, led to a
moral panic A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society. It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue", usua ...
. Homosexuality (particularly male homosexuality) was unacceptable in the Afrikaner Calvinist ethos of the apartheid regime, and
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
reacted by convening a Select Committee which, in 1968, proposed a number of amendments to the Immorality Act. One of these was the "men at a party" clause, which was consequently enacted in 1969. In one notable case in 1987, a conviction under the section was reversed on appeal by the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
because the court ruled that "a party" was not created when a police officer entered a room in a gay bathhouse because the two men in the room jumped apart when he switched on the light. The
Interim Constitution A provisional constitution, interim constitution or transitional constitution is a constitution intended to serve during a transitional period until a permanent constitution is adopted. The following countries currently have,had in the past,such a c ...
adopted in 1994 after the end of the apartheid regime, and the final
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
which replaced it in 1997, both prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, gender or sexual orientation. In 1997 the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality launched a constitutional challenge in the Witwatersrand Local Division of the High Court, asserting that the laws against "sodomy" and "unnatural sexual acts" as well as the "men at a party" clause infringed the equality clause of the Constitution. The government did not oppose the application, and in May 1998 Judge Heher handed down a judgment and order striking down the impugned laws. As required by South African law, the Constitutional Court issued a unanimous decision in October 1998 upholding Judge Heher's ruling to declare an act of Parliament illegal. Writing for the court, Justice Lourens Ackermann described the clause as having an "absurdly discriminatory purpose and impact," and stated that, "There is nothing before us to show that the provision was motivated by anything other than rank prejudice." Although it was already unenforceable because of the Constitutional Court's order, section 20A was formally removed from the statute-book by the
Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007 (Act No. 32 of 2007; also referred to as the Sexual Offences Act) is an act of the Parliament of South Africa that reformed and codified the law relating to sex offence ...
.Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007
s. 68(2) and Schedule.


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* {{Criminalization of homosexuality LGBT law in South Africa Sex laws in South Africa Repealed South African legislation Criminalization of homosexuality Gay history 1969 in South African law LGBT-related legislation