The bill was initially opposed by gay rights groups because, as the name suggests, it would have given us only the right to civil unions; however, at the last minute, it was amended so as to permit “civil union or marriage” for “two persons.”
Once the bill is passed, South Africa will become the first African, indeed the first developing country to permit SSM - also the first republic, interestingly. Fitting, as South Africa was also the world’s first country to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in its constitution.