By Linda Daniels
President Thabo Mbeki has two days to consider and sign the Same-Sex Marriage Bill into law after the National Council of Provinces passed the controversial measure.
Both houses of parliament were under pressure to pass the Civil Union Bill and still allow Mbeki enough time to consider its constitutionality and sign it into law ahead of the Constitutional Court deadline of December 1.
From Friday, same-sex marriages will be legal in South Africa. The National Assembly approved the bill two weeks ago.
Almost all opposition parties in the NCOP on Tuesday voted against the bill, but the ANC managed to push it through, along with some Democratic Alliance MPs who were allowed a free vote by the party.
Parliament hosted public hearings on the bill, which allows for same-sex couples to tie the knot or enter into a civil partnership.
A total of 128 public submissions were made to the NCOP's social services committee, which processed the bill, and the majority of these were opposed to same-sex marriages.
In the NCOP on Tuesday, MPs debated the merits and demerits of the bill.
The Inkatha Freedom Party's Jeanette Vilakazi said the majority of South Africans were opposed to the bill.
"Same-sex unions are inconsistent with culture and traditional family values... this bill will obviously lead to the disintegration of family life and will encourage abnormal sexual behaviour."
The United Independent Front's Neville Hendricks said: "What we talking about here is right and wrong, not equality. The fact is, we are about to pass a bill that legalises sodomy. It's about what message we are sending to the youth."
The Freedom Front Plus's Frikkie van Heerden said the fact that South Africa was one of the few countries in the world which recognised same-sex marriages was not something to be proud of.
At the end of the debate, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appealed for tolerance.
She said she was a committed Christian and that religious diversity needed to be respected. She added that the bill empowered gays and lesbians to come up from the "underground".