‘Irretrievable breakdown of marriage’ now the only ground for divorce

Staff Reporter WHILE infidelity will no longer constitute an independent ground for divorce in Namibia from today, it will still remain relevant in divorce proceedings as evidence of an irretrievable breakdown of a marriage, which is now the sole ground on which a court may dissolve a marriage. In fact, courts may now take into account a broader range of factors as evidence of a marriage’s irretrievable breakdown, including a lack of companionship or intimacy, emotional estrangement, and a complete breakdown in communication. This was confirmed by High Court Judge-President Petrus Damaseb, who explained that Namibia has officially transitioned from a fault-based divorce system to a modern no-fault divorce system founded on the single ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage.

This follows the enactment by Parliament of the Dissolution of Marriages Act, 2024 (DoMA), which fundamentally reforms the law governing divorce in Namibia and officially came into effect today, 3 June 2026. “The emphasis of the new law is no longer on identifying which spouse is morally blameworthy for the collapse of the marriage. The focus is now on whether the marriage relationship has disintegrated beyond realistic restoration,”