Rectification or Reform? The SI 41 of 2026 Precedent

On 27 March 2026, the Law Revision Commissioner published Statutory Instrument No. 41 of 2026 – the Rectification of the Laws (Penal Code) Order – deleting paragraphs (a) and (c) of section 164 of the Penal Code. Those paragraphs criminalised carnal knowledge against the order of nature and permitting such an act. With a single statutory instrument, provisions that Parliament had consciously deferred were removed from the law books of Botswana.

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