South Africa became the first country on the continent to legalise same sex marriages as the government vowed to to banish discrimination in its all forms after the downfall of apartheid.

After an often heated debate, 230 lawmakers gave their final approval to the civil union bill while 41 opposed it. There were three abstentions.

"In breaking with our past ... we need to fight and resist all forms of discrimination and prejudice, including homophobia," Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told MPs in Cape Town.

"When we attained our democracy, we sought to distinguish ourselves from an unjust painful past, by declaring that never again shall it be that any South African will be discriminated against on the basis of colour, creed, culture and sex," she added.

After the end of the apartheid era in 1994, during which black South Africans were denied the vote, a new constitution was drawn up specifically banning discrimination on the grounds of race, gender and sexual orientation.