A Johannesburg gay couple have won a seven-year-battle for permission to have a surrogate child.

Judge Seun Moshidi has ruled to allow the couple, whose real names have not been revealed, to pursue a surrogacy agreement with a 32-year-old woman, reports South African news brand IOL.

The mother-of-five from Roodepoort will relinquish her parental rights to any child she gives birth to fathered by one of the pair.

The couple say they have experienced obstacles including homophobia in their pursuit, claiming they want a biological child rather than an adopted one.

“It has been quite hard," says one of the pair. "We first tried in 2003 and went to a fertility clinic, but they did not like the fact that we were gay.”