South African women will be able to marry as many men as they want at the same time under proposed new law
- South African government proposed allowing women to marry more than 1 man
- It was part of a wider plan to reform the Marriage Act in the country
- Move to legalise polyandry has upset conservatives and some religious groups
- Musa Mseleku, who has four wives, said it ‘will destroy African culture’
- It is currently legal for a man to have more than one wife in the country
A proposal by the South African government to allow women to marry more than one man has led to controversy.
The government have proposed to legalise polyandry as part of a wider plan to reform the Marriage Act, which has upset conservatives and some religious groups.
Businessman and TV personality Musa Mseleku, who stars in a South African reality TV show about his polygamous family and his four wives, is against the move, the BBC reported.
He said: ‘This will destroy African culture. What about the children of those people? How will they know their identity?
A proposal by the South African government to allow women to marry more than one man has led to controversy and businessman and TV personality Musa Mseleku (centre), who has four wives, is one of those against the move
‘The woman cannot now take the role of the man. It’s unheard of. Will the woman now pay lobola [bride price] for the man. Will the man be expected to take her surname?’
Mr Mseleku said that he has been called a hypocrite being against polyandry as he has four wives. He said: ‘I’d rather speak now than be silent.
‘All I can say is that this is un-African. We cannot change who we are.’
Leader of the opposition African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) Kenneth Meshoe said the proposed law would ‘destroy society’ if the same marriage rights were extended to women, the Independent reported.
Professor Collis Machoko told the publication that objections are ‘about control’, adding: ‘African societies are not ready for true equality. We don’t know what to do with women we cannot control.’
He researched polyandry in Zimbabwe, his country of birth, speaking to 20 women who practised it despite the practice being socially taboo and not legally recognised.
The law currently permits a man to take more than one wife, and gender rights activists have asked government to make polyandry legal in the interest of gender equality.
A woman often initiates relationships in polyandry, inviting husbands to join her union.
Some of the co-husbands pay the bride price or contributes to her livelihood. Some men said they didn’t satisfy their wives sexually, while others said it was due to infertility.
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