Polyandry: SA wants to legalise women having multiple husbands
Polygyny, which allows a man to marry more than one woman at the same time, is the only form of polygamy that is currently legal in South Africa.
An expert opinion:
A proposal by the Department of Home Affairs has recently sparked major debate and even creating a rift in parliament between DA MP Natasha Mazzone and Al Jama-ah party leader Ganief Hendricks.
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The new green paper for the Marriage Act was issued that not only creates legislation that would legally recognise Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Rastafarian marriages, but will also legalise polyandry.
They have published this 67-page policy document in the hopes that South African law will finally give recognition to these marriages, seeing as the current laws are discriminatory and this new legislation will create equality.
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While consulting with many stakeholders and activists, it was also made clear that for true equality to be reached, polyandry will have to be legalised as well.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of polygamy is: marriage in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time.
The only form of legal polygamy in South Africa at this point in time is polygyny, which favours men, but there have been no attempts to try and create the equivalent opportunity for women.
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The department maintained that although these proposals would rub some people the wrong way, they are standing firm in their belief that these changes should be made.
This is the beginning of a crucial public discourse that will re-define the concept of marriage in South Africa. The process will unearth issues that may make some of us uncomfortable, but will encourage dialogue within the South African and international communities.
Even parliament saw a heated debate when Al Jama-ah party leader Ganief Hendricks made some comments about polyandry that got DA MP Natasha Mazzone fired up!
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Hendricks had mention that he thought he is "very concerned" about this arrangement the proposal is suggesting and highlighted the confusion that could come into play should a woman have children with more than one husband, which would also most likely involve DNA testing.
Mazzone in turn did not mince her word's as she fired back:
I would like you to refer to what the last speaker, who I will not refer to as honourable, has just said. He was insulting to every woman in this country regarding the rights of women to have multiple husbands and the rights of men to have multiple wives. In this day and age, in the year 2021, to think that a public representative of this country would dare stand up in the parliament of SA and say something like that is an absolute disgrace. I want it referred to the ethics committee and may I say that the only woman in this country who would possibly feel that way is his wife.
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Hendricks also spoke to SAFM and once again stood by his views:
We need the religious sector to stand firm against introducing this. It is foreign and un-African. I can understand that the ANC Women's League wants 50% of women to be representative, they want a woman president, but I think they are taking it too far to also want African women to be able to take more than one husband.
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The public has been given until the end of June to make their opinions and comments heard.
And we want to hear yours: do you think polyandry should be legalised in South Africa?
Here are some of the thoughts and opinions KZN has already shared:
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