Customary and white weddings are equal

No difference regarding the division of matrimonial property

- ANTHONY DIALA

A CUSTOMARY marriage is a union between a man and one or more women, which is concluded in terms of African customary law.

This means that the marriage must comply with traditional customs and ceremonies like negotiations between families, payment of bride wealth (lobolo), and handing over of the bride to the groom's family.

Although customary marriages are between individuals, the clan is heavily involved. In the rustic societies where indigenous customs arose, marriage was originally between the families of the couple. A customary law union is recognised as a valid marriage by the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 1998 (RCMA). It makes a customary marriage automatically in community of property unless the parties exclude it in a contract before the marriage is concluded. Community of property means that all wealth and liabilities that accrue during the marriage are shared equally between the parties if they divorce. This is the default position for all marriages in South Africa.

South Africa operates multiple legal systems because of colonialism. Dutch and British colonisers imposed their own laws and used them to regulate indigenous African laws. When democracy replaced colonialism and apartheid in the 1990s, indigenous laws received constitutional recognition. But they remain regulated by western ideas. The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act transplanted some western principles in the Divorce Act and the Matrimonial Property Act into customary law marriages. Africans who cherish indigenous culture regard these principles as foreign to marriage customs. They resent these principles because they are inspired by European colonialism.