Decades old customary marriage still valid despite husband leaving his first wife

THE authorities are clear that even desertion or adultery are not blameworthy conduct to render the dissolution of a customary marriage; they merely are a reason for marital breakdown, an acting judge said in finding that the customary marriage entered into by a couple in 1978 was still in force.

- ZELDA VENTER

The first wife of a man who died in 2023 turned to the Eastern Cape High Court to declare the deceased's marriage to his second wife in terms of civil law null and void. Although the first wife and the deceased parted ways in 1998, he had no right to marry his second wife 19 years later, the first wife said.

Her argument was based on the fact that he was still married to her when he remarried. Acting Judge M Mhambi commented that this case deals with an important aspect in legal jurisprudence: the question of how a customary marriage should be dissolved.

The question raised was whether the desertion of the matrimonial home by either of the spouses dissolves the customary marriage.