User:Alexandramorrow

Polygamy is defined as being married to more than one spouse at a time.[1] When a man has more than one wife at a time it is called polygyny[2]  and when a woman has more than one husband at time it is called polyandry.[3]

History
With the colonization of South Africa by the Dutch, English and the during the Apartheid era, polygamy was deemed outdated and unconstitutional.[4] In Post-Apartheid years, polygamy was refined by the South African government to fit into the context of the constitution. Jacob Zuma, the president of South Africa since 2009 and member of the Zulu tribe currently has four wives and twenty children.[5]

Cultural History
By definition culture is “Relating to the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a society.”[6]

Within South Africa there are various ethnic groups of people that ascribe to a diverse range of traditional practices that fall under the umbrella of the nation.

Culture as social theorist, Peter Walters, describes it is simply a “shared schematic experience.”[7]

Known as the “Rainbow Nation,” there are eleven official languages, in South Africa. The breakdown is as follows: Zulu (22.7%), Xhosa (16%), Afrikaans (13.5%), English (9.6%), Sepedi/Northern Sotho (9.1%), Tswana (8%), Southern Sotho (7.6%), Tsonga (4.5%), Swazi or SiSwati (2.5%), Venda (2.4%), and Ndebele (2.1%).[7]

Pre-Colonialism

Male dominance was prevalent in ancient sub Saharan Africa, as evidenced by architectural and anthropological discoveries. The practice of polygamy was mostly among the wealthier and elite of particular tribe and the payment of lobola (bride price) to the bride’s father was a deterrent among the general population. However polygamy and other marital practices became established culture to some degree in certain tribal cultures and not others. “This culture justified and legitimised the patriarchal (male dominated) order that kept women from being economically independent.”[8]

In examining the ancient rural settlements, there is a rigorous social language that reveals the inherent culture of the people. The Western notion an African “rural settlement” as a random placement of simple huts is incorrect. A rural indigenous African family settlement represented the patriarchal hierarchy in general and the social values of each different cultural group. Traditionally the family home was a series of huts distributed in a circular pattern around the cattle enclosure.[9]

For example in traditional Zulu culture, for the largest ethnic indigenous people in South Africa, the “Great Hut,” was where the family head and his first wife lived. This hut was prominently situated on the axis directly opposite to the homestead entrance. The huts belonging to the second and lesser wives were placed alternatively in a descending order to form a circular pattern around a cattle enclosure. Therefore is can be seen that there was a hierarchy amongst the wives, however, the inner circle of the settlement remained the domain of the women while the men were seen to dominate outside of the perimeter of huts.[9]

“Thus the real control of the homestead and its daily life lies in the hands of women, although its ownership, symbolically at least, lies with the men. In the constant daily struggle to retain the fine balance between “order” and “chaos,” the two genders are perceived to be equal partners.”[10]

In traditional Xhosa culture, polygyny was permitted, however it was rare for a man to have more than two wives, and only the wealthiest of men could do so as recorded by early explorers to the region.

Colonialism

With the prevalence of missionaries and the conversion of most of the ethnic tribes into a quasi Christianity there was no room, according to the church, for polygamous marriages. However, polygamous marriages in South Africa, amongst the indigenous nations were not as widespread as Christian missionaries would have their followers believe.

David Livingstone, one of the most famous African missionaries, in 1857 estimated that approximately “43% of Tswana men practiced polygamy, and then only a very small minority of these had more than three wives. By 1946 an official census revealed that this figure had dropped to 11% with only 1.3% having three wives or more.”[11] "“The practice of polygamy may, in most cases, be explained in terms of a levirate, a social practice, used to ensure the continued status and survival of widows and orphans within an established family structure. While it is true, therefore, that every rural family is potentially polygamous in nature, we need to question whether such polygamy was the result of 'male sexuality and lust', as the missionaries would have it, or merely the enforcement of social obligations intended to reinforce ties between family or clan groupings.”[11]"

Post-Colonialism

With the establishment of larger cities and the movement of people towards these urban-based societies there was a marked decrease in polygamous marriages. The local traditions and the needs of the family hierarchy in these rural areas were superseded by urbanization and the lack of need for a cultural group identity. Most city dwellers regarded polygamy as backward and was shunned by most black Africans living in the urban environment. Women however became more oppressed during this period due to the loss of their status as agricultural producers in traditional homesteads. Colonialism changed the marriage rules, but women were left without land and authority. [12]

Apartheid

During the apartheid era polygamy was illegal but the conditions imposed upon women in this era became even direr. It was still commonplace for a man to take on a second wife if his current wife could not produce him with a child, especially a male. Because of the forced separation of man and wife due to racial apartheid laws and the need for economic survival of the population, many male migrant laborers would have two wives, one close to his employment and the other in the rural area.[13]

Religion
European Christian missionaries and colonizers tried to change the ways of polygamous tribes in Africa, but ultimately failed. The participants and those who condone polygamy believe that this ritual is necessary in order for financially dependent women to be protected. Many of the church leaders who held a zero-tolerance policy for polygamists found that this act resulted in men leaving their families for the church. However, if a polygamist converts to Christianity he is restricted from “[taking] communion, [holding] a leadership position, [teaching], or [singing] in the choir.” [14] John Azumah, “the director of Islamic Studies at the London School of Theology,” coins this stance as “ambiguous.”[14]  In South Africa, polygamy is accepted and practiced by the Zulus, the Ndebeles, the Tswanas, the Xhosa, and the Venda who are all of either indigenous or Christian religion and many tribal Muslims including the Cape Malays and the Ngami.[9]  [15]

Health
South Africa has the current highest rate of HIV in the world at around seven million infected people.[16] The practice of polygyny in South Africa has been listed as a factor that has increased the spread of HIV and ultimately AIDS.[17]  There is an outdated belief that in poor communities, polygamy is the only method to preserving and gaining resources needed to survive. However, the practice of having unprotected sex with several partners furthers the transmission of not only HIV/AIDS but other STDs and STIs as well. It is especially difficult for those who contract HIV/AIDS and other diseases to receive medical care and therefor do not have the knowledge they need to not spread it to other partners, and mothers to their newborns. [18] [19]

Inequality for Women
Customary laws in South Africa do not represent women practicing polyandry. It is unheard of for a woman to have more than one husband because this has never been seen in traditions of indigenous tribes. This establishes a system of gender inequality,[20] that Cheik Anta Diop, the author of The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Patriarchy and Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity, calls “the ill-treatment of African women.”[21]  Jenine Hicks of the Durban Community Law Center discusses the feelings of the “black women” affected by polygyny and writes, “They find polygamy an incredibly discriminatory, disempowering practice that affects their status within the family.”[22]  However, men and women in the circumstance of a polygamous relationship, work together to economically provide for the individual family.[9]  It is a system of  “checks and cross-checks” that provides the men and women involved with equal job opportunities.[9]

Politics
The South African Customary Law refers to the system of rules recognized and practiced by indigenous and native communities.[23] The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 1998, also know as The Act, grants the South African people the right to polygamy. It acknowledges the rights by Customary Law to be engaged in a polygamous relationship as long as it is made aware by the state.[24] Under colonial rule and the Apartheid era, marriages were only recognized by the state of South Africa if they were performed in a church or was a civil wedding, however under The Act tribal and customary marriages are legitimized.[20]