[DEBATE] : Zuma the proud polygamist, and me.

[Alan Murphy]

If polygamy is legally protected why is bigamy still a crime?
Alan
On 3/5/08, Peter van Heusden <pvh at webbedfeet.co.za> wrote:
> Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 8:40 AM, Dominic Tweedie
> > <dominic.tweedie at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> How about general paliandry rights?
> >>
> >> Under the SA Constitution, it may be that such rights, or equivalent,
> >> already exist, because if I am not mistaken there is a general
> >> stipulation that "he" can be read as "she" in any South African law,
> >> and vice versa.
> >
> > Interesting. Applying Raymond Williams' terminology, one might say
> > that the SA Constitution incorporates residual ("traditionally"
> > polygamous), dominant (heterosexually monogamous), and emergent
> > (homosexual + implicitly polyandrous?) ideologies all at once!
>
> Hi Yoshie
>
> South African "family law" is quite interesting in this regard. See, for
> instance, the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998, which
> replaced the (hideous) Black Administration Act of 1927, providing a
> framework for polygamous marriages to be brought in line with the
> Constitution. Its an interesting piece of law, and I understand that
> there is a similar Bill being worked on with regards to Islamic
> marriages (without all the hoopla that accompanied the Archbishop of
> Cantebury's recent suggestion that elements of Muslim law be recognised
> in the UK). The Customary Marriages Act is rather vague on some of its
> definitions though - ""customary law" means the customs and usages
> traditionally observed among the indigenous African peoples of South
> Africa and which form part of the culture of those peoples;" - seems to
> leave a lot to the imagination.
>
> Beyond what the Constitution incorporates, I think its interesting
> looking at these different strands (as you identify them) and
> associating them with difference social forces... for instance, what
> does the incorporation of "domestic partnerships" both for homosexuals
> and living-together people say about the value system of the ANC? How
> did such concerns end up on the ANC agenda while remaining conspicuously
> absent from the agendas of other African nationalist movements? And what
> does the future hold?
>
> Peter
> P.S. conceivably polyandry could fit in under the Customary Marriages
> Act, you just need to get the correct "traditional authority" to bless
> your union. ;)
>