Polyandry: Can you share your wife with another man?
published May 26, 2021, 12:25 p.m. by mariamagboola
Polyandry: Can you share your wife with another man?
Better put, can you be a mate to another man? If a woman can have a mate and remain in a marriage why can’t a man?
New marriage law being proposed in South Africa is considering polyandry; an arrangement that allows a woman gets married to more than one husband.
The country’s Department of Home Affairs has published a Green Paper document on new marriage law and has allowed for public comments on this.
Though this is seen as a positive development by feminists who want equal right for men and women but most men in the country including polygamists are strongly kicking against this.
A polygamist Mr. Musa Mseleku of Mzansi Magic Reality Show said such arrangement is unacceptable because it will not only destroy culture, but also cause confusion in society.
He said such debates will not be opened in his house; adding that “I feel women are now pushing their dirty agenda under the banner of equality. My wives will never have more than one husband. It is a debate I will not even entertain; he said emphatically.
Musa reiterates “My view is that polyandry will create confusion in society. This is because there are things that cannot be changed. A woman cannot have more than one husband because such things are governed by the laws of nature.
He went spiritual with his view; saying humans as spiritual beings if they allow such laws to be passed, they will have their ancestors to contend with.
Musa said according to their culture, when a woman is pregnant she can only be intimate with the father of the child.
“Secondly, when a man gets into this type of marriage which surname is he going to adopt?”
According to him, polyandry may also increase cases of gender-based violence as no reasonable man will allow his wife to sleep with multiple men.
Agreeing with Musa was husband of two, Lucky Gumbi “Women will never be on the same level as men. Culturally, women are required to behave in a certain manner and getting married to two men at the same time is not just appropriate. Women will lose their dignity and cannot be submissive to two men at the same time.
Another man said ‘from traditional and cultural aspect, this polyandry thing is absolutely wrong. It will end a lot of marriages in South Africa and it should not be supported.
“No man would allow their wife to have two marital homes. It has never been done and it should not start now.
The purpose of the Green Paper is to establish a policy foundation for regulating the marriages of all people living in the country.
Can such a proposal get to Nigerian National Assembly?
