Recently Zimbabwe was entertained to the best reality soap opera a country can ever have. Attempts by Zimbabwe's prime ministers to marry monogamously, were scuttled by a jilted lover, amid high drama, scandal and salacious exposure of the Prime Minister rather lurid sojourns, with members of the opposite sex.
Some of us were twisting and distorting our jaws with laughter so much that, we almost ended up requiring a plaster-cast to straighten them. Those of us who understand Shona customs, were understanding nuances of what was happening in minute detail.
Only when a white colleague in the UK said, with a rather confused air, she now understands what the furore was about, did I realised that drama must have been flying over the heads of a large portion of the audience who have no clue about Tsvangirayi's Shona culture.
In Zimbabwe you can have either a civil marriage (held under European Marriages Act during the colonial days) which MUST be monogamous.
You can also have a customary marriage (held under the African Marriages Act in the colonial days).
European marriages are held in church or in the courts and are immediately registered.
Customary marriages are usually held in traditional ceremonies at home. The vast majority are not subsequently registered. That is if marriage process is completed in the first place.
Customary marriages involve a very elaborate process which involves a number of steps. The steps can generally be broken down into three basic stages.
1. Approaching the family of the bride to ask for her hand in marriage.
2. Negotiating and paying the dowry.
3. Handover of the bride to the groom's family. This may take place even if dowry has not been paid in full.
Some marriages then go on to step number 4, though this is not considered necessary in our customs.
4. White wedding (so called because the bride's white gown).
This last step may, but no always, also involve registration of the marriage as a civil union. Usually the grooms family ask for permission for a white wedding during step two. If that is granted then step 3 and 4 may be held together and are presumed to be mere formalities.
You may be wondering, do poor people marry? Yes they do because the dowry does not have to be paid in full for the bride to be handed over. But then permission for a white wedding is usually denied.
There is also another variation of the process which involves the bride simply eloping without her family's permission. This is now far much more prevalent because of poverty.
In that case the process starts at step zero, notifying the bride's family that 'we have your daughter'. That step is called matsvakirai kuno or matsvangirayi kuno (search [for your daughter] with us). Now you know where Morgan's surname comes from.
Understand that by our Shona customs, you are not considered married by your families if you only have a civil marriage. You are derisively referred to as just doing kubika mapoto (literally 'cooking pots' - which is cohabiting). By strict customary standards, a civil marriage is considered invalid and is not recognized by both families.
Hence most Africans go through the customary process first. Even if it is not complete (dowry has not been paid in full) the grooms family must ask for permission from the bride's family to have the marriage registered, or to hold a white wedding. You cannot go ahead and just register the marriage without that permission.
In contrast the law, first written by Europeans, recognizes civil marriages but does not recognize customary marriages. Also court judgments have precedence over customary practices.
With Locardia, the woman who stopped his marriage, Tsvangirai went up to step 2. He paid US$35'000 dowry (a typical dowry is between US$2'000 and $10'000). Tsvangirai's delegation also asked for permission to hold a white wedding and were granted.
Theresa Makone who was part of the delegation is heard shouting joyfully 'Tapihwa muchato!'. (We have been granted permission for the wedding!) She is the co-minister of home affairs in Cabinet. What this means is that step 3 and 4 where now mere formalities. For all intends and purposes Tsvangirayi was married to Locardia.
However in the week after step 2 there was a huge political furor over Tsvangirayi marrying into a Zanu-PF family. The Karimatsenga family then quickly conducted step 3 handing over the bride without waiting for step 4 to be organised. In terms of Shona tradition, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.
However because of the political furore, some people were now claiming the process was now being run by the CIO. That is hogwash. Traditionally the CIO would not have had a role to play. They are not Locardia's relatives. What happened, Locardia going to Tsvangirayi's rural home, is normal as per tradition anyway.
Also, according to some claims not denied by him, Tsvagirayi had already impregnated Locardia. That means in terms customary tradition Locardia was also entitled to kickstart the process at step zero - simply eloping to Tsvangirayi's home.
Thus the undisputed facts, proved by a video produced in court, are that Tsvangirayi had voluntarily gone up to step 2. He had also asked for step 4 and had been granted permission, so it was also a formality. Thus in terms of customary tradition Morgan was in a marriage to Locardia recognized by both his and the Karimatsenga family.
Tsvangirayi then made a U-turn faster than a MiG 21 in a dog fight. He announced in the press, not to the Karimatsenga family, that he was breaking up with Locardia. In our customs to divorce your wife you give a her a token called gupuro. This must be handed to her, in front of members of her family and the groom's family.
In case of heated disputes, the case may need to be taken to a traditional leader such as a chief or a headman. He would pass judgement to either allow the divorce or reject it. In cases where there are children born in the marriage, divorce is mostly rejected, unless the woman agrees.
In Shona culture it is considered not proper to ask a mother to leave her children. At the same time the children are considered to belong to the husband's family, and must stay with him. A divorced woman must go back to her family.
Tsvangirayi then went through the same traditional process for Elizabeth Macheka. There is nothing wrong with that because polygamy is allowed by customary tradition. That is to say he approached her family, paid dowry and apparently she was handed over to him because he has been travelling around with her. Thus step 1 to 3 had been completed.
Step 4, the white wedding was what was now being arranged. Tsvangirayi also intended to register this marriage as a civil union (European marriage) which must be monogamous.
At law European marriages trounce African marriages. Successful registration of Elizabeth's marriage would have automatically invalidated Locardia's customary marriage. But the law does allow for objection to a civil union within 90 days.
Locardia did jump the gun and appeal straight to the High Court. The High Court told her to go and object with the magistrate who granted Tsvangirayi the marriage licence. Her case was not completely thrown out as claimed by some.
The objection was lodged. The magistrate sustained the objection and withdrew his permission for Tsvangirayi to marry Elizabeth in a monogamous civil marriage.
I have read the magistrate's ruling in full, and I think it is pretty straight-forward. In terms of the marriages laws, Locardia's customary marriage would not prevent Tsvangirayi from marrying in a civil union. Remember these are laws which were designed to favour Europeans in the colonial racist system.
However in terms of the criminal laws sanctioning the civil union would be allowing Tsvangirayi to commit bigamy, a crime. Annulling Locardia's customary marriage to allow the civil marriage could in theory have been possible. But that would have set a very bad precedent for women.
The vast majority of African women are in unregistered customary marriages. Many men resist entering into civil unions because of the legal restrictions placed upon their philandering activities. Others are unable because they haven't paid dowry portions big enough to get permission from the bride's family. Perhaps the biggest number, it is because they women simply eloped, and the husband cannot afford dowry.
Please let nobody try and insult us for not simply ignoring our families. It is our culture and we are proud of it. We will probably ignore it the day the British get rid of their monarchy, which according to some is fo no use. Besides the marriage process, has important ramifications throughout life, right up to the day of the burial of either spouse.
Culturally, not having a proper customary marriage is considered an impairment of dignity and may be met with stigmatization, hurtful mockery and jibes by family members. I have already said a non-customary marriage even if it is a registered civil union, is derisively and contemptuously referred to as kurova mapoto. Any self respecting Shona person, would want to be in a marriage that is accepted by their families.
This should also explain to many why Locardia fought tooth and nail to have her marriage remain relevant customarily. Remember in her affidavit she said she didn't object to Tsvangirai taking a second wife. It was a matter of upholding her personal dignity in the eyes of the community.
Those who are saying things were arranged by state agents are simply being shallow. Any woman would have done what she did. Most women cannot do it because they are too poor. They do not have the resources for legal action. They often fall victim to abandonment by philandering and scheming husbands.
Organisations such us the Legal Resources Centre, were primarily set up to try and help Zimbabwe's poor women who fall victim to men's shenanigans such as the one Tsvangirayi was trying to pull on Locardia - get a civil marriage to get rid of the old customary wife without a proper divorce settlement.
In Locardia's case it might seem frivolous because the marriage had not lasted, but this regularly happens to women who have been married for decades. They and their children are abandoned and find it difficult to get redress at law. Most don't.
A ruling simply annulling a customary marriage, to allow a civil marriage, without due process, would have completely stripped women of what little rights they have at law. Any man who no longer wanted his customarily married wife, could in theory simply find another woman and marry her in a civil marriage without proper divorce settlement.
I think the case highlights some of the senseless contradictions cause by imposing the values of one culture upon another without any thought to it at all. Tsvangirai was trying to exploit a loophole that some Zimbabwean men use to get rid of their customarily married wives without proper divorce settlement.
Believe me if Tsvangirayi did not have so many foes watching his every misstep, waiting to trip him up, he would have pulled this off without a hitch for Locardia only to discover many years later that she did not have a marriage. Many women only discover upon the death of the husband that he is in a civil marriage to someone they thought was a mere second wife and they are not entitled to anything.
Perhaps the greatest irony of the whole saga, is that after a very bumpy round robin ride, Tsvangirayi is exactly where the whole thing started, still married into a Zanu-PF family albeit a different one. However the round-robin ride has considerably jolted his moral standing, and caused maybe mortal damage to his political stature.
I wonder why his supporters couldn't just let him marry whoever he wished in the first place. In the end all that was achieved was to give opponents luxurious time to take pot-shots at his moral standing, I would say with considerable success, for absolutely nothing in return.
It was like asking a platoon to go for an exercise jog, between the opposing trenches during the first world war - take a risk for no good reason.
Those who are saying Tsvangirai defied a court order are wrong. He didn't because he married customarily whereby polygamy it is allowed. The court order was to stop a civil monogamous marriage.
However he may have perjured himself. He swore before the magistrate that he didn't have any impediment hindering his intention to enter a monogamous marriage, while he clearly knew about the Locardia marriage. He may argue that he didn't know he was required to properly divorce here. As we know ignorance is no defence at law.
He basically admitted to this marriage when he attached a $1 gupuro (divorce token) to an affidavit he tried to hand to the magistrate.
I do not know exactly why Tsvangirai tried to hand the token to a magistrate, because that is not how it is done. The magistrate stated that the wife to be divorced was not present to give her side anyway.
There is also another catch, a woman may simply refuse to be divorced. This usually happens where a woman has children. Refusing the token means that she may stay with the husband's family, and use their resources to look after the children, though the husband might subsequently deny her conjugal rights.
A woman, especially one you deflowered, might also refuse to leave. In our culture a woman is supposed to be a virgin upon marriage, thus a woman is allowed to claim that she can no longer get married elsewhere because you deflowered her.
While many found the whole saga humorous, the matter of customarily married women falling victim to scheming husbands is not a joke. The vast majority of Zimbabwe's marriages are unregistered customary marriages.
Many women only discover, upon the death of the husband, that they are not even entitled to the estate of the man they have been married to for life. He would be in a civil marriage with someone they thought was a co-wife.
Now that Tsvangirai's behaviour has highlighted the problem, I hope it can be non-partisanly tackled, in order to protect women and children.
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