By Dr Takavafira Zhou.
Harare, Zimbabwe. (News of The South) The institution of payment of lobola has recently come under seige in Zimbabwe with claims that some parents have commercialised it or commodified it.
Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi recently unequivocally stated that the payment of the bride price or lobola is no longer needed to solemnise a marriage. Some have even erroneously viewed lobola as a source of women oppression by men and a reflection of patriarchal prejudice and narrow-mindedness by African males.
Yet sound as these submissions may appear, lobola must be viewed in its proper historical context as solidifying bonds between families. For the avoidance of doubt, the bride price was traditionally more symbolic than otherwise as one could give just a hoe as the lobola price. If therefore, there are people abusing its traditional significance, the solution is not to abolish lobola but to ensure that it remains within the confines of its traditional value of bonding families.
As much as parliament, Senate and courts purport to render payment of lobola insignificant, the people’s courts will always respect it. Worse still men who have not paid any bride price are notorious for abusing their wives, while women who cohabit with men who have never paid lobola would always regret as such men can easily abandon them. The payment of lobola also provide opportunities for family members to meet and know each other and such social relations are also important in enhancing good behaviour and responsibility for the married couple. Where such gatherings do not ensue the longevity and sustainability of marriage in Africa is very limited. While the introduction of the Marriage Bill may be well meaning in terms of protecting children born out of unregistered marriages, it must never be used to assault the efficacy of cultural heritage, viz, payment of lobola. Any man who does not value the payment of lobola is not worthy his salt, and any woman who doesn’t respect the value of lobola is closeted by radical feminism.
As much as we cherish modernism, we must not necessarily abandon some good cultural values from the past, but must tap and harness such values for the betterment of the present and future. Not everything traditional is bad, and not everything modern is good. Hybridisation of good traditional and modern values may yield greater benefits for Zimbabweans in particular and Africans in general.
Dr Takavafira M. Zhou
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