According to Emmanuel Dema: There are a lot of marriages of convenience in South Africa. Some court in the morning and before the end of the day they are married and staying together.
Chair of Umthombo Arts and Culture, Gerald Ngulube, says these cheap arrangements devalue marriage.
We have our own ways of marrying a wife. Here we see (omasihlalisane) connubial relationships that do not last. Men tend not to respect a wife they got cheaply. Our people are losing their culture in South Africa.
There is no lobola payment and no go-between in this marriage of convenience, he says.
This, he adds, is coupled with cultural decadence caused by embracing western culture and values. People, he says, learn the wrong things from the internet western movies.
Daphne Dube says some women come to South Africa expecting the grass to be greener, only to find it more barren.
Dube says girls end up with nowhere to stay and no job. This forces some girls to consent to any willing taker out of desperation.
Her solution? She advises girls not to come to South Africa unless they have somewhere to live and work.
Jazzman Prince said many Zimbabweans were forced by the situation to live like South Africans so that they could blend in. As a result, they had to behave in ways that would not be tolerated under the Zimbabwean culture.
Marriage, according to Ngulube, is sacred, a blessing from the ancestors and must be respected. It is a contract for life.
These undesirable marriages are an affront to culture and must be discouraged. They have no love and roots.
Post published in: Opinions