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World.- A major controversy shakes South Africa after the Department of the Interior proposed to allow women to marry more than one man.
In this country, which has one of the most liberal constitutions in the world, same-sex marriages for men and women and polygamy for men are legalized. And now gender rights activists have called on the government to legalize polyandry, that is, the marriage of a woman to several men.
However, the new document released by the Interior Department appears to have disappointed many, who sharply criticized the possible law.
The reform aims to change the Marriage Law established in the country. Polygamy, a practice in which a man may have more than one wife, is legal in the country and has been permitted in the South African Constitution since 1996.
Among the critics is Musa Mseleku, a South African television personality who stated in an interview with the BBC that the move could “destroy African culture”. “What will happen to those people’s children? Is the man expected to adopt her last name?” she asked.
While some are concerned about the future of children born of such marriages, others, including the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party, the Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, welcome the fact that men have multiple spouses, but not women. Meshoe argues that “men are jealous and possessive,” so the confirmed marriage of several men and one woman cannot work.
For his part, Professor Collis Machoko, an academic who has conducted research studies on polyandry, told the BBC that “African societies are not prepared for true equality.”
The passage of polyandry would be the largest revision of marriage laws since the end of white minority rule in 1994 in South Africa.
