Marriage Payments

NOTES COMPILED BY MR MUNEMO

► munemor@staff.msu.ac.zw
 LOBOLA/ROORA (BRIDE PRICE)$$$$$

► Rules of marriage Exogamy and Endogamy

► Exogamy stipulates that an individual must marry outside of a kin, residential, or other specified group.
► Endogamy, on the other hand, stipulates that an individual must marry within a specified kinship categories or social
group.
► Barnard (1997:475) defines endogamy as a ‘’system of marriage in which individuals can only marry those from within
the same kinship group.’’
► Schaefer and Lamm (1998) emphasised that endogamy is from a Greek word ‘endon’ which means within.
► It specifies the groups within which a spouse must be found and prohibits marriage with other groups. Cultures which
practise endogamy require marriage between specific social groups, classes or ethnicities. For instance a Danish
endogamist would require marriage only to other Danes.
► Dzimiri (2014) argues that Exogamy rules require that marriage be outside of some defined social groups while
endogamy requires it be within some large group such as local communities.
► Exogamy tells you who should not marry and endogamy tells you who would be accepted and preferred as your life
partner.
► According to Dzimiri different cultures have different patterns of marrying.
► Using the Shona Ethnic Group as a Case Study, Mawere and Mawere (2010) postulate that in
Zimbabwe the customary marriage practice of Kukumbira (asking for a bride/woman’s hand in marriage
from her parents, but with her informed consent) is common.
► Mawere and Mawere (2010) found out that many people cited heft bride wealth charges, colonial
legacy and modernity as reasons for the daunting of the custom, kukumbira, yet they wanted the
custom to continue on the grounds that it is a valuable part of their culture, respects women’s human
rights, stresses prohibition of pre-marital sexual conducts and that it reinforces family ties/links.
► However, the respondents pointed out that the custom should not be commercialized as heft bride
wealth leads to commodification of women (Mawere and Mawere, 2010).
► Mawere and Mawere (2010) found that those who advocate for the abolishment of paying Bridewealth and other forms of
marriage in Zimbabwe where lobola is paid were a minority.
► This minority relegated the custom on grounds that it is at odds with gender equality that contemporary women are fighting for.
► They also perceived kukumbira and other forms of marriage where lobola is paid as institutions of patriarchy intended to serve
males not the women concerned.
► In Zimbabwe, there is general consensus that Roora is positively appreciated although it is sometimes abused by some
parents who charge heft bride wealth as well as by some husbands and in-laws who abuse the married women’s rights on
grounds that they bought her at a price.
► The normative marriage customs of the Shona-speaking people are characterized by the negotiation and payment of bride
wealth.
► In Shona society, the payment of bride wealth, the main part of which is called roora or lobola for the Shona and Ndebele1
people (of Zimbabwe) respectively, is the basis of marriage and family obligations.
► However, despite the continuing emphasis on lobola payments in the ethnographic literature, studies suggest that ‘deviant’
types of union are becoming increasingly common, but little is known about their causes (Meekers, 1993).
► There is gradual erosion of normative marriage customs in favor of more informal types of unions. This has
been observed in many African societies, especially among the better educated and urban segments of the
population (Meekers, 1993).
► Most theories attribute this decline in the prevalence of formal marriages to the gradual breakdown of the
influence of the lineage and to changes in the relative status of men and women that result from
socioeconomic transformations.
► In societies where bride wealth is high, ‘there is a tendency to value premarital virginity and males (in
particular fathers and brothers) have an interest in controlling the marriage patterns of women’ (Obbo, 1980:
51)
► On a negative note, the transformation of African society towards ‘modernity’ and the attendant socio-
economic challenges colonialism imposed on African societies compelled insensitive structures of
governance to hijack traditional customs and practices to serve their ulterior motives.
► African traditional forms of marriage (tsika dzokuroorana, in Shona), is one part of the African traditional
culture that has been dramatically affected under the guise of modernity.
► Thus, colonialism and the tide of modernization that has swept across Zimbabwe and by extension Africa
are partly blamed for the daunting of the highly esteemed customary marriage practice of kukumbira.
► The colonial governments and missionaries who are considered champions of modernity had a strong
impact on the Shona, not only on their political organization and economy, but also on kinship systems,
gender roles and traditional customs.
► Although some traditional beliefs and practices still prevail, there are many valued traditional practices
that have failed to stand the test of time and others that are gravitating towards extinction like the
normative marriage custom of Kukumbira due to the aforesaid phenomenon-modernization. The Shona
tend to prioritize the modern.
► The issue of kukumbira, however, remains controversial and warrants discussion because among the
Shona like in any other African society, formal marriage is something greatly sacred and respected
► In contemporary Zimbabwe, marriage is understood as a union and bond between two people of the
opposite sex.
► Heterosexual relations are often prized over homosexual ties for their procreative capacity that often
consolidates the bond, not only between couples but also their families.
► In Zimbabwe normally, a woman’s father would not allow her to take up residence with her partner until
these bride wealth payments had started (Bourdillon,1998: 315).
► More so, procreation is significant since in the Shona culture one’s own being is believed to be
immortalized, that is, ‘the person does not only live in the present, but in the future’ (Gonese, 1999: 20).
 Changes in production impacted social relations.

► Smith (2007) maintains that the introduction of the Monetary Economy had an unbearable effect on the
natives of Zimbabwe.
► For Randal Smith, in Sipolilo District, the penetration of capitalist social relations was first felt through
interactions with storekeepers.
► The Native Commissioner's court, and shortly thereafter the Chiefs’ courts, assisted the spread of the
concept of commercial debt, and deeply affected the form and structure of roora marriages.
► Smith identified the dramatic surge in commercial debt cases, and the subsequent equally dramatic increase
in non‐commercial debt cases (largely in matrimonial disputes), in the Native Commissioner's court in the
1950s.
► Smith argued that the surge in non‐commercial cases echoed the upsurge in commercial debt cases. This
echo was not confined to the economic sphere, but spread to the spheres of law and social norms.
 Changes in production impacted social relations.

► While Mvududu notes that the function of 'lobola' - the bride price - in seven Southern African countries the
results in the wife become the property not only of her husband but also of his extended family.
► Furthermore the practice impacted negatively on women’s reproductive rights –
► This is because a wife would become a child-rearing machine, with little control over family planning or her
sexual health - and therefore on the health and development of the whole society.
► The institution of 'lobola', which is weakening in some circles but still widely condoned under the guise of the
preservation of tradition, is incompatible with a basic standard of human/personal rights for women; calls for its
abolition; and for governments to take a stronger lead in formulating laws that better protect women's marital
and reproductive rights.
► To Smith (2007) as young men sought Wage Work the traditional family lost control over the newly married
because historically parents would help their children in paying bride price. However the monetization of the
economy meant that majority of the young men would raise their bride wealth on their own and claimed
authority over their households.
► Arguably this saw the emergence of a nuclear family in Zimbabwe.
References

► Barnard, A and Burgess, T (1997) Sociology Explained. United Kingdom, Cambridge

► Bourdillon MFC (1998). The Shona peoples (Revised edition). Gweru: Mambo Press
► Christensen, J., 1953. : Shona Customary Law: with Reference to Kinship, Marriage, the Family
and the Estate . J. F. Holleman. American Anthropologist, 55(4), pp.599-600.
► Dzimiri, C (2014) Marry the Girl Next Door (Endogamy). IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social
Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 1, Ver. IV (Jan. 2014), PP 114-118 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-
ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org
► Gonese, G (1999). The three worlds. COMPAS newsletter number
► Obbo C (1980). African Women: Their Struggle for Economic Independence, Zed Press, London
► Schaefer, R T and Lamm, R P (1998) Sociology. United States of America, McGraw-Hill.