By Elezo Libanda
Katima Mulilo, Sept. 2 – The skyrocketing amounts of money charged as lobola in the Zambezi region has left many prospective husbands scratching their heads in amazement.
Lobola is a widespread custom in many African societies where a man pays his father-in-law a certain amount of money and/or livestock as a token of appreciation for the woman he is about to marry.
The amounts charged vary from one community to the other but some communities have become notorious for commercializing a tradition that is meant to bring harmony between the family of the man and that of his wife.
The United Nations human rights committee reviewing Namibia’s compliance with the international covenant of civil and political rights recommended that the practice of charging and paying lobola should be banned because it is used as a justification for men beating and mistreating their wives.
In 2016, then Justice Minister, Albert Kawana defended the custom saying Government would not abolish the payment of lobola because it signified the commitment of love.
However, the controversy around the issue of lobola rages on as many people from the Zambezi has complained of the amounts charged, calling for the authorities to either regulate lobola or abolish the practice.
In the Zambezi region lobola can be as low as N$10 000 or as high as N$100 000, depending on other factors that always come into play such as the number of children a woman has, age, and the level of education.
The higher the level of education the woman has, the higher the lobola charged as compensation for lost potential earnings as the woman is expected to get a good job and uplift the husband and his family at the expense of her father’s family that sacrificed a lot to take the woman to the school.
Some unscrupulous in-laws research the husband’s wealth including his job before they decide what to charge for their maximum benefit.
Many people believe lobola has been turned into a lucrative business in the Zambezi with in-laws trying to capitalize on the situation but this has cost many women potential husbands who have moved elsewhere.
In northern Namibia for example, conservative traditionalists still ask for only one cow for their daughter’s hand in marriage.
This looks like a bargain for men from regions where families want to capitalize on their daughter’s marriage.
A senior village headman who did not want to be named said lobola is difficult to regulate as circumstances differ from one family to another.
He said, unlike in modern times, traditional marriage is often an agreement between two families where one can be married without paying hefty amounts of money or exchanging rings.
“It’s the hard economic times that have turned things upside down, people are selling their children, there is no way you can charge your son-in-law a heft amount and you expect your daughter to be happy in that marriage.
“Some people even took loans to pay lobola, it shouldn’t be like that, charge a reasonable amount you know the person can afford,” he said.
Customs such as these have great symbolic importance for some people and are meaningless to others, the point is they are not part of the essential legal content of a modern marriage.
A 34-year-old man from the Zambezi region said he left his prospective wife after he was charged N$70 000.
“I told them I was still looking for money but fell in love with another woman in the Oshana region, I didn’t even come to tell them I was no longer interested in their daughter. As we speak I am married, and they can wait for the next available customer,” he said.
“ The money I spent to get married in the north was not even half of the N$70 000 I was charged in the Zambezi,” Sibuzwa added.
