South Africa’s government is considering a proposal for polyandry to be legally recognised as a form of marriage in the country.
Polyandry is defined as a form of polygamy in which a woman has more than one husband while polygyny is a form of polygamy in which a man has more than one wife.
In South Africa, only polygyny is currently recognised where polygamous men can have many wives.
According to the news websites in South Africa the Department of Home Affairs is in push to promote equality as they recently published a landmark policy document calling for polyandry to be legally recognised as a form of marriage.
The department urges that the current marriage act is discriminatory and does not promote equality. The department also puts forward proposals to recognise Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Rastafarian marriages.
In Uganda, we have five types of marriages and these include; customary marriage, Mohammedan marriage, Church marriage, Civil marriage and the Hindu marriage.
However, all the legal marriages in Uganda are monogamous in nature and celebrated in the office of the Registrar General for residents of Kampala and in the offices of Chief Administrative Officers for other districts.