Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - May 07, 1999
Samu Zulu
The case that sparked the decision involved seamstress Vennia Magaya, who sued her half-brother for her portion of her father's estate. According to Zimbabwe's laws and Constitution, she had a clear claim as an heir. The laws have now been erased.
Another Zimbabwean woman, Marita Ncube (42) of Kezi, south of Bulawayo, was recently jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of arson. Ncube burned down her father-in-law's house after he insisted on having sex with her. When Henry Ncube married Marita 22 years ago, his father Dumisani Ncube consummated the marriage. "I have the right to continue sleeping with the young woman," an unrepetant Dumisani Ncube told magistrate Thembelani Khumalo. Among the Kalangas - the tribe to which Zimbabwean political leader Joshua Nkomo belongs - sex between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law is not only permissible but compulsory.
Raphael Bhutshe, a staunch Kalanga traditionalist, says their young men are not allowed to have sex with their wives until the head of their families officially "approve" them. There are no dissenters or protests usually, and Kalangas claim they have practised this tradition since time immemorial.
"Among my people, sex between a father-in-law and daughter-in-law is an initiation act never to be ignored," Bhutshe said. Besides being a way of welcoming a new bride into the households, the father-in-law is also believed to be more experienced in determining a bride's virginity.
A Kalanga father presides over all domestic disputes, Bhutshe said, and a daughter-in- law who had sex with him would "have absolutely no inhibitions when she reports matters concerning her sexuality".
But there is a restriction: sex between the father-in-law and his son's wives can only happen on the wedding night. Dumisani Ncube was not satisfied with one night only.
Marita Ncube told the court that she had been pestered by her randy father-in-law who wanted to have sex with her regularly. "I don't want any more of it. I will never do it again and that is why I burned down his house. I was disgusted by my father-in- law's persistent requests for sexual favours," she said.
Dumisani Ncube told the court: "It is my responsibility to look after my son's possessions until he returns from Johannesburg. This includes his wife." Marita Ncube appeared delighted with the decision to imprison her. "There's HIV and Aids . How on earth do I know whether my father-in-law is infected or not? I am happy that the magistrate has sent me to prison because then the old man will not be able to harass me any more."
Jane Ndlovu, co-ordinator of the NGO Women against Male Oppression, has vowed to appeal against the sentence. "Dumisani Ncube had his chance to test his daughter- in-law when his son married her in 1976," she fumed.
"Whether her sexual performance was irresistible or not, he had no right to sleep with her again because that is against Kalanga laws. The burning down of the house resulted from provocation and I am surprised that the magistrate did not take that into account."
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