I want to respond to previous articles in the newspapers with reference to The Namibian of 16 August 2024 with the heading ‘Traditional authorities want polygamy legalised in Namibia.’
Also, the second one in New Era of 20 August 2024 that legal practitioners, political analysts and traditional authorities strongly advocated for the legalisation of polygamy. Both of these articles referred to polygamy in essence. This may take on the above-mentioned scenario.
On 15 January 1999, The Citizen newspaper reported Professor Christina Landman’s views on polygamy as a liberating option for white South African women. Later the same year, on March 22, she appeared on Felicia Mabuza-Shuttle’s SABC TV show to reaffirm her views.
A theologian and member of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK), Professor Landman has advocated the legalising of polygamy among whites as a counter for South Africa’s high divorce rate, and as an alternative for betrayed wives and mistresses. She also believes it would reduce the incidence of venereal diseases, men’s need for prostitutes, and the need for women to become prostitutes.
She told The Citizen she does it in light vein to make it more palatable to white readers, but she was completely serious about the need to legalise polygamous marriages between whites. Polygamy would have been a better way out for many divorced women, she has counselled. Prof Landman made it quite clear that she would fight for the right of others to enter polygamy, which is preferable to divorce.
An interesting study done among Christians in Uganda shows that it is the men rather than the women who are in favour of polygamy. A large proportion of the men preferred polygamy rather than divorce.
Thirty-four percent thought that Christians should be allowed more than one wife, while 22.6% thought that divorce should be allowed under certain circumstances.
The women were less in favour of both divorce and polygamy. Meanwhile, 15.6% thought that divorce should sometimes be allowed, but only 6.6% thought that polygamy should be allowed.
In our attempt to evaluate polygamy, we must ask if they enable the purpose of marriage to be fulfilled. For example, one of the main purposes of marriage is mutuality (Genesis 2:24).
If this is true, then when we evaluate the form of marriage, whether polygamy or monogamy, we would have to consider whether they allow people to grow in loving communion and experience intimate, creative, growth-inducing relationships or not.
Another important reason for marriage is to provide a stable environment in which to have and bring up children (Genesis 1:28).
In Christian marriage, the marriage partners become one (Mark 10:5). Can this happen in a polygamous marriage? There should be equality between men and women; the same rules should apply to both.
Historically, polygamy was based on the economy of rich, older men. Only certain men could afford it. It was a class issue.
Kings and high-ranking persons had a “right” to acquire more than one wife. Yet, in modern times, this expectation has returned as a burden for those who wish to lead a monogamous life.
The current king took a wife, and said she was the only one. But under pressure from people and tradition, he began to take other wives.
We should know that African women bear the scars of polygamous marriages. Most of them certainly don’t want to go back to this. To simply call for a return or legislation of polygamy is to call for the further submission of women.
Whether polygamy is still attached to its traditional root or has a modern blend, it still enforces economic dependence. No women who are economically viable will enter a polygamous marriage; it is mostly those who live in poverty conditions because they are dependent on the man for survival.
They are further enslaved just to do what the man says. Polygamy does nothing else but destroys the moral fabric of the family.
Polygamy will not assist in the stop of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. There is no chance that polygamy will do this. AIDS comes through these men.
Many feel they have the right, since they have four or five wives, to continue to look for other wives, to continue to look for other women outside the home, to have as many women as they can. In this way, they contract the disease, bring it home, and infect all the wives. Nor will it stop infidelity.
Infidelity is not a matter of having adequate sex. It is about power and lust. It resides within the individual, and is a product of their socialisation.
Polygamy will not also bring an end to prostitution.
Prostitution is not about a shortage of men. Men do not seek out prostitutes for lack of sex in their own lives, but for entirely different reasons—power, the lure of the forbidden, lust. Prostitution is in part caused by poverty, as women with no other alternative way to raise money sell their bodies. To an even greater extent, prostitutes come from backgrounds of sexual abuse, mainly incest.
Thus, their entry into prostitution comes from the shattering personal damage done to them during their childhood.
Polygamy in no way touches upon those circumstances, and contrarily, the disruption and damage to the family caused by polygamy may in fact contribute to the problem.
In conclusion, Christians are against polygamy. Marriage for them is God- given at Creation: “Let us create human beings in our image. Give them dominion over the earth.”
This was also the beginning of an equal partnership.
For this reason, “a man shall leave his father and mother, and be united to his wife. They will become one flesh.” It is clear from these examples that God’s intention was for men and women to live together as husband and wife, and create and raise a family.
Marriage is a sacrament, and one to be shared exclusively by two people in equal partnership with each other.
Although the Bible holds marriage very highly, it is not the only way to live in the world. But if society thinks that polygamy is about liberating, then we missed the point, because polygamy, no matter how we look at it, is about lust, power and money.
*Reverend Jan A. Scholtz is the former chairperson of the Kharas Regional Council, and former !Naminus constituency councillor. He holds a Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), as well as a Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from Unisa.