Bride price – or lobola as it’s known in Zimbabwe – has sparked debate in the country, one that has culminated in a legal battle.
A female lawyer in the country has filed a petition in court seeking to abolish the practise.
Lawyer Priccilar Vengesai has filed an application to the country’s Constitutional Court, arguing that the practice is unconstitutional and reduces women to “mere assets”, local Herald news outlet reports.
The former civil servant says lobola should be abolished, or both parties ought to pay, in order to offer women some dignity.
“The society for which lobola was envisaged no longer exists and the continued use of the practice in modern industrialised society exacerbates gender inequities without providing the social benefits traditionally associated with lobola,” she argued.
Most African societies require men to pay bride price to a woman’s family, almost always including domestic animals, in order to marry her.
To further claim her seriousness in the case, Vengesai said she will get married as soon as Zimbabwe outlaws bride price.
The case will go to trial only if the Chief Justice gives the nod that it can be heard by the Constitutional Court.
