Dec. 27 (GIN) – Polygamy remains deeply entrenched in South Africa as confirmed by the recent marriage of Mandla Mandela, grandson of former president Nelson Mandela, to his third wife, Swazi princess Mbali Makhathini. Mandela carried out the wedding despite a court ruling upholding his estranged wife’s rights to an exclusive union.
Mandla Mandela’s estranged wife – Tando Mabunu-Mandela- had won a court ruling prohibiting her husband from marrying another woman while their marriage subsists.
Polygamy is technically restricted under the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act – signed by Nelson Mandela – that states that until the Mandela marriage is dissolved, he cannot marry anyone else.
It is the second time the act is used against him. Mabunu-Mandela had her estranged husband’s 2010 marriage to a woman from Reunion Island declared illegal in May this year on the same grounds.
Mandla’s problems go beyond the wedding, however. Earlier, his assets were attached by a Port Elizabeth sheriff for apparently defaulting on paying alimony to his former wife Mabunu. The assets seized reportedly included a minibus and several heads of cattle.
Royal kings including AmaXhosa King Mpendulo Sigcau and AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo reportedly attended the function on Saturday at the Mvezo Royal Palace in rural Eastern Cape.