When a 42-year-old Cape Town woman entered a polygamous marriage, her husband promised to care for her and their children and said she would never have to work.
Fourteen years later, with their relationship under strain, the mother of two has found out that the family home and her car are registered in the name of her husband's business.
"All of my husband's assets are either registered in his first wife's name or with the family business, which I'm not part of," says the woman, now aged 56.
"Should he go ahead and divorce me, or if he were to die, I will be left with nothing as we are married according to Muslim rites and our marriage is not registered."
The Athlone woman and others in her position may soon enjoy more rights under a South African Law Reform Commission proposal for a single marriage law.
According to a discussion paper open for public comment until March 31, such marriages would be legally recognised and the women involved could even veto plans by their husbands to take more wives.
The proposal says husbands in polygamous marriages who wish to enter into further relationships must obtain written consent from the existing wives. Without it, the new marriage would be invalid.
Two alternative draft bills have been developed to recognise all protected relationships, marriages and life partnerships regardless of the parties' religious, cultural or other beliefs or the manner in which the relationship was entered into.
Currently, the only unions recognised are covered by the 1961 Marriage Act, the 1998 Recognition of Customary Marriages Act and the 2006 Civil Union Act.
The commission proposes that in Muslim marriage ceremonies, where a proxy represents the bride, "the marriage officer or registering officer must ascertain from the proxy whether the parties to the prospective protected relationship or the prospective marriage have consented to enter into the protected relationship or marriage".
While the proposal is that all marriages or partnerships be registered, the commission says failure to register a protected relationship would not invalidate it. "It is possible to prove the existence of a life partnership other than by proof of registration," it says.
Protected relationships included life partnerships, where the parties cohabit and assume permanent responsibility for supporting each other, and other existing marriages, including religious and customary unions.
Pierre van Wyk, principal state law adviser at the commission, says existing legislation does not permit proxy marriages.
"The thinking is that stakeholders will contribute during the consultations on the discussion paper on how we can ensure that the informed consent of the Muslim wife to the marriage is determined and verified, and that it is not a forced marriage or bogus marriage," he says.
Van Wyk says the need for wives in polygamous marriages to give consent is based on a 2013 Constitutional Court ruling that the consent of a man's first wife is a requirement for his subsequent marriage to be valid.
The court said this would reinforce the equality of spouses in a polygamous marriage and customary marriages in general, as the constitution demands.
"The Constitutional Court said only the first wife needs to consent but we propose that all wives need to consent to the further marriage since the rights of all wives are affected when the husband takes another wife without their knowledge and consent," says Van Wyk.
Charlene May, a Women's Legal Centre attorney, says existing marriage laws have shortcomings, particularly in protecting the rights of women. The multiple forms of marriages cause discrimination and stereotyping, "with many forms of relationships being viewed as of lesser importance or less deserving of recognition and protection".
Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, says the investigation is a move in the right direction. "It's something we've been wanting for years as Hindu marriages are also not recognised in SA."
Nkosi Mkhanyiseli Dudumayo, head of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA in the Eastern Cape, says the congress welcomes the law reform proposal "as long as it will not allow certain marriages to be made dwarfs while others are giants, and consultation will be made thoroughly".
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