SA women could soon be allowed to marry more than one man

A policy document was published by The Department of Home Affairs during the week as the department sought to create a new Marriage Act that will allow consenting adults in the country to conclude recognised, legal marriages.

There are various kinds of marriages that are not recognized in the country and for this reason, the current marriage legislation was deemed to not promote equality.

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Some of the marriages that aren't recognised include Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Rastafarian marriages. 

“The failure to recognise these religious marriages is untenable and discriminatory,” the document states. 

See the list of options below. 

1. “inclusive customary and religious marriage regime” means the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act amended to cater for all marriages irrespective of race, cultural and religious persuasions.

2.  Religion and culture-neutral marriage regime.

3. Gender-neutral marriage regime "would accommodate both polygyny and polyandry," said the document.

“The difference between options 2 and 3 is that this option is gender-neutral. Therefore all marriages, whether monogamous or polygamous, could be concluded regardless of the sex or sexual orientation of the person.”

See the document below. 

South Africans have weighed in on the issue with most men opposing the idea while others kept their focus on equality. 

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