DA fails Muslim women
When most people get married divorce is the furthest thing from their minds, but life happens and many get to say“See you in court!” But not if you are a Muslim woman in South Africa.
Doesn’t sound right, does it?
Why wouldn’t a Muslim woman go to court and claim a fair share of the marital estate and papgeld for her children? This is South Africa, after all, and we have the best Constitution in the world.
As a new Democratic Alliance councillor, I was particularly looking forward to attending a march organised by the party to the high court in solidarity with Muslim women.
I am a Muslim — but I also know that women and children are the most vulnerable — and anything to protect their rights is always worth my support.
I was bitterly disappointed to find out that the march was cancelled simply because the party wants to remain “apolitical about religion”. What does that even mean?
This is not purely a religious issue, but a human rights’ issue. Therefore, as a political party, you do not get to be apolitical when women and children’s rights are being trampled on.
The DA is home to many special interest groups, which I fully support. This includes laudable support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) issues. If the DA can march for LGBTI rights, then why not for other sometimes controversial issues? Why can’t I get the same support — as a Muslim woman — when my sisters, mothers and their children need it the most?
While many welcome and celebrate the new law that the National Assembly has passed — which means parents who do not pay maintenance won’t be blacklisted and blocked from getting credit, or even faced with jail time — Muslim women are still waiting to be recognised as the wives that they are.
You might ask: “Why can’t they just go to home affairs to register their marriage?”
Well, for many years the Marriage Act 25 of 1961 specified that a marriage should be between a man and a woman, which meant that polygamous marriages were disregarded.
Democracy was won and there was a push to recognise customary marriages that allow for polygamous marriages to be recognised under law, but Muslim marriages were left out.
This means, as a Xhosa woman, I can walk into any village and find a husband and all is well. But, if I happen to be of Muslim faith, I am opening up myself to a “vat ’n sit” situation for the rest of my life, unless I go to home affairs.
Why is that not just an option, but a must, for us Muslim women if we want protection?
As a Muslim woman — who also happens to be Xhosa — I find this to be very undemocratic. I have a right to choose who or what I pray to, and who I marry, but if things go wrong the courts will throw me out with no access to housing or a divorce settlement.
Can you imagine living your life with a man for years only be told that your marriage never existed and, therefore, you cannot be granted your rights as a divorced woman?
It is time for the DA, as the liberal voice and the party committed to freedom and fairness, to show leadership on this matter.
What would Helen Suzman say?