Wives have right to husband’s home

The Constitutional Court has come to the aid of thousands of women in polygamous customary marriages who have been denied the right to property because of a discriminatory clause in the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act.

The Constitutional Court yesterday confirmed a ruling by the Limpopo High Court that section 7(1) of the 1998 Act unfairly discriminated against women who entered into polygamous custom- ary marriages before the Act came into effect.

The court emphasised the importance of upholding women’s rights to equality and dignity, in particular women’s rights to own and manage their own property.

The court suspended the declaration of invalidity to allow parliament to enact legislation to cure the invalidity with the next 24 months. It ruled that, in the interim, a husband and his wives must share equally in the right of ownership of, and other rights attached to, family property, including the right of management and control of family property.

It also ruled that in the interim, a polygamous husband and each of his wives in each of the marriages concluded before the Act came into effect, must have similar rights in respect of house property.

The court ruled that the order would not affect estates that have already been wound up.

The ruling follows an application by two sons of a man who left his share in a property, on which a shopping centre is situated, to his wives and children on his death.