Pre-packaged lobola agreements for sale

INSPIRED by the legal battles over marital rights in customary marriages, an entrepreneur has created a lobola document that is being sold in supermarkets.

The Lobola Negotiations Agreement for Marriage is a pre-packaged agreement created by entrepreneur Jabulani Mahlangu in partnership with Hortors Stationery, a supplier and manufacturer of legal publications. The product was officially rolled out at Shoprite stores on Monday, selling for R99.

“If you look at the kind of agreements that the recorders write down during the negotiations, they are handwritten, they don’t have key details and sometimes they don’t even have full details of the people wanting to marry each other,” Mahlangu said.

He added that this affected the dignity of a lobola agreement, which was meant to connect two people and two families for life.

The entrepreneur said he had realised the need for documentation that gave the full details of the people getting married.

The supermarket chain confirmed that the pre-pack was available at all Shoprite and USave stores.