The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, had to determine a battle between two women as to who is the valid wife. Picture: File
A HUSBAND who was married to two wives at the same time and took this secret to his grave resulted in a legal tussle between the wives as to who is the legal spouse and stands to benefit from his estate.
Neither wife knew of the other, and the secret only came to the fore when the second wife wanted to benefit from the deceased’s pension fund, but her request was turned down as the first wife was the beneficiary.
The second wife, who entered into a civil union with the deceased and had the marriage certificate issued by Home Affairs to prove it, turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, for an order declaring this marriage valid.
But the first wife, cited as the respondent, maintained she married the deceased years prior to his second marriage, in terms of customary law.
The validity of the marriage is, however, challenged by the first respondent, who claims that she and the deceased concluded a customary marriage in December 2004.
The applicant provided a detailed account of her customary and civil marriage to the deceased. She explained that she met the deceased in late 2009 and that their relationship blossomed into a romantic affair.
In July 2011, the deceased sent his family to negotiate lobola, and the parties agreed on an amount of R28,000, and their civil marriage was concluded in October 2011.
The applicant was handed over to the deceased’s family as part of the custom of the Bapedi culture.
The deceased died in March 2014, and the applicant was called to the police station to complete the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) forms.
On her arrival at the police station, she was met by an SAPS officer and the first respondent. She was told that the first respondent would also complete the pension forms as she had a lobola letter evidencing a customary marriage between herself and the deceased.
GEPF, meanwhile, declined her application for spousal maintenance as it said the marriage between the deceased and the first respondent was still valid. The applicant decided to challenge this.
In response, the first respondent said that she met the deceased in 2003 and the following year, they had a child. They entered into a customary marriage in December 2004.
She, too, explained the lobola negotiations and said that after their customary marriage, the deceased took their lobola letter to the tribal chief to certify it.
According to the second wife, the deceased was unfaithful during their marriage and that he had various extra-marital affairs, but they later reconciled.
But she said he shortly afterwards resumed his old ways of cheating and visited her and their children if and when it pleased him.
One weekend after visiting their father, the children told their mother (the first wife) about a lady who cooked and cleaned for them the entire weekend.
When this wife asked her husband about the woman, he said it was his cleaner. She said it was only after his death that she became aware that he had another wife.
She also showed the court a document in which she is the beneficiary nominated by the deceased regarding his pension fund, in her capacity as his wife.
The applicant, meanwhile, maintained that the lobola letter issued to the first wife in itself did not prove the marriage. According to her, the first marriage did adhere to all the stipulations required of a customary marriage.
Judge Janse van Nieuwenhuizen commented that the requirements for a valid customary marriage in terms of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act are clear.
For it to be valid, both parties must be over 18, both must consent to be married in terms of customary law, and the marriage must be negotiated and entered into or celebrated in accordance with customary law.
The judge, in dismissing the application, said given the evidence by the first wife, it's clear that the deceased was already legally married when he married his second wife.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za
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