A new book by Chuma Himonga and Elena Moore examines the operation of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act and the rules of succession formulated in Bhe v Magistrate, Khayelitsha. The object of the research was to show how legislators in a new democratic constitutional framework have sought to do justice to customary rights that, in the areas of marriage, its effects and its dissolution as well as succession, fall within a normative context that is historically prior to the new Constitution of South Africa, and above all that are based on different value systems. 

In Reform of Customary Marriage, Divorce and Succession in South Africa: Living Customary Law and Social Realities the authors show clearly the prudence of the legislators, who did not create a tabula rasa but neither did they fully subscribe to the existing customary norms or rights. This difficult balance is illustrated by analysis of both case law and the experiences of people’s experiences of law in daily life.

Click here for the 30-page Summarised Research Report.