Ukuthwala: Culture no excuse for rights abuse

A major challenge in an emerging democracy, like ours, is to reconcile tensions between human rights and infringements of them caused by some cultural practices.

One of the most controversial is the tradition of ukuthwala – which is, in theory at least, the process of negotiations between families to arrange marriages for their children.

In practice, ukuthwala now often means abduction of young women and girls to be forcibly married to men. Rape is frequently part of this violent, dehumanising, chauvinistic and exploitative practice.

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We welcome, then, a recommendation from the SA Law Reform Commission that a new law, the Prohibition of Forced Marriage and Regulation of Related Matters, should form part of our legal framework.

The proposed law will make it a criminal offence for anyone to force anyone into marriage, or conspire with others to do so.

Under the law, a victim of such a process could apply for a forced marriage protection order and those who initiated the illegal arrangements could be forced to pay compensation to the victim.

This would be an important step in aligning our traditions with the norms of the 21st century and emphasising that culture can never be an excuse for human rights abuse.