Africans have long practised the lobola, or bride price or dowry, as part of a man’s display of respect to the parents of his prospective wife. It is a sign of the union of the bride and the bridegroom’s families. The practice has eroded over time as families have begun to exploit the lobolo culture for personal enrichment, rather than for the union of two families. Our African values treat lobola as a form of gratitude to the family for raising the wife. It was never regarded as a trade or a profit-making institution. Lobola initiates and creates everlasting family linkages that last forever between the two families. Lobola recognised the worth of the new bride and her future role in the new family.
Lobola has now been commercialised, with some families wanting to get out of poverty or to be rich through the lobola of their daughter. Lobola has become a financial burden for poor men and young professionals still starting to shape their new families and careers. It is simply a financial trap or entrapment for men.
The commercialisation of lobola also brings the culture of exploitation to women, because some men have started to treat their wives like commodities, since they have bought them expensively. This may also lead to gender disparity and abuse in the new families. Some people could not formally get married because of the commercialisation of lobola. They end up with “vat en sit.” This has eroded the value of the institution of marriage, as it was previously known.
This commercialisation enforces the patriarchy that the man is in charge, and he must pay the big money alone. It enhances male dominance over women; it can undermine the rights of women. Lobola can be modernised without the commercial exploitation of men.
CONCLUSION
The diminishing cultural value of lobola has bred the economic exploitation of African women under the guise of culture. We must reignite respect, dignity, and equality rather than poverty and profit.
