Johannesburg – The saying goes that don’t fix it if it’s not broken. The elongated lockdown has left many of us punch drunk and bored out of our wits.
In the beginning, we baked banana bread and hot cross buns, but the novelty has worn off. Zoom meetings are the order of the day and social functions have moved online.
Parliament has become a ghost chamber as most honourable members maintain a physical distance.
Thus one of the lawmakers came up with an idea that women could marry more than one husband.
To be sure, polyandry is not a new phenomenon, but it’s unheard of in these parts. The MP tabled the legislation before parliament for discussion so it could be written into law and as could be expected, it was fireworks.
It is a sad indictment that our MPs, each of whom takes home a million rand a year, saw fit to entertain such an off-road topic during a pandemic.
Parliament has failed in its oversight role while ministers ran rampant enforcing the lockdown. They remain at home on full salary while movement remains restricted.
How polyandry was brought for discussion while poverty, unemployment, hunger and crime escalate boggles the mind.
But such is democracy that any bored mampara may distract the country from a health disaster with an irrelevant matter.
Polygamy has long been permitted in this country and many men have taken advantage of it on religious or traditional grounds.
Uthando Nes’thembu is a popular reality show that depicts the shenanigans in the house of Mseleku and his four wives.
Indeed patriarchy has seen men enjoying the benefits of testosterone while women remain oppressed on many fronts.
In comes polyandry, ostensibly to level the playing field. Some have intimated that the law would only formalise what has been common practice in many marriages in any case.
Many married women already have Ben 10s to keep the home fires burning, while the man of the house chases the tenders.
So, it would make sense for the Ben 10 to be welcomed in the marital compound without having to sneak around at the risk of being busted by Jub Jub of Uyajola 99.
Critics of polyandry have expressed concern about sleeping arrangements, as if sex is all a marriage is about. Hypocritically, this question does not arise in a polygamist marriage.
It is left to a man to decide in whose bed he would be sleeping on a particular night, and I assume the same principle would apply in polyandry.
Others foresee an increase in gender-based violence when polyandry is allowed. Indeed men have since time immemorial given each other a black eye over a skirt.
The male ego is seen as a stumbling block to allow another man to share the conjugal obligations.
After all, even in the animal kingdom, it is known that you can’t have two bulls in one kraal.
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