Abstract:
‘Gonyalelwa lapa’ is a form of a marriage whereby a family marries a woman to a deceased son
who passed on without having biological children, for the purpose of restoring or reviving the
deceased’s name. The woman is married with her existing children, or to bear children who will
take the surname of the deceased man. Women find it difficult to leave such marriages for the
fear of losing their children whom they signed off by accepting to be married under this type of
marriage. This study employs the feminist standpoint methodological approach in order to
explore experiences of women who are married for ‘lapa’. The study purposefully selected a
sample of 8 women who are married under ‘Gonyalelwa lapa’ as well as 4 key informants.
Findings demonstrate that women marry for ‘lapa’ mainly for economic reasons, to escape
stigmatization, for the acquisition of the marital surname, which is tied to being acknowledged,
respected and recognized by the community. Nevertheless, these women face multidimensional
challenges within their in-laws’ households: they receive no support from the inlaws;
their girl-children suffer discrimination based on ‘sex-preference’, boys are given more
value on the basis that a boy will be able to perpetuate a deceased man’s name. Most women
married under this type of marriage suffer from emotional and economic abuse at the hands of
their in-laws. The study reveals that these challenges are attributed to lack of physical presence
of the husband in the family. The study recommends that a large scale study be conducted on
this or related topic, to build knowledge and create an awareness of such a marriage as to
facilitate its inclusion in Customary Marriage Act.
