by ELIJAH ELIJAH NGOWENI DUBE submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree ...

427 Pages·2017·2.66 MB·English

GETTING MARRIED TWICE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDIGENOUS AND
CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES AMONG THE NDAU OF THE CHIMANIMANI
AREA OF ZIMBABWE

by

ELIJAH ELIJAH NGOWENI DUBE

submitted in accordance with the requirements for
the degree of

Doctor of Literature and Philosophy

in the subject

Religious Studies

at the

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR JM STRIJDOM

CO-SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR PH GUNDANI

June 2017

DECLARATION

Student Number: 47264950

I, Elijah Elijah Ngoweni Dube, declare that Getting married twice: the relationship
between indigenous and Christian marriages among the Ndau of the
Chimanimani area of Zimbabwe is my work and that all sources that have been
quoted or referred to have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete
references.

Mr E. E. N. Dube

Date 13 June 2017

i
DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to all the Ndau people of Zimbabwe.

ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am greatly indebted to each one of the following:

 The University of South Africa for giving me the opportunity to study under its
Academic Qualifications Improvement Programme (AQIP)
 Both Professor JM Strijdom and Professor PH Gundani for believing I could do
it in many instances when I had lost hope
 Professor Nicky Alpaslan of the Social Work Department for helping me shape
the interview questions
 Unisa Department of Social Work whose templates I used to draft the letter
requesting participants’ participation and informed consent forms
 Professor Azwihangwisi H Mavhandu-Mudzusi, chairperson of the Research
Ethics Committee, for clearing this research
 Professor Dave Mutasa of African Languages Department for reading my draft
scripts, providing comments, and encouraging me
 Dr Auwais Rafudeen of the Religious Studies and Arabic Department for
reading my draft scripts, giving comments, and encouraging me
 Mr Harry Bopape of the Research Department for support and encouragement
 Ms Mamodula Mafolo (Duxi) of the Research Department for support and
encouragement
 Dr Shelley-Ann Williams of the Human Resources (Counselling) Department
for providing counselling and encouragement
 Professor Ismail Jaffer (my Chair of Department) for support and
encouragement
 Professor KP Dzvimbo, former Executive Dean of the College of Education at
UNISA for assistance and support
 All research participants without whose help my fieldwork interviews and focus
groups would not have been possible
 Dr Huma Louw for coding my data
 Professor David NR Levey for editing this thesis
 Serbia (my wife) for immeasurable support in a multiplicity of ways
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 Tinevimbo, Anesu, and Anopa (my children) for bearing with me when you had
to be denied quality time with your dad for the sake of the thesis
 Mrs Susan Dube, Mrs Marbel (Naka) Dube, Mrs Estella Tafadzwa Sithole and
Dr Bishop J Dhube for raising me up and supporting me in various ways after
my father passed on when I was only ten
 God Almighty without whom nothing would have been done (Psalm 127)

iv
Abstract

The thesis focuses on the Ndau people of Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. Contact with
Westerners brought significant changes to their marriage practices. South Africa
General Mission (SAGM) missionaries required Ndau people to conduct church
(“white”) weddings for their marriages to be recognised by the church. This has caused
a problem whereby Ndau Christians marry traditionally/customarily and yet still have
to conduct church weddings. The church has not rethought its position on the
necessity for having this duplication of marriages. The thesis sought to develop an in-
depth understanding of Ndau people’s perceptions and experiences on the connection
between and the necessity for both marriages in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe. Data
regarding Ndau people’s understanding of marriage practices was collected using in-
depth semi-structured and focus group interviews.

Following a qualitative research design, the study used the phenomenological
approach to collect data and postcolonialism as the research paradigm. Using these,
twenty individual and five focus group interviews were conducted. Seven themes
emerged from the data. These covered marriage practices of the Ndau, the most
preferred way of marriage, various reasons for having church weddings, perceived
relationship between the two marriages, different views on the sufficiency of traditional
marriages, thoughts on the expenses of church weddings, and how participants
married and reasons thereof.

The findings showed that Ndau Christians conduct church weddings for several
reasons. These are because they:
 want to celebrate their marriages
 desire God’s blessings when they convert to Christianity. It is regarded as God’s
biblical requirement
 understand it as a church requirement/rule
 get church teaching that encourage church weddings
 need recognition and acceptance in the church as well as general social
recognition
 associate Christianity with Westernisation
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 regard it as a deterrent to unfaithfulness and polygyny
 regard church weddings as having wider official recognition than traditional
marriages and
 want associated material advantages.

The conclusion states that there is neither a theological nor a biblical basis for
requiring Ndau Christians to have church weddings. Using a postcolonial hybrid
approach, the thesis suggests a merging of the two marriages into one ceremony.
More recommendations were given and the church was challenged to be more
responsive to its people’s struggles.

Key words: Chimanimani, Christian marriage, Church weddings, Ndau Marriage,
Ndau people, Ndau religion/Shona religion, Roora or bridewealth, South Africa
General Mission, Traditional marriages, United Baptist Church, Zimbabwe
marriage laws.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………………… i
DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………….ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………………iii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………v
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………......vii
LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………… xiii
GLOSSARY LIST………………………………………………………………………… xiv

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL ORIENTATION TO THE STUDY
1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………... 1
1.2 AREA OF INVESTIGATION………………………………………………………. 2
1.3 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND RESEARCH QUESTION…………………........ 3
1.4 JUSTIFICATION……………………………………………………………………. 4
1.5 AIM OF THE STUDY…………………………………………………................... 4
1.6 OBJECTIVES……………………………………………………………………….. 4
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………… 5
1.7.1 The Phenomenological Approach………………………………………………...8
1.7.2 Postcolonialism as the Research Paradigm for Study…………………………12
1.8 DATA COLLECTION METHODS……………………………………………….. 18
1.8.1 Interviews………………………………………………………………………….. 19
1.8.2 Focus Groups……………………………………………………………………... 22
1.9 SAMPLING………………………………………………………………………….27
1.10 DATA ANALYSIS…………………………………………………………………..28
1.11 DATA VERIFICATION……………………………………………………………. 30
1.12 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS………………………………………………….. 31
1.13 CLARIFICATION OF KEY TERMS AND/OR CONCEPTS…………………... 32
1.13.1 Religion…………………………………………………………………………….. 32
1.13.2 Ethnicity and Identity……………………………………………………………... 33
1.13.3 Marriage as a Rite of Passage…………………………………………………...35
1.13.4 Social Stratification……………………………………………………………......35
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1.14 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS………………………………………………. 36
1.15 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………….. 37

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………... 39
2.2 AFRICAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS AND WORLDVIEWS…………….… 39
2.2.1 African Indigenous Religions…………………………………………………... 39
2.2.2 Worldviews………………………………………………………………………. 42
2.3 NDAU ETHNIC IDENTITIES…………………………………………………... 43
2.3.1 Identity……………………………………………………………………………. 43
2.3.2 Ndau People…………………………………………………………………….. 45
2.3.2.1 The Ndau Setting……………………………………………………………… 46
2.3.2.2 Ndau History……………………………………………………………….…... 49
2.3.3 Ethnicity……………………………………………………………………….….51
2.3.4 Research on the Ndau…………………………………………………….……52
2.4 MARRIAGE……………………………………………………………………... 54
2.4.1 Rites of Passage……………………………………………………………….. 54
2.4.2 Ndau Marriage Ceremonies………………………………………….……...... 58
2.5 MISSIONARIES IN ZIMBABWE……………………………………………… 60
2.5.1 Early Missionaries to Zimbabwe……………………………………………… 62
2.5.2 Zimbabwean Missionaries and the Place of South Africa…………...….…. 62
2.5.3 Christian Missions in Zimbabwe in the 1890s………………………………. 63
2.5.4 The South African General Mission (SAGM)………………………………... 64
2.5.5 Christian Villages or Mission Stations………………………………………... 66
2.5.6 Rigid Church Laws and Discipline……………………………………………. 67
2.6 LAWS……………………………………………………………………………. 68
2.6.1 South African Marriage Laws…………………………………………………. 68
2.6.2 Zimbabwe Marriage Laws………………………………………………..…… 69
2.7 PROBLEMATIC AREAS…………………………………………………..….. 72
2.7.1 Polygamy/Polygyny…………………………………………………….……... 72
2.7.2 Church Weddings……………………………………………………………... 73
2.7.3 Bridewealth……………………………………………………………….……. 74
2.7.4 Social Stratification……………………………………………………………. 75
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