Failure to follow customs to the letter when marrying his partner has cost a Soweto man the right to bury her. The Mercury reports Leonard Khosa was interdicted by the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) yesterday from burying Ayanda Zulu, for whom he completed paying lobolo in 2014.

Judge Lebogang Modiba ruled that Zulu should be buried by her mother, Lindi Zulu (78), in KZN.

Modiba delivered her judgment following an urgent application lodged by Lindi. Modiba said police should confiscate the body if Khosa refused to release it. Lindi lodged the urgent action against Khosa, arguing he could not bury her child because she was not yet his wife by customary law.

The family maintains that though Khosa paid R25 000 as lobolo in 2014, he had not performed the penultimate stage of the lobolo process.

Modiba heard that this is a ‘handover’ ceremony.

Ayanda’s family said in Zulu custom, this ceremony confirmed the transfer of the bride to her new family. ‘In this matter there was no handover whatsoever,’ Advocate Siphiwe Mpetwane argued for the mother.

‘There was no conclusion of the customary marriage. The Zulu family never waived their right (to a handover). If there’s no handover, the case law tells us there’s no conclusion of the customary marriage.’

Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)