A Con­sti­tu­tional Court rul­ing grant­ing men the right to adopt their wives’ sur­names has unleashed anger from tra­di­tional lead­ers across SA who say the judg­ment under­mines African cul­tural prac­tices, erodes fam­ily iden­tity and threatens suc­ces­sion norms.

The Daily Dispatch reports that while equal­ity advoc­ates hailed the rul­ing as a mile­stone for gender par­ity, tra­di­tional lead­ers described it as ‘dis­gust­ing’, ‘anti­-African’ and a recipe for ‘chaos and con­fu­sion.’

The rul­ing struck down restric­tions that pre­vi­ously pre­ven­ted men from leg­ally assum­ing their wives’ sur­names.

The court framed its decision as a ques­tion of equal­ity before the law. But crit­ics say it imposes West­ern ideas on African soci­et­ies where names are tied to blood­lines, iden­tity and lead­er­ship suc­ces­sion.

Con­tralesa Pro­vin­cial Chair Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyana said tra­di­tional lead­ers had anti­cip­ated the out­come ever since the Con­sti­tu­tion was adop­ted.

‘In terms of our cus­tom, we pay lobola for our wives and in some cases, com­munit­ies do so for us. Poly­gam­ous mar­riages are part of our cul­ture. The ques­tion may arise as to whose sur­name a man with more than one wife should assume. Whose sur­name must the chil­dren of such a mar­riage assume? The judg­ment has implic­a­tions for our cul­ture and we will engage with Par­lia­ment to make sure that our entrenched norms and val­ues are not oblit­er­ated by the effect of the judg­ment,’ Nonkonyana said.

The OR Tambo Local House of Tra­di­tional Lead­ers con­vened a spe­cial sit­ting on Fri­day where mem­bers denounced the judg­ment.

Senior Abathembu Leader and Attor­ney Nkosikazi Nob­hongo said the judg­ment is a ‘recipe for chaos and con­fu­sion’.

Full Daily Dispatch report