Marriage
It was against the law to elope or marry against authorization. There
are very complex marriage laws that are not clearly understood by
many non-indigenous people, many books have been unsuccessful in explaining
these laws thoroughly or some have refused to attempt an explanation
as they are difficult to understand.
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"The
marriage ceremony was carried out by the girl's ngamarna (uncle of
the mother's moiety) placing a firestick on the ground between the
promised couple. This
symbolized the binding in marriage. It was not clear how easy or how
possible divorce was: it has been reported that, if the marriage failed,
divorce could occur if the uncle threw away the firestick (not the
original) as a signal." (Tunbridge, 1985:14 in Education Department
of SA, 1992, p76)
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