| Act No. 120, 1998 | Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 1998 |
(4) (a) A registering officer must, if satisfied that the spouses concluded a valid customary marriage, register the marriage by recording the identity of the spouses, the date of the marriage, any lobolo agreed to and any other particulars prescribed.
(b) The registering officer must issue to the spouses a certificate of registration, bearing the prescribed particulars.
(5) (a) If for any reason a customary marriage is not registered, any person who satisfies a registering officer that he or she has a sufficient interest in the matter may apply to the registering officer in the prescribed manner to enquire into the existence of the marriage.
(b) If the registering officer is satisfied that a valid customary marriage exists or existed between the spouses, he or she must register the marriage and issue a certificate of registration as contemplated in subsection (4).
(6) If a registering officer is not satisfied that a valid customary marriage was entered into by the spouses, he or she must refuse to register the marriage.
(7) A court may, upon application made to that court and upon investigation instituted by that court, order—
(8) A certificate of registration of a customary marriage issued under this section or any other law providing for the registration of customary marriages, constitutes prima facie proof of the existence of the customary marriage and of the particulars contained in the certificate.
(9) Failure to register a customary marriage does not affect the validity of that marriage
Determination of age of minor
5. (1) A registering officer may, in respect of a person who allegedly is a minor, accept a birth certificate, an identity document, a sworn statement of a parent or relative of the minor or such other evidence as the registering officer deems appropriate as proof of that person’s age.
(2) If the age of a person who allegedly is a minor is uncertain or is in dispute, and that person’s age is relevant for purposes of this Act, the registering officer may in the prescribed manner submit the matter to a magistrate’s court established in terms of the Magistrates’ Court Act, 1944 (Act No. 32 of 1944), which must determine the person’s age and issue the prescribed certificate in regard thereto, which constitutes proof of the person’s age.
Equal status and capacity of spouses
6. A wife in a customary marriage has, on the basis of equality with her husband and subject to the matrimonial property system governing the marriage, full status and capacity, including the capacity to acquire assets and to dispose of them, to enter into contracts and to litigate, in addition to any rights and powers that she might have at customary law.
Proprietary consequences of customary marriages and contractual capacity of spouses
7. (1) The proprietary consequences of a customary marriage entered into before the commencement of this Act continue to be governed by customary law.
(2) A customary marriage entered into after the commencement of this Act in which a spouse is not a partner in any other existing customary marriage, is a marriage in community of property and of profit and loss between the spouses, unless such consequences are specifically excluded by the spouses in an antenuptial contract which regulates the matrimonial property system of their marriage.
