BRIDE price and lobola were once simple tokens like chickens, a goat, or a few Kwachas, meant to show a man’s sincere intent. But the reality on the ground is that they have now spiraled into elaborate and costly demands. Titus Mulenga, a Shibukombe and marriage counselor, laments that this commercialization has chipped away at the very heart of traditional practices. He points out that a woman who is divorced, widowed, or already has a child should never have her bride price paid twice. In fact, he stresses, paying a bride price twice on the same woman flies in the face of long-standing cultural customs, turning what was once a meaningful gesture of union into a transaction that loses its...
