Tuesday: Traditional court and soccer practice

Woke up at 5:58 which seemed like the exact time Mama Joyce woke us up. We ate, and bathed again in the bathhouse with our basins which was weirdly becoming some what of a routine. Mama Joyce let Raymond’s sister take us to school, which meant that we arrived a lot quicker. We then headed for the traditional Zulu court. The traditional court was really interesting to see, and being interested in law, made it more exciting to see the differences between western and traditional law. In the traditional system, the Induna’s, the community leaders which are passed down through generation, sit on either side of the wall, while the Inkosi(chief) sits in a higher chair like a judge. The Inkosi is only present on extremely important matters. The crowd sits behind, but have the ability to ask questions and help with the procedure.

We got to see a hearing of sorts: a woman was coming for advise about her daughter in-law who she claimed was stealing from her. Her testimony was in Zulu and somewhat complicated. The problem was over lobola which is the traditional bride price. While lobolo sounds like putting a price on woman, I have learned the tradition is more about connecting two families and thanking and acknowledging the bride’s family for raising the woman. The story was that her son died before the entire lobola was paid, which was some cows and some furniture. The cows were given, but not the furniture. After his death, his wife took the kids, food, and furniture. The old woman said the kids were rightly hers, and the food was necessary for the kids, but since her son never gave the furniture, it was still hers. The Indunas argued that the first step for the woman was to go to the woman’s family. They also acknowledged that in current times furniture can be used instead of cows but agreed that it was necessary for the men who made out the lobola contract to come together to discuss the details of the agreement. I asked if there was anyway to speed up the process, since the old woman felt like she was being robbed, and she very well might have been. In the end, her Induna said he could call her and go to the woman’s family’s house with her. The system seemed like a really interesting and interactive way of law. In the van home, Sdu, our driver and friend, told me about the problems of the traditional system. In cases such as rape, the system many times fails with the woman’s family being paid off.

After arriving home, I decided to stay home and study while Nick and Bryan went to the beach. At 5 O’clock, Spiwe came over to take me to soccer practice. He felt it necessary that we drink a couple beers before the practice for energy. We walked to the soccer field and met up with about 30 kids. The soccer field had a large hill on one side of the field, and high uncut grass on the other. We played intense soccer for about two hours which consisted of people running circles around me, and the occasional cow crossing. We headed home under the stars, and I felt completely comfortable and relaxed in the community. We ate dumbolo(dumplings) with potatoes and mutton for dinner which was amazing.