Amended Customary Marriages Act 'life-changing' for women

The National Assembly greenlighted the adjustments last month. 

According to a Durban-based family law expert, going forward, women in traditional marriages will have equal rights to marital assets if they go through a divorce or lose their spouse. 

Yolandi Van Der Watt's compared it to a community of property marriage. 

She says the Constitutional Court highlighted that the Act, in its current form, limited the right to human dignity and was unfair to women. 

The next step is for President Cyril Ramaphosa to sign the bill into law. 

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"Where this became a problem we have a situation where we were building a house together, we were building an estate together but I'm not entitled to a share in that estate if it was registered under your name.

"But to be honest most of it would be registered under the husband. So effectively the marriage regime has changed to protect these women and visa versa. To protect these parties, as in we share our debts, we share our assets at the date of divorce or death."