Husbands taking wives’ surnames: A decolonial victory in South Africa

The Constitutional Court of South Africa has just delivered a judgement that, on the face of it, looks like a small administrative tweak. Husbands may now legally adopt their wives’ surnames, a right previously denied under the Births and Deaths Registration Act.

But beneath this lies a seismic statement: colonial patriarchy, which crept into African law and custom under the guise of civilisation, has no place in a democratic South Africa.

What Really Happened Before Colonisation?

The Court suggested that “in many African cultures, women retained their birth names after marriage, and children often took their mother’s clan name.” That is only partly true.

Among the Nguni peoples—including Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi—children normally carried their father’s isibongo (clan name). Patrilineal descent was the organising principle. Yet the mother’s clan was never erased or forgotten.

Knowing one’s maternal lineage was non-negotiable; it regulated marriage, anchored rituals, and safeguarded identity.

So no, Nguni children did not “take the mother’s surname” in the European sense. But yes, maternal identity was socially powerful. Contrast this with colonial law, which made the wife’s name vanish into her husband’s like water into sand.

Elsewhere in Africa—among the Akan of Ghana or the Chewa of Malawi—matrilineal systems did dominate, and children belonged to the mother’s line.

The point is this: Africa was never uniform, but it was never as brutally one-sided as the European surname system imposed through Roman-Dutch and English law.

The Colonial Distortion

Related Articles

Who owns the body? The law, politics and theology of burial…

Sep 9, 2025 56,573

Recognition or Ransom? Palestine, October 7, and the moral…

Aug 18, 2025 19,244

The Paradox of Plenty: Why Southern Africa’s resource wealth…

Jul 23, 2025 11,079

“When still waters swirl: The Mkhwananzi revelation and the…

Jul 23, 2025 15,124 Prev Next 1 of 5

Colonial statutes introduced a patriarchal monopoly: the man’s name reigned supreme, the woman’s identity erased, and the law sanctified it. A wife was expected to shed her name at the altar, and men were forbidden from assuming their wives’ names.

That was not African culture—it was imported subjugation, dressed up as tradition.

Why This Judgement Matters

The Constitutional Court has now levelled the field. If a woman can take her husband’s surname, a man can just as freely take hers, or hyphenate. In doing so, the Court struck at the heart of a colonial relic that long outlived its purpose.

The relevance of this ruling cannot be overstated:

Decolonisation in action: The judgement exposes colonial surname law for what it was—a cultural imposition that dismantled African pluralism.

Gender equality made real: Equality is not abstract when it touches passports, property deeds, inheritance papers, and school registers.

Cultural correction: African traditions never erased women’s identities the way European law did. Restoring balance is not “modernity”; it is continuity.

Economic logic: In a world where names carry brand power, husbands can now align with wives who have established professional or business reputations without hitting a legal brick wall.

A Step Towards Healing

This ruling is more than legal housekeeping. It chips away at the colonial edifice that warped African family life and enshrined patriarchy in law.

Yes, in Nguni and Ndebele societies children carried their father’s clan name—but the maternal line remained central, remembered, and respected. Colonialism extinguished that balance.

By allowing men to take their wives’ surnames, the Constitutional Court has restored a principle Africa always understood: identity is not a one-way street.

South Africa has taken a step towards legal equality, cultural dignity, and historical redress. Other African jurisdictions would do well to take note: decolonisation is not a slogan. It is a daily dismantling of the laws and customs that continue to chain us to a colonial past.

Dr Sibangilizwe Moyo writes on Church and Governance, politics, legal and social issues. He can be reached at moyolegal@yahoo.com