The community launch of the OneLove Campaign in South Africa took place today at Ubuntu Kraal in Orlando West, Soweto.

Kgosi  Setlamorago Thobejane, the National Organiser of the Congress of Traditional Leaders (Contralesa), started out his speech by  pointing out that he is a product of polygamy. He also noted that he was standing in front of us as a representative of this system.

“I am proud to be part of the system of polygamy,” he said.

And yet, Contralesa strongly supports the OneLove Campaign and it is one of the partners of the OneLove Campaign in South Africa.

Kgosi Thobejane made the following points:

• Contralesa is an institution that has strong roots in polygamy. And despite the contradictions, Contralesa is committed to the OneLove campaign and is one of the partners of OneLove in South Africa.

• The discussion about polygamy as one of the factors that increases our chances to get HIV puts the congress in the spotlight.  But Contralesa is part of South Africa and must therefore discuss the issues that are being raised for the benefit of the country.

• We must seek to balance our culture and tradition, with the need to fight HIV and AIDS. There are some issues that makes achieving this balance difficult. For example, as chief of the Bapedi ba Mmafefe, his culture demanded that he marry a Candlewife. This is the wife of the community. But there is no guarantee that the Candlewife would also become the lover of the man who would be chief.  He also noted that before he became chief, he was an ordinary man, mixing in the community. And when he lived as an ordinary man, there was a chance that he would fall in love with an ordinary woman, who is not the woman who would later become his Candlewife.

• There are more women in South Africa than men – He adds that it would be ideal to have a world where men and women can have a one to one relationship. But we have more women than men, and if we tried that system, we would be leaving some women outside of nature.

• We must be careful not to destroy our foundation -  He said traditional leadership and polygamy are an important part of South African culture and we must all be careful not to destroy a system that has brought South Africa to what it is today.

• Safe sex is key – Despite the contradictions between our culture and the concept of having one love, we must practice safe sex, he said. We must make sure that whatever relationship we form, it should be based on safe sex.

“Safe sex should be the order of the day,” he said.

Download Multiple Concurrent Partners: What’s Culture Got To Do With It (A Handbook for Journalists]

Let’s talk about it

So what do you think?

• Should we as Africans consider giving up polygamy completely as it is a multiple concurrent relationship, and  evidence shows that MCP makes HIV spread faster?
• And if we were to consider giving up polygamy, what would it take for us to make the change?Would it harm the development of our culture?

• And if we don’t give up polygamy and look for balance, as Kgosi Thobejane says we should, how do we achieve that balance?

Please share your views on this issue. Leave your comments below.

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