Implications and Complications of Bride price Payment among the Shona and Ndebele of Zimbabwe

Marriage is an institution that exists in all human societies. For most African cultures, it involves the bridegroom paying bride price to the bride’s family, what is known in Ndebele and Shona as amalobolo and roora respectively. The payment is made in ‘order to legalize the marriage’ and any marriage that does not involve the payment of the bride price ‘looks like casual sex or prostitution’. Bride price payment also exists in other non-African societies, but not all societies demand the payment. Hence, payment of bride price is not a universal human practice. This paper seeks to show the controversy that surrounds the payment of bride price in contemporary thinking. We seek to demonstrate how in most cases the noble idea of starting a new family is defeated by the various implications of the payment. We shall also explore the various uncompromising positions that women find themselves in the payment or non – payment of the bride price. Also in the renewed interest of women empowerment and emancipation, we argue that the payment of roora or amaloblolo is one of the hindrances of the women’s quest for freedom and emancipation. Payment of bride price is one of the traditional beliefs that in many ways encourage the violation of women’s human rights.