In most Southern African cultures, paying lobola is still very common. Lobola means bride price or dowry. While some of the younger generation see lobola as expensive or unnecessary, the other side of the coin is that it is a sign of giving thanks to the bride’s parents for raising the woman that you fell in love with.
The tradition is that it is paid in live cows from the groom’s family and the effect is that it has become a major instrument of wealth-transfer in most societies.
Such money flows are strongly influenced by culture and tradition and create distinct methods of protecting, sharing, and multiplying wealth.
While modernity is bringing in some changes — such as lobola being paid in cash — the fundamental beliefs and relationship dynamics that underpin them are likely to p
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