What is Isithembu?
[[File:Prince Manga Bell and favorite wives.jpg|thumb|right|200px|{{Center|{{circa}} 1895}}]] '''Isithembu''' means [[polygamy]] and is still a [[custom]] in many parts of [[Africa]]. Isithembu (also called Sethepu) is the [[Africa]]n custom of a man being able to have more than one [[wife]] at the same time.<ref name=Futhwa56>Fezekile Futhwa, ''Setho: Afrikan Thought and Belief System'' (Alberton, South Africa: Nalane ka Fezekile Futhwa, 2011), p. 56</ref> There were and are several situations that allow a man to have additional wives. A man may marry again if his current wife or wives cannot have children. He keeps his current wife or wives as [[divorce]] is not allowed.<ref name=Futhwa56/> She becomes the senior wife, a position of honor. A man may marry again if his current wife or wives have not produced male children. He can marry again if a wife does not want children. In some places, if a man dies, his wife or wives are married to his brother.<ref name=Futhwa56/> This way his family is cared for. The [[Swaziland|Swazi]] culture says a man should have many wives. Polygamy (Isithembu) is normal for men.<ref name=Brown89>A. R. Radcliffe-Brown; Cyril Daryll Forde, ''African systems of kinship and marriage'' (London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), p. 89</ref> Woman should have children, which is normal for them.<ref name=Brown89/> == Simple polygamy == * Some African [[tribe]]s practice a simple form of polygamy. If a man marries one wife after another they have no rankings and are simply the number one wife, number two, and so on. Simple polygamy is one man (for example) married to two or more women.<ref>Diane J. Klein, 'Plural Marriage and Community Property Law', ''Golden Gate University Law Review'', Volume 41 | Issue 1 (27 January 2011), pp. 45–47</ref> == Complex polygamy == * Isithembu as practiced by the [[Xhosa people]] is a complex form of polygamy.<ref Name=GD>{{cite web |url=http://www.ghostdigest.co.za/articles/customary-marriages-and-estates/53226 |title=Customary marriages and estat