Law, Women and the Family: The Question of Polygyny in a New South Africa

Political and legal change in South Africa seems imminent and, in contemplating this prospect, South Africans anticipate radical changes to the country's constitutional and administrative structures. But law reformers, faced with the enormous challenges presented by political restructuring on a grand scale, have tended to treat the reform of family law as unimportant. Relatively little attention has been paid to the impact on families and family law of colonialism and, more recently, of apartheid. And comparatively little thought has been given to refashioning family law to better reflect the needs of a democratic and non-racial society.