Wisdom in folktales: Exploring primary marriage counselling in Zimbabwean Ndebele traditions

Abstract

This article interrogates Ndebele folktales to establish how they were/are utilised as a primary marriage counselling vehicle in Zimbabwe’s Ndebele society. The analysis is made against the backdrop of increasing marriage and family instability as shown through domestic violence, divorce, separation, estrangement and many other marital challenges. The article argues that primary marriage counselling is one key strategy used in the past in Ndebele society to stabilise marriage; today it remains an important tool for the same purpose. Therefore, the article seeks to establish the role played by Ndebele folktales in the primary marriage counselling strategies of Ndebele society. The discovery of how such strategies worked and still work could contribute to the formulation of a marriage counselling model for modern Ndebele society that has witnessed a decline in the practice of indigenous primary marriage counselling. The article is based on a textual analysis of selected Ndebele folktales as well as in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with elderly couples in Tsholotsho District in Zimbabwe. The theory of Afrocentricity helps to conceptualise primary marriage counselling in the Ndebele culture and history. The article discovered that Ndebele folktales demonstrate that Ndebele marriage counselling was a lifetime process that started from childhood.