Customary Marriage (Registration) Act of 1973

The Customary Marriage Act (CMA) sets parameters for acceptable customary marriages and requirements for registration and dissolution. Customary marriages are prohibited if the female party is younger than 16 years old or the male party is younger than 18 years old, either party is of unsound mind, they are too closely related, the marriage is otherwise prohibited by one of the parties’ customs, or one of the parties is still in an existing monogamous marriage. Subsequent monogamous or Muslim marriages will not be recognized and are void if there was a pre-existing customary marriage.