An article translated by Christie 

Two lesbians from Chesterville, Kwa Zulu- Natal tied the knot on Saturday the 15^th June 2013, Ziningi Ndlela got married to Delisile Ncengwa, and they were married by Pastor Zinzi Zungu from the church they attend, the Victory Ministries Church International (VMCI). The queer community came out in crowds, dressed to kill in order to come and celebrate with Ndlela, who has been a member of the congregation for a long time, with Delile herself being a part of the church’s choir.

Both their families were part of the wedding, to the point that when the bride was being given over to the groom she was given over by her mother, who was also escorted into the church by her uncle. Delisile explained that the mother of her groom treated her as her own child; she did not see her as just a bride. All the speakers were advising the bride to be respectful at the home of the in-laws, especially to be respectful to her mother-in-law. In another scene, the bride’s side of the family were also very pro-active with the sisters of the bride singing beautifully, with glorious voices gracing the union.

This wedding was of a high calibre, the groom’s men were wearing designer suits and needless to say, the bride’s entourage never let their beautiful dresses touch the ground as the wedding took place outside the local Chesterville community hall, with the sun shining brightly complementing the delight of the service too. “I want this day to be a reminder to us, with these vows I promise that I will always be yours, I declare this in front of our family, friends and all who are present and even with the sun shining.” These were the words shared by Ndlela to his/her loved one. Bursts of ululations were expressed coming from the older women, with rounds of applause and whistling coming from the men; at this time the Pastor was concluding the ceremony ending off with

“I now pronounce you as life partners”.

The guests were waiting anxiously to hear what would be said when addressing the christening of the couple’s union, because traditionally at this stage ‘they should be addressed as man and wife’. The choir kept singing nice gospel songs with people standing up to move to the rhythms now and then, you would not ask what kind of people were getting married, as it was obvious that this was a Christian wedding. The bride also spoke a few words of gratitude, she stood up and brought the house down singing in praise even exclaiming that she is a child of God and she sings songs of praises at her church.

Both Ndlela and his/her wife made their families feel proud, their relatives, friends, their pastor as well as the congregation that they attend, in the fact that they never once mentioned that just because it is a same sex wedding, it would not be a blessed union. The simple fact is that this marriage is just the same as other unions, because it is about two people expressing love to each other.

Translated article

2013 June 16: Zishade libalele izitabane


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