“The queens have a great role to play in the kondom,” notes Prince Nickson, also of Bafut, noting that it is up to these women behind the man to shape him in his kingly role.
Despite the fact that polygamy is legal in Cameroon, the data shows that there are far fewer polygamous marriages across the African continent. The practice is being challenged by changing values, the spread of the Christian faith, the growing appeal of the western way of life but also the rising costs of having large families. It is against this backdrop that Cameroon’s traditional rulers must walk the fine line between two often conflicting cultures.
Some of the king’s wives |
“My role is to blend them, to find the way forward so my subjects can enjoy the fruits of development and modernity without destroying their culture. Without a culture, you are not a human being, you are an animal. And therefore the chieftaincy institution is the guarantor of our culture.”
His palace |
It is this seeming contradiction that makes life in the fondom fascinating and confusing. Are they stuck in the past or keeping pace with the present? Fon Zofoa III doesn’t think you have to choose. He may have “inherited” 72 wives and more than 500 children after his father’s death, but he considers himself a very modern king.
“To run a kingdom nowadays in this era, you must be educated because things are moving very fast. Like they used to say, education is light, ignorance is darkness.”
Meet the Cameroon king with 100 wives
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