Outcry over Lobola Calculator

The Lobola Calculator, created by software designer Robert Matsaneng, has received mixed reactions from South Africans. While some see it as just a bit of fun, many find the concept of assigning monetary value to women entirely offensive. The fact that someone could create a lobola app to calculate the value of a woman is a reflection of how we have lost our identity as black people, warns cultural expert Nomagugu Ngobese. She says that the creation of such an app proves that people have forgotten the age-old traditions behind the practice. “One needs to define and understand what lobola is about. It is not about putting a price tag on your daughter because you have raised her and taken her to school. It is about the union of two families,” Ngobese says. There has been a lot of commercialisation around lobola, with people putting monetary value on the tradition. This in turn has created this idea that lobola is about money, but this is not the case, she tells us. “People need to stop putting a price on lobola. Back in the day, people could pay whatever they could afford, because it was not about the money. “You cannot put a price tag on a human being,” she says, adding that this only oppresses women, leading men to see them as nothing more than commodities. Lobola Calculator creator, Matsaneng, 26, claims his motives were not as mysogynistic as some claim. A self-professed tech guru, he says he never expected the app to get the publicity it has. All he wanted to do, he claims, was to build an app that would reflect African culture and get people talking. People need to stop putting a price on lobola. Back in the day, people could pay whatever they could afford, because it was not about the money “This is a personal project in my personal capacity, first of all. I created this app after I realised that in the Play Store there are not a lot of apps from South Africans that reflect African culture much, that international people can see and be drawn to Africa with, and discuss African culture a bit,” he said. South African women are definitely curious about how much lobola they could earn, he adds. “So I made an app that gives a rough estimate in a playful way, that is not too intrusive. Also, there are not a lot of brothers represented in the Play Store, so I hope now there will be. “I honestly never expected this kind of reaction from this specific app, but I’m glad it has made some laugh, some livid and generally sparked conversation,” he says. When we ask if this app is not undermining African culture and the meaning of lobola, he defends it, saying: “This app is not intended to replace our culture at all. If anything, I appreciate all the positive and negative feedback about it. I completely understand that no amount of technology can replace what goes on in the custom of lobola. “I respect women and the lobola culture. Also, beyond stressing that the app is only for entertainment, I purposely added the ability to calculate male dowry as well. I don’t intend the app to be about treating women as commodities. If anyone views it that way then it is not the app they have the problem with, it is the culture,” he says. In closing, Matsaneng adds that there are dozens of apps in the app stores that calculate love compatibility, and that no one has questioned the validity of them. JOHANNESBURG DESTINYCONNECT.COM