marriage must be negotiated, entered into, or celebrated in accordance with customary law. Furthermore, the prospective spouses must be at least 18 years old, and both prospective spouses must consent to the marriage. Until the recent Johannesburg High Court judgment in Sengadi v Tsambo 3 November 2018, there has been contention and confusion as to what constitutes a valid customary marriage. In the case involving the widow of renowned hip hop musician, Jabulani Tsambo, also known as HHP, it was her status as the legally recognized customary wife that was in question. Here the family of the deceased refused to acknowledge Lerato Sengadi as the customary wife on the basis that there had not been a customary 'handover ceremony' of the bride to the family of the groom, which would meet the requirements of a ‘'celebration'’ in accordance with customary law, and therefore no customary law marriage was concluded or came into existence between the deceased and Sengadi. On examination of the evidence, the judge concluded that in fact, there had been a tacit waiver of this custom because a ‘'symbolic'’ handing over of the applicant to the Tsambo family occurred after the conclusion of the customary law marriage. As the judge put it: In what can be described as a landmark case, the judge ruled against the family and declared Sengadi as the lawful spouse of the deceased. Negotiations In South African law, certain requirements must be complied with in order to conclude a valid customary marriage, including the negotiation of the lobolo. This negotiation is a crucial step towards a valid customary marriage, in law and in culture. A distinction is made between 'lobolo' or 'lobola', the tangible form of asset that constitutes an agreed-upon dowry, and the lobolo negotiations, the set of legal customary processes that constitutes the fundamental dialogues between the two families and is necessary to establish the lobolo and the conclusion of the negotiation. The latter always precedes the former. The process of lobolo negotiations can be culturally varied, long, and complex, and involves many members from both the bride and the groom's extended families; normally, this would just be the uncles of the marrying parties, as well as the fathers, where custom allows. The groom is not allowed to participate directly in the actual negotiations. In some cultures, women may be present in the negotiations, while some households hold on to a tradition