Saneie Masilela kissed his wife and said he loves her despite the huge age gap that has stunned villagers who describe the marriage as ‘sickening’A 9-year-old boy recently renewed his vows to a woman 53 years his senior, a year after first marrying her.
Sanele Masilela and Helen Shabangu of Tshwane, South Africa decided to wed claiming it was an order from their dead ancestors. The renewing of the vows was required by a local tradition which states a wedding ceremony has to be repeated at the bride’s home in order to make it official.
Dressed in a silvery tuxedo, baby-faced Saneie clutched the hand of mother-of-five Helen Shabangu – her children are aged between 28- and 38-years-old – as they repeated their vows a year on in front of 100 guests.
He said: “My kids and I are happy because we don’t have a problem with her marrying the boy – and I don’t care what other people say.”Both families claim the wedding is simply another ‘ritual’ after Saneie was told by his dead ancestors to wed last year and his parents forked out £500 for the bride and another £1,000 for the ceremony.
But the schoolboy – the youngest of five children – wanted to follow South African tradition and insisted they have the second ceremony this week to make their marriage official.“I know it’s what the ancestors wanted. If we hadn’t done what my son had asked, then something bad would have happened in the family,” she said.
The young boy said about the matter: “I’m happy that I married Helen, but I will go to school and study hard. When I’m older, I will marry a lady my own age.”
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