Mphuthumi Ntabeni

In this extract from The Broken River Tent, by Mphuthumi Ntabeni, the protagonist, Phila, makes a fiery courtroom speech

My single friend believes that social pressures placed on bachelors are a new phenomenon. I tell him bachelors have suffered social stigmas in many cultures. "Think of severe Roman marriage laws," I say, "that regarded old bachelors as reprehensible, barring them from advancing in a public career and prohibiting their receiving inheritance."