Three of the wives are newlyweds; one has been his wife for 12 years.

Milton Mbhele, the 44-year-old groom, said the joint marriage ceremony was carried out to reduce wedding expenses. South African law recognizes polygamous marriages; even the president has multiple wives.

After the honeymoon is over--and once he finally memorizes the names of his in-laws--he'll get around to thinking about life insurance. And he'll need plenty of it.

With a dozen or so kids, four wives, a massive home (I'm guessing) and a fleet of vehicles to haul the entire family around, his financial obligations are through the roof. I won't speculate on his financial status, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say he needs a hefty life insurance policy.

Let's consider his expenses. First up: the cost of four wives. If Mr. Mbhele were to die from, oh I don't know, stress, exhaustion or a mix of both, who would foot the bill for his four lovely brides? Mortgage costs, household expenses, groceries, clothing, automobile costs, health care--it's a lot to take in. If his income were lost, they'd be on their own to maintain the household financially and support the kids.

Speaking of the 11 children, how much would they cost? Diapers, food, clothing, education, health care--kids are expensive! And once they get older, they'll want to go to college. I don't know what the cost of college would be for a dozen or so children in South Africa, but it costs a heck of a lot here in the U.S. And if he has more children (another dozen, perhaps?), his life insurance needs would continue to rise.

So, keeping all this in mind, how much life insurance does Mr. Mbhele need? I'd have to send away to NASA to get the final calculations (they have better computers than we do), but my rough estimate is that he will need a policy worth seven or eight figures in U.S. dollars, and probably a billion or two in South African rand. Yikes.