Economic Empowerment
Source: Destiny Connect
Late former president Nelson Mandela’s ex wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela made headlines on Tuesday, when details about her fight for the right to own the family’s Qunu homestead emerged. Her battle highlights that of many SA women to own land.
In a letter seen by The Daily Dispatch Madikizela-Mandela who was left out of the former statesman’s will, argues that since the house was bought when she and Mandela were still married – in 1989 – it is her and children’s right to inherit the homestead.
She further states that fighting for the Qunu homestead and a farm in the village, is not about contesting the struggle icon’s will, but fighting for what is due to her.
While the issue is a sensitive one because it deals with one of the most prominent families in the country, it does however bring to the fore the question of women’s rights to own land and property, most importantly their rights within customary marriages.
Under the South African customary law, if a woman is married traditionally they are entitled to half of the husband’s assets, as the marriage is recognised as being married in community of property.
Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyer Mvuyo Notyesi told us that the former freedom fighter was fighting for her customary right to inherit the house, as Mandela should have left the house to her when he passed away according to customary law because they bought it when they were married.
For so many years, women in this country were oppressed and had little or no voice at all. But since democracy dawned in 1994 in South Africa things have changed and the customary law to which Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyer is referring came into being.
Women are now starting to dominate boardrooms and play vital leadership roles in politics, business and society. This upward trend should have extended to owning more land, but it hasn’t – not in South Africa, nor in most other parts of the continent.
In 2011 it was reported that women produce 80% of food in developing African countries, but only own 1% of land.
In 1992 the Land Policy was amended to ensure that women gain equal access to land and participate in policy formulation and decision-making.
"Owning land is an important tool to empower women, as female-headed households in South Africa are ranked the poorest."
Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker, an attorney at The Women’s Legal Centre says owning land is an important tool to empower women, as female-headed households in South Africa are ranked the poorest.
Abrahams-Fayker explains that the inequality of ownership and control of land is due to a reliance on traditional norms regarding the appropriate roles of the sexes.
“Most traditional systems throughout Africa are patrilineal, meaning that land and property inheritance favours male heirs. This pattern of male preference is realised through marriage laws, inheritance laws, land reforms, inequalities in the markets, and the concept of the male as the ‘head of the household’. Many of these traditional practices are embodied in customary law while not promoting the status of women,” she says.
She adds that the concept of property rights is synonymous with basic survival and accessing economic opportunities and therefore there is a clear nexus between the empowerment of women and property rights.
Abrahams-Fayker explains that when women own or inherit property they become empowered, as they are given economic security and become self-reliant.
“Women are able to uplift themselves by being able to be independent and support themselves, own land, remove themselves from domestic violence and be empowered to make health choices and be in a position to educate themselves and create work opportunities for themselves through asset control,” she says.
Although the law allows women to have access to land, they have however not benefited that much, as the pace in implementation has been very slow.
Zimbabwe is one of a few examples where there has been an increase of women owning land, but they are not profiting from it. Since the new land reform laws have been changed in the country, Zimbabwean women now own 20% of the country’s land.
While women in Zimbabwe and South Africa can own land, it is a different story for those who live in Swaziland.
According to the country’s law married women are entitled to register property in their own names, something that was not allowed in the past. Previous laws prohibited Swazi women from owning land or property, as they were considered to be minors.
In 2010 a High Court ruling stated that women were permitted to register property in their own name, but in practice women in the country still struggle to own property.
Several women who spoke to UN news office, IRIN news, said banks in the country still do not recognise them as adults and they can only get loans if the husband if the husband agrees to sign for it.
Speaking to Inter Press Service News Agency, Kenyan activist Elizabeth Nzioki, who has done research on women and land in Kenya, said the problem with the country’s law is that it only allows male children to inherit land or property, which means that women are excluded from owning land.
While SA laws have been amended to allow more women to own land, the inequality in land ownership in South Africa is still a problem, and one that future generations will pay for if it’s not resolved.
