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| Customary
law in southern Africa by Diana Mavunduse |
The ruling
caused an outcry both locally and internationally. As news of the Supreme Court ruling
spread around the country and throughout the region, women NGOs staged peaceful
demonstrations. Thoko Matshe, Director of Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre and Network
(ZWRCN), says, “the ruling made by the Supreme Court has opened the door for
customary law to erode legal gains made by women in southern Africa over the
years,”adding that by using customary law, the courts are reinstating discrimination
against women. Puleng Letuka of the Lesotho chapter of Women
and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) says “The Western-based general law concept of the
heir relates to the disposition of property after the death of a person where the heir is
the person to whom property is transferred.”
In most southern African countries, courts look at inheritance in
terms of the transfer of ownership as defined along western lines to include absolute
rights over property. In traditional law, rights over property were not absolute but were
subject to decision-making processes of a family council.
Thus after a person died, the family council which included both
male and female members, was convened to make decisions about the distribution of
property. South Africa’s Mankoko Molete argues that, “in African culture a woman
is equal to a man and women have their rights embedded in the custom.” She adds that
African customary law in South Africa is derived from colonisation and was popularised
during the apartheid era.
After the Magaya vs Magaya decision, gender activists are now
lobbying for greater gender sensitisation for men and women at the grass roots level about
the effects of customary laws and women’s rights.
Beatrice Chiumia of the Malawi NGO Gender Coordinating Network
(NGOGON) says, “ Malawi is at an advanced stage where a women’s caucus of NGOs
and parliamentarians was formed to organise workshops with chiefs to find out how they
administer deceased properties.”
While it is culturally correct to maintain some traditional values
and norms that many African societies identify with, there are some customs that are
retrogressive. As Lolo Mkhabeni of WLSA Swaziland says, “Women have changed in recent
years, hence to be embedded in the customary law is really not called for, thus
re-education of all sectors of the society is important.”
Women in politics and decision-making:
Beyong 30 percent by the year 2005
Customary Law in southern Africa
Day of the African Child
sinking into oblivion?
The ideology of militarism and human
security
The SADC trade protocol & gender:
What are the connections? |
| Women activists in southern
Africa are lobbying against the use of customary law in courts, which is seen as a
hindrance to women empowerment. Customary law is said to be
“very African” and that it protects the values and norms of African societies.
In courts, it is said to represent all the ethnic groups in a country. However, southern
Africa has diverse societies with different cultures which practice different customs.The
issue of inheritance under customary law has caused a lot of problems in contemporary
southern Africa. Gender activists argue that customary law diminishes the right of the
mother or girl child to be the head of the house after her husband or father has died. |
The Zimbabwean case of
Venia Magaya popularly dubbed “Magaya versus Magaya” is one such case, where
Venia (52) eldest child in a polygamous family, lost her father’s estate, which she
had won through a community court, to her younger half-brother at the supreme court
recently. In July 1997, Venia was kicked out of the house where she had lived with her
parents until their death. She now lives in a shack in a neighbour’s backyard.Despite
the new Deceased Estates Amendment Act of 1997 which gave Zimbabwean women in customary
law marriages, whether registered or not, the right to inherit from their dead husbands,
Venia lost her case. The Supreme Court judgement was based on the old act which states:
“Under customary law, only men can inherit and all family members are subordinate to
the male head of the family”. |
| Day of the African Child sinking into oblivion by Winnet Mutimbe |
| There is an urgent need to
revitalise the commemoration of the Day of the African Child whose importance
seems to have sunk into oblivion over the past eight years. The
Day of the African Child was declared in July 1990 and was to be commemorated on 16 June
every year by all Organisation of African Unity (OAU) member states. The day was set aside
in memory of the massacre of 176 Soweto school children on 16 June 1976 by apartheid South
African security forces. According to the OAU, countries are expected to mark the day in
the most appropriate way to them. After the massacre of these children, African leaders
realised the importance of protecting their children against violence and abuse.
In order to ensure that their goal was achieved, they came up with
specific objectives they were determined to accomplish. The major objective was defined to
give special attention to children’s well being. In many ways, the Day of the African
Child has become a reference point for measuring the delivery of the promises made to
children. By so doing, this day is observed to help meet various objectives such as
sustaining political will for Africa, increase donor support and to focus international
attention on Africa and its children. It also aims at mobilising national actions for the
benefit of children. |
In Zimbabwe, the day is
commemorated through the “Children’s Parliament” and this year’s theme
is HIV/AIDS and its impact on children and young people. This theme is appropriate to the
Zimbabwean context given the rise in AIDS orphans and AIDS infected children. This year
however, the date for the commemoration of the day has been postponed to 31 July to allow
for ample time for prepations, according government officials. A snap survey of
preparations around the region indicated that some countries were still not decided on the
theme or were not going to commemorate the day due to lack of funding. Given that southern Africa’s children are currently faced with
problems such as child abuse, child labour, child soldiers and displacement by war, more
needs to be done. There is also very little information about the subject in the media and
this needs to be improved if the day is to regain its popularity in the region. With
little interest evident among governments and the donor community, the significance of the
day is gradually sinking into oblivion, letting down the spirits of the 176 Soweto school
children. |
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