Feature - Calls for review of inheritance laws

Existing legislation for protecting the property rights of Zimbabwean women married under customary law need to be revised, say activists. Widows married under customary law enjoy some protection when their husbands die without leaving a will, but remain disadvantaged. For example, although 86 percent of women farm for a living on land in communal areas run by traditional chiefs, legislation is silent on the issue of land inheritance under these circumstances. According to custom, chiefs allocate land to male heads of households, but women do not automatically inherit this land upon a husband's death. Consequently, they may be evicted from the land when widowed. Although Zimbabwe's constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of gender, it allows this clause to fall away where it runs contrary to customary law. Thus, if the husband dies, "the widow does not automatically inherit his land, which was not his to give away anyway," Edith Mashawidza, chairperson of the Women and Land in Zimbabwe lobby, told IRIN. Many who remain on the land do so at the pleasure of their in-laws or traditional leaders. Childless widows are often evicted, as are young widows who refused to be physically 'inherited' by a male relative of their late husband, often a brother. Inheritance laws passed in 1997 were meant to provide protection for widows married under customary law, whose husbands had died without leaving a will. The Administration of Estates Act made the surviving spouse and children the primary beneficiaries of the deceased's estate, to stop abuses under the old system where the eldest son usually inherited everything and could "throw out" his mother and siblings, Emelia Muchawa, director of the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers' Association (ZWLA) told IRIN. But the law does not offer women and children complete security. In polygamous marriages, each wife keeps the home she was living in at the time of the husband's death, with its household contents. The wives share a third of the remaining property, with the senior wife getting the largest share and all the children sharing the remaining two-thirds. "But the senior wife's house may be less valuable than the others and sometimes the remaining estate is so small that there is little to share, and children might end up with nothing," Muchawa told IRIN. She said there was a need to reform the law, so that the most valuable property could be administered to the benefit of all. The law allows the deceased's siblings and parents a share of the estate only if he had no offspring, raising the risks of property grabbing and blackmail by relatives who lose out. Women are reluctant to take legal action in such situations because of the allegedly unsympathetic attitude of police and/or threats from the deceased's relatives, whose cooperation is needed for confirmation of unregistered unions and birth registration. Women have also been socialised into believing that they will have bad luck if they do not cooperate with their husband's family. "The women fear 'ngozi', or the husband's vengeful spirit, and they think it's better for the relatives to take everything while they start afresh," Muchawa told IRIN. This is not the end of the difficulties women in unregistered customary law marriages can experience: the widow and children may not inherit from the estate if the deceased husband had a civil law marriage as well; the customary marriage would have had to take place first, and be registered. The Deceased Persons' Family Maintenance Act allows children of a customary marriage to claim maintenance from the deceased's estate, but rights activists say women are often unaware of their entitlements under this law and benefits depend on the size of the estate. Muchawa said rights groups were working with the ministry of justice on harmonising marriage laws. The official Herald newspaper recently reported that traditional leaders would soon be allowed to certify customary law marriages. Muchawa said this "will help deal with relatives who play around and choose to accept only the wife who would give them more benefits".