MS Zambia Newsletter May 2010

Fighting traditions

Mary Banda has fought and won over a Zambian tradition that gives women less rights to land than men.

By Lena Vind-Andersen, Information Officer, MS Zambia

20. May 2010

The sweet smell of newly baked bread surrounds Mary Banda as she shows off her fresh loaves of bread. Her family has had to support itself through baking bread and brewing beer for the past two years. This harvest, however, it will be different, because now Mary has a field to cultivate. When the ground nuts and the maize ripen in April, the family will be able to feed themselves better and generate more income from the sale of the produce. The future is definitely looking brighter than it did two years ago.

The power of traditions
Mary lost her plot of land in 2007 when her step father died. He had effectively been her father and supported her mother and all her younger siblings since Mary was three years old. Inheritance conflicts are the most common reason why a lot of Zambian women loose their land. Tradition decrees that a piece of land will always go back to the husband or father’s family when he dies before his wife or offspring. This means that a woman will typically leave behind the house and land she has shared with her husband to go back and live with her own mother’s family. According to official Zambian laws, women are actually entitled to inherit 50% of their husband’s property – including their land. But in the rural areas, where everybody lives on the Chief’s land – not the state’s – tradition will quite frequently prevail over the laws of the country. This is how a lot of women and children end up being at their own in-laws and family’s mercy and dependant on them for providing food and shelter.

Witnesses are not enough
Mary had several witnesses to prove that her step father had officially given the land plot to her a few years after she got married. It wasn’t written down anywhere, but the entire village knew this was the case. Including the family of her step father. She had been cultivating it for the past 7 years together with her husband. In spite of this, the step father’s family denied her entitlement to the land.

“After my step father died, his family said I wasn’t his real daughter and not entitled to the land he had given me. They didn’t want anything to do with me and pushed me off the land. My mother didn’t get any land either and my younger siblings were only given a very small portion. So it was a difficult situation, because my mother couldn’t work very much and I myself was trying to finish my schooling.”

Mary pinches her eyebrows when she remembers the struggles of the past years, which didn’t get any easier when her husband left her as well in 2008.

Determination pays off
But Mary didn’t want to give up the fight for her land that easily. She went to the headman to complain. He decided she should share the land with her step father’s family. Mary wasn’t very happy with that decision.

“I began asking everybody I knew about whom I could approach in order to get all of my land back. I went to friends and family and also asked people in different offices for advice.”

Mary ended up going to the Victim Support Unit of the police. They referred her to MS Partner, Petauke District Land Alliance (PDLA). PDLA mediated in the case and eventually Mary got all of her land back. She has also been given a written letter by the chief, which proves her right to the plot.

Customary land
PDLA tries to promote the idea of Chief’s letters in areas of customary land. They often get cases referred to them from the police, because Zambian laws regarding customary land rights are practically not elaborated anywhere. The state isn’t too interested in getting itself involved in the management of customary land, since their authority is only valid on state land.

”The Zambian Land laws only state that customary land should be administered by the Chiefs in accordance with the prevailing traditions in their area. On a practical level, this means that Chiefs can freely follow which ever direction they want to take,“ explains Henry Machina from the Zambia Land Alliance.

Proof of the right to land
In customary land areas it isn’t common to have written proof of your right to the plot you are using. By encouraging Chiefs to write letters and furthermore suggest that they keep a proper land register of who is entitled to which land, it is possible to aid those who are most frequently the victims of dispossession: women and youths. While the letters aren’t the same as a proper title deed and do not carry the same legal weight, they can nevertheless ensure that these groups can more easily defend their rights and keep their lands in case of ownership conflicts. And this is not only an advantage to women and youths, it is to the benefit of everyone, male and female, in the customary land areas, to have a written proof that defines the boundaries of your land.

Knowledge is power

PDLA frequently visits the local communities around Petauke District, in order to enlighten people about their land rights. This often means that new cases and conflicts surface.

”We lack resources to properly follow up on all the cases, both transport and human resources, like paralegal officers, who can help us sort out the intricacies of the Zambian land laws”, says Andrew Kamanga from PDLA.

Another problem is that many women think it is completely beyond them to even think about demanding their rights. Traditions are very strong in rural Zambia and many women will not complain at all if their rights are being violated. Most don’t even know that they can. This is why it is important to engage the communities in sensitization meetings and spread the message that PDLA can help resolve land conflicts. Mary’s determination and the help she got from PDLA has given her her land back and she can now dream of a brighter future:

“I want to become a nurse, I want to use my education for something useful,” she declares