Women's Land Rights (Zimbabwe)

In such a patriarchal community, where women are seen as objects undeserving of any power to lead in any sector, it is close to impossible to find a significant number of women with power over land. The processes of acquiring land are simply too long and tedious to complete. With corruption, Chiokomuhomwe in Shona, being the talk of the century, women in desperate need of this asset go to great lengths to access it. Those who are well off pay the humongous amounts requested by officials, some sell their bodies in exchange for land. It all happens behind closed doors, but there is one event which made me realize that as a continent, we have a long way to go till we appreciate the value of women, let alone acknowledge their power of ownership over land.

What would you do if you lost your property because of someone’s death?

“I regret the day my father, Papa Jo, took his last breath. That very day marked the beginning of decades of toiling and suffering, an end to my short period of joy,love, and peace. lf my parents had known that they were to conceive a girl child for the third time, l doubt i would still be in existence today. If my mother had known that five years after my birth my father would return to dust, l doubt she would have agreed to get married to his family in the first place. Yes, she married the family, not my father. My father’s relatives called her ‘Mukadzi wedu’, meaning our wife. If my father had known the tragedy that would befall us after his departure from Earth, l doubt he would have agreed to leave us in such a catastrophe. Oh Papa Jo, why did you leave us?

Early one morning, after my father had been laid to rest, uncles from my father's uncles stormed into the spacious house both my parents had built through selling their farm produce. They demanded that we evacuate the house. It was like a bombshell being dropped in the form of a two-word Shona sentence, ‘Ibvai pano!’(Leave this place). I cannot say we were shocked. We had anticipated such an act but not this soon. We were helpless.

That very morning, we were thrown out of the house. They had no solid reason except to say my mother had killed my father so that she could take possession of my father’s wealth. They even accused her of killing the male children of my father. After 20 years of marriage, building a legacy to leave behind for my sisters and l, the relatives we thought loved us, were the first to send us packing. I wonder what had happened to the ‘Mukadzi wedu’ mantra.

Tradition said that a family without a male child was not complete at all. My sisters and l were victims of circumstances, for my father’s Y chromosomes were not dominant enough to form the XY chromosome for a male child. Papa, you messed up.

What hurt me the most is that my father's relatives took away everything we possessed including the 10 000sqm land my very own mother had hustled to acquire through the land reform program. Farming was our only means of survival. My sisters and l went to school because of the profits we made through selling maize, tobacco, and eggplants. As the land was taken away, our destinies were also snatched from us because we were women. How did we survive after all that? We hustled. “

source: Graphic Online

Over the years, l have realized that the treatment we received is no different from fellow Zimbabwean women. Women do not have equal access to land. A few women are in possession of small portions of land for subsistence farming. The lucky ones, with enough resources, are able to engage in small scale commercial farming, but it is mostly a male-dominated sector. Land to build houses, or business centres is not easily available to women, let alone young women. Most young women scramble to possess a 0.75m × 1m space of land in street pavements or dusty pedestrian roads, just to set up a vending business for fresh vegetables,or hair products. That’s where life has taken most women in Africa due to lack of opportunities to exercise power and potential.

I wish that someday authorities would distribute land to people in dire need for it, and closely monitor the differences in women’s use and development of that land. Maybe that time, they'll give women a chance to rise through land acquisition.

I know that within my motherland lies a rare breed of innovative and creative changemakers. Female leadership is an urgent requirement, but should we wait for it to be offered to us? NO! Let's grab that leadership in all sectors. #womeninleadership #womenwithland
Thoughts?