DevelopmentFeature

When access to land for women is a dream

 

Mary Goba, 51, does not understand why she cannot own the land she inherited from her father after his death in 2006. She has documents to show the land belonged to her father and that he used to earn a living from farming on it.

Goba’s father was given the land by village headman (VH) Chikasa in 1988. When he died in 2006, she took over the plot only to lose it in 2010. Now she is struggling to reclaim it.

Desperation, rage and anguish have since gripped after the land was grabbed from her and justice seems to be far-fetched. The disputed land is sugarcane plot KB51 in Chikasa Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kafuzira in Nkhotakota.

Chipunungu: She has all documents
Chipunungu: She has all documents

Goba was living in Chikwawa at the time of her father’s death. She then relocated to Nkhotakota to continue with her father’s trade.

“I left Chikwawa to continue the commercial sugarcane farming following the death of my father on May 16 2006. I was cultivating on the plot until 2010 when some chiefs told me that government wants to provide improved seeds to enhance production under a new project,” Goba says.

Thereafter, she says, plots around the area, including KB51, were tilled and the demarcations removed, and the land was later redistributed.

“The village heads distributed the land in 2012 and surprisingly, my plot was given to another person. He is a rich man and has several sugarcane plots in the area,” she says.

Goba says when she lodged a complaint to village head Chikasa, who took over from the original Chikasa who gave land to Goba’s father, the chief told her she could not be given land because she was a foreigner.

According to Goba, other chiefs from the area who sympathised with her predicament took the matter to Traditional Authority (T/A) Kafuzira who summoned VH Chikasa to a hearing but Chikasa never showed up.

“The matter was taken to Nkhunga Magistrates Court but the village head did not turn up on three occasions,” she says.

Goba: It seems justice favours the rich
Goba: It seems justice favours the rich

She says she was then told to pay K5 000 ($8.7) for police to purchase fuel to arrest the village head if she wanted speedy settling of the matter.

“I managed to raise K3 000 ($5.2) and he was arrested, but it did not take long before I heard that the man who was given my plot had bailed the chief. The court proceeded to rule in his absence that the land belongs to me,” Goba says.

A copy of the judgement which Goba is in possession of indicates that it was civil case 151/12 and the court on August 29 2013 ruled that Goba is the rightful owner of the land. It further ordered VH Chikasa to pay Goba K19 200 for costs she incurred in the case.

“After the judgement, I was surprised to be served with an injunction from Mzuzu High Court obtained by the rich man on November 8 2013 restraining me from encroaching on and illegally occupying the whole or part of the sugarcane plot,” says Goba.

She says she stopped cultivating on the plot to comply with the order.

“At the court, I was advised to secure a lawyer at Legal Aid. When I went to Legal Aid I was told to wait,” says Goba.

She says the court was only making promises, yet the man continued cultivating while she was still suffering.

“I went again, but they said I was a nuisance. This time I wanted them to vacate the injunction so that I should be cultivating the land while waiting for the case to be settled.

“Three years have elapsed but nothing has happened, yet the man is getting proceeds from sugarcane farming on the plot,” says Goba.

VH Chipunungu says it is disheartening to note that the woman is suffering when she is the rightful owner of the plot.

“She has all relevant documentation regarding the plot and chiefs have been fighting for her to reclaim the land to the extent that the T/A was her witness at the magistrate’s court.

“VH Chikasa, who died early this year, advised me to chase Goba out of my village but I told him that I could not do that because she is the rightful owner of the disputed land and she is development conscious. I want this woman assisted and justice to prevail,” says the chief.

Goba says she had 16 siblings but she is the only one surviving. She does not have a piece of land for socio-economic activities and she relies on piece-work for survival and for footing transport costs to Mzuzu to make follow-ups at Legal Aid.

Kasitu Ward Councillor Joseph Zimkungi says he is aware of the issue because Chikasa Village is in his ward. He says he knew Goba’s father.

“She is not the only victim of such circumstances in sugarcane plantation in Kasitu Ward. This is happening because of corrupt chiefs who forget the welfare of their subjects and prioritise their self-interests,” he says.

Zimkungi asks government to intervene in the matter so that Goba reclaims her plot and that it should be a lesson to corrupt chiefs.

“It is sad to note that the justice system is failing the woman,” he laments.

Asked what Goba can do, Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati said her ministry has pro bono lawyers at Legal Aid and the woman is supposed to get in touch with them.

Goba believes she is suffering because she is poor while the man who got her land is rich.

“It is clear that justice favours the rich,” she laments.

Meanwhile, she remains hopeless, not knowing whether she will reclaim her land or not. n

 

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