Chief backs women’s land rights

In Malawi, women constitute about 70 percent of the agriculture workforce, but the World Bank reports that only 24 percent of them own land for cultivation.

The problem is graver in Mzimba, where chiefs exiled campaigners for women’s access to land on the pretext that the vital asset culturally belongs to men.

The country’s biggest district is a deeply patrilineal society where a woman is expected to move to her husband’s village, a tradition that leaves her with no land, mostly after divorce or death of the man.

Ester Nkosi, a 75-year-old with no child, knows how the love story cemented by dowry imperils women.

The death of her husband a decade ago was the beginning of her misery.

“The man’s relatives grabbed my land soon after his death,” she says. “They said I did not deserve a piece of land because there was no child between me and the deceased.”

In Maganjira Chirwa Village, Traditional Authority Kampingo Sibande, Daphres Chirwa reported her land-grabbing siblings to the chief after being divorced.

She narrates: “My brothers couldn’t welcome me back to my ancestral home. They said it was no longer my home because my husband had already paid dowry. So, they denied me a piece of land to settle and grow crops.”

Chirwa reported the matter to a village head, who later referred the case to Kampingo-Sibande, who ruled in her favour.

“I now own a three-acre piece of land for commercial purposes,” she says

Chief at war

After being senstised to reformed land laws and women’s right to own land by government and non-governmental organisations, Kampingo Sibande has consistently been ruling in favour of women to break such long-standing repressive land ownership system.

In an interview, the custodian of culture rallying against a consensus among Ngoni chiefs in Mzimba said it is right and just to respect women’s right to land.

Kampingo Sibande could not recall off the top of his head the number of cases he has presided over.

“There are too many,” he said. “My ruling is grounded in the firm belief that the land belongs to both the husband and wife as a family, not as individuals.”

He added: “If the husband dies, the land needs to be left in the hands of the wife and children.

“Relatives don’t need to grab such property on the pretext of culture,” he says.

This month, Kampingo Sibande has presided over three cases where women were denied land after divorce or death of their husbands.

He says a bereaved woman also has the freedom to live at the deceased village “without relatives chasing them away”.

“We tend to abuse our culture…this is a misconception. We need to give equal rights to both the husband and wife,” he says.

The Bill of Rights embedded in the Constitution recognises women’s rights to own land and property.

The supreme law prohibits gender discrimination, stipulating that women and men have the right to own land, individually or jointly with others.

Section 4 reads: “Women have the right to full and equal protection by the law and have the right not to be discriminated against on the basis of their gender or marital status.”

The freedoms include the right to be accorded the same rights as men in civil law and to acquire and maintain property independently or in association with others, regardless of their marital status.

Additionally, the Gender Equality Act of 2013 and the Deceased Estates, Wills, Inheritance and Protection Act of 2011 entitle spouses and children to a share of family property in case of death and separation. The laws make property grabbing a criminal offense.

In 2016, Parliament amended a series of land laws in recognition of women’s land rights.

Among others, the Customary Land Act 2016 allows land owners to formally register their land regardless of their gender.

Judith Kamoto and Henry Kamkwamba, researchers from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, say despite the law reform for land registration, the implementation of the prescribed land governance arrangements faces significant challenges that may constrain inclusive and gender-responsive administration of customary land administration.

“As a result, progress on women’s customary land rights has been cumbersome and slow. Currently, women’s tenure insecurity remains high,” read the findings of the 2022 Gender Assessment Report on land ownership in Malawi.

Breaking the cycle

Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Patricia Kaliati says “more needs to be done” although the country has “made great strides” in formulating laws and policies on gender equality.

“Breaking the cycle of violence against women and girls requires basic changes at the level of culture, attitudes and beliefs, including changing fundamental preconceptions and notions of power and negative masculinities,” she says.