The Status Of Widows

Lesego Nswahu Nchunga | Monday June 28, 2021 15:11

The narrative is not unlike what we have come to learn and accept as normal in our society. In the film, after the death of Neria’s husband, Neria’s brother-in-law takes over the deceased’s estate as well as the children. Some film critics have said the movie struck a nerve that runs across the continent. The film ruefully illustrates deliberate perversion of traditional customs.

About a year ago, while scrolling through social media, I read a caption on a post about a funeral in Zambia. The author’s uncle had died. Immediately following his death, his brothers and male cousins came to his home, where his grieving widow was lying on the floor surrounded by other mourners.

The congregation of men met to deliberate on how the deceased’s property would be distributed. Later that day, before the deceased was even buried, a representative of the congregation came into the house to inform the grieving widow that a decision had been made that the deceased’s brother would take the matrimonial house, and that the wife would have to leave, immediately after the funeral to allow her brother-in-law to move in.

Over the last few years, and following the death of motswako maestro, Hip-Hop Pantsula (HHP), we watched as his wife was caught up in a brawl with his family over the validity of their marriage. The deceased’s father was adamant that the traditional customary processes of marriage were no longer sufficient to ascertain the widow’s interest in controlling her late husband’s estate.

 Last year, I read about a widow in Lesotho whose entrepreneur husband had died, and his son was, by order of court, determined to be the sole heir. The widow and her late husband had, before his death, reduced their wishes about their property, to a will.

This will was completely ignored, and her property was now being controlled by her step-son.

In eSwatini, after the deaths of their husbands, widows often have to forfeit the land they acquired with their husbands; especially if they wish to marry.

In Kenya, there is a law that states that a widow who gets married following the death of her husband, forfeits any rights she may have had over their joint estate. The provision in that law expressly states that the same law does not extend to widowers. In rural Sierra Leone, in an area where there is extensive mining activity, widow are dispossessed of their farm land by the mining activity.

Flooded farms can no longer be of use to the widows, and they are not compensated for the loss of crops or even the effects of mining on their health, despite repeated efforts, on their part, for compensation.

In our very own country, we know many widows who dread going into meetings with their in-laws about the estate of the deceased, because even where there is a will, the deceased’s family often finds ways of sidelining the widow, and advancing their own interests in the property, instead.

The stories of widows in Africa are endless. Widows are amongst the most vulnerable groups, whose rights are often violated at will, by their in-laws.

Historically, in many African societies, marriage was the exchange of a woman’s productive and reproductive rights from her father to her husband and his family. Women were viewed as the property of a male family member, at all points of their life.

At no point could the woman attain majority status – she would instead go from being a child in her father’s house, to her husband’s first child.

These misogynistic cultural and traditional practices continue in some societies in Africa, where men retain marital power over women, and women’s honour is tied to the men in her life, her family and even her community.

This commodification of women means that in many societies, for women to be or feel protected against societal ills, she must be with a man, one way or the other. In this sense, widows fall out of the women who are therefore protected.

In working towards a Botswana we want to live in, and one we want to leave for our children, it is important that we engage with the toxic cultural practices which are used to victimise widows and to sideline and marginalise them.

As seen in the case studies above, inheritance and property rights and the right to control one’s property is the most violated right for widows.

Widows are often forced into exploitative work in order to support themselves and their families.

In many cases, they bear a burden that is unjust and unfair. They are made to endure traditional practices which are inhumane and degrading.

It is important that in employing a human rights approach, which advocates for inclusivity of all diversity, that we consider the rights of widows as important, and needing protection.