VERNA NYAMUCHENGWE
DISPARITY in land ownership between Masvingo and Manicaland provinces is hindering women’s access to land title, with findings by the Zimbabwe Women Against Corruption Trust (Zwact) revealing that only 2% of women hold such title.
This is contrary to section 72 of the constitution which advocates for rights to agricultural land to every citizen of Zimbabwe.
Zwact focuses on strengthening women’s participation in anti-corruption, leadership positions and economic empowerment programmes.
It also campaigns against sexual corruption and encourages victims to report and seek justice.
Zwact director Sandra Matendere highlighted the disparity in land ownership among women in Masvingo and Manicaland provinces who have faced internal displacement and eviction.
Matendere revealed that the majority of women do not hold land title in their own names but are dependent on their husbands.
Women are systematically denied access to land, primarily in rural areas by traditional leaders, hindering their economic empowerment and independence.
“In terms of land ownership, women still lag behind, with only 2% owning the land where they stay and also where they were evicted from in the Manicaland and Masvingo provinces of Zimbabwe,” she said.
“Ninety-eight percent did not own the land. Traditional leaders who had allocated the land, had done so in the names of their husbands or parents who also did not have papers to show as proof of either legal occupancy or ownership.”
Zwact’s survey revealed that women in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces are encountering several practices hindering their ability to own land.
Customary law, traditional norms and values, corruption, favouritism, nepotism, inadequate legal and policy frameworks and the lack of implementation of existing legal and policy frameworks were identified as the most common obstacles to women’s land ownership.
Those who had acquired land revealed that they had been allocated by traditional leaders, while others said they had inherited it from relatives or parents.
However, investigations revealed that some had obtained the land through bribery.
The study noted that 70% confirmed having been given the land by the state through their traditional leaders with the jurisdiction of the government.
Ten percent confirmed having inherited it from their late parents and relatives who had died. Another 10% confirmed having bought it.
However, that raised questions since communal land cannot be bought since it is state owned.
Further probing revealed that they had paid money to traditional leaders to get resettled, which speaks volumes about the prevalence of corruption in the land resettlement programme.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to several conventions and declarations, many of which prohibit discrimination against women in any sector.
In 1991, Zimbabwe ratified the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) which according to article 14 (g) says state parties shall ensure that women have the right to have access to agricultural credit loans, marketing facilities, appropriate technology and equal treatment in agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes.
Women’s access to land title very low Divine Ndhlukula is one of the few women who had the opportunity to land title. She owns Zvikomborero Farms, 120km out of Harare where she breeds livestock and trains other famers as well.
