[I]n the case of Zimbabwe, men continue to have easier access to property than women. In
the resettlement schemes set up to provide land to liberation fighters, individual land grants
were awarded to men as heads of households. A married woman was, thus, prevented from
owning land, and if she were divorced (for whatever reason), she lost the right to stay on the
land because it was registered in her husband’s name. Only widows and single women could
obtain land, and even they had trouble acquiring land because officials were skeptical about
their potential productivity.
53
The western materialistic and patriarchy ideologies have, therefore, worked hand
and gloves with some traditional notions of African patriarchy ideologies to discriminate against women and non-citizens in regard to land and soil rights. This
aspect is visible in the policies and laws made by contemporary African governments discussed in this chapter.
The friction is now between tradition versus modernity [policies and laws] and
legal pluralism, and customary versus statutory laws. Neither of these ideologies
works to women’s expectations and protection of their rights.
54 Legal pluralism
entails various kinds of law such as state law, made by the legislature and enforced
by the government. It equally includes religious law, both the written doctrines and
accepted religious practice, and customary law, interpretations thereof, and in a
globalized world, the project (programme) law. Indeed, in the present globalized
era, land law as applied in Africa is conditioned by regulations associated with the
western programme of donation.
55 Donations and other forms of foreign aid are
intended to serve the interests of developed economies. Donations help to condition
African economies to introduce reforms in their traditional land tenurial systems in
favour of the donors. The reformed land tenurial systems do not only alienate land
[and soil] from the Africans in totality, but equally, alienate the poor, women and
men from the soil, which they treasure. In total, none of these legal regimes create an
atmosphere of easy access to land and soil in Uganda, much as it is more disadvantageous to the women and non-citizens.
This subsection puts the foundations of land and hence soil legal regime in
African into context by highlighting the socio-legal foundations of the land policies
and laws as they operate today in Africa. It makes clear that the materialistic nature
of the western legal paradigms is essentially at loggerheads with the African
customary law, the latter being organic to the African society and hence easily
understood and respected. The discussion makes it clear that colonial law and its
ideological manifestations is still operational in Africa because it uses the bait of
donations to condition the minds of African governments to develop policies and
laws that can help maintain the flow of donations.
Donations are not free gifts to African economies; they are only avenues of the
neo-colonial western domination and its attendant draining channels of African
resources. That trend is disadvantageous to the African economies, it makes them
poorer day by day and is incapable of bring about sustainable utilisation of African
53 Parpart (1995).
54 Sebina-Zziwa (1999).
55 Ahmed (1999).
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
145
the resettlement schemes set up to provide land to liberation fighters, individual land grants
were awarded to men as heads of households. A married woman was, thus, prevented from
owning land, and if she were divorced (for whatever reason), she lost the right to stay on the
land because it was registered in her husband’s name. Only widows and single women could
obtain land, and even they had trouble acquiring land because officials were skeptical about
their potential productivity.
53
The western materialistic and patriarchy ideologies have, therefore, worked hand
and gloves with some traditional notions of African patriarchy ideologies to discriminate against women and non-citizens in regard to land and soil rights. This
aspect is visible in the policies and laws made by contemporary African governments discussed in this chapter.
The friction is now between tradition versus modernity [policies and laws] and
legal pluralism, and customary versus statutory laws. Neither of these ideologies
works to women’s expectations and protection of their rights.
54 Legal pluralism
entails various kinds of law such as state law, made by the legislature and enforced
by the government. It equally includes religious law, both the written doctrines and
accepted religious practice, and customary law, interpretations thereof, and in a
globalized world, the project (programme) law. Indeed, in the present globalized
era, land law as applied in Africa is conditioned by regulations associated with the
western programme of donation.
55 Donations and other forms of foreign aid are
intended to serve the interests of developed economies. Donations help to condition
African economies to introduce reforms in their traditional land tenurial systems in
favour of the donors. The reformed land tenurial systems do not only alienate land
[and soil] from the Africans in totality, but equally, alienate the poor, women and
men from the soil, which they treasure. In total, none of these legal regimes create an
atmosphere of easy access to land and soil in Uganda, much as it is more disadvantageous to the women and non-citizens.
This subsection puts the foundations of land and hence soil legal regime in
African into context by highlighting the socio-legal foundations of the land policies
and laws as they operate today in Africa. It makes clear that the materialistic nature
of the western legal paradigms is essentially at loggerheads with the African
customary law, the latter being organic to the African society and hence easily
understood and respected. The discussion makes it clear that colonial law and its
ideological manifestations is still operational in Africa because it uses the bait of
donations to condition the minds of African governments to develop policies and
laws that can help maintain the flow of donations.
Donations are not free gifts to African economies; they are only avenues of the
neo-colonial western domination and its attendant draining channels of African
resources. That trend is disadvantageous to the African economies, it makes them
poorer day by day and is incapable of bring about sustainable utilisation of African
53 Parpart (1995).
54 Sebina-Zziwa (1999).
55 Ahmed (1999).
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
145