The Dichotomy of Land Laws in South Africa: The Challenges Faced by Women in Accessing Land

Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other parts of the world, women rely on farming for the generation of their livelihood. However, their effort is limited by the dichotomy of land laws (statutory and customary land laws). The statutory land law promotes equality between men and women, giving women the right to buy, sell and inherit land. On the other hand, customary land law is grounded in patriarchal notions, where land is only allocated to a male figure as the head of the household. This law is the one that mostly supports men and rejects women. It is against this background that the present study argues that the dichotomy of land laws affects women. As a result, they experience a higher level of poverty than men. The present article used the legal pluralism theory to explain the existence of two different land laws in South Africa. Additionally, the study relied extensively on secondary sources as means of collecting relevant and required data. It employed strict textual analysis of the available literature relevant to the challenges of women in land ownership. The findings of the study show that the existence of customary law affects women who rely heavily on farming for their survival. On the basis of these, the study recommends that even though there are different land rights, the government should develop programmes that will ensure simultaneous operationalisation of these land laws. In addition, as much as there can be two laws that govern South African land, they should not contradict each other. Secondly, the land should be inheritable by both the male and female in a household.