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Bury discriminatory customary practices
2008-04-12 10:20:29
By Editor
It is still common to hear true stories of widows or female children who have been dispossessed or denied of their inheritance rights.
This situation arises out of the fact that there are still many people in Tanzania who have stuck to traditional practices that do not allow women to inherit property left behind either by their parents or husbands.
In the distant past, the existence of the problem was solely attributed to ignorance.
However, as more and more people become educated, it is a pity that those who practise this evil are none other than the educated sons of the land, who are led by nothing other than sheer greed.
When asked to justify their behaviour, such individuals cite the now outdated belief that women`s autonomy is subject to male guardianship and authority.
In many places around the world, women still face discriminative inheritance laws, but in Tanzania, High Court judgements have invalidated the customary law that denies inheritance rights to widows.
Nevertheless, there are still people who, by practice, deny the legal equality between men and women, and that’s when we find the gap between law and practice at grassroots level.
Worse still, there is the abominable practice of women inheritance, of passing woman from man to man, such that the affected women suffer from extreme humiliation and oppression for the rest of their lives.
Much as HIV/Aids has led to the explosion in the number of widows, the practice of women inheritance further accelerates this explosion.
There is nothing as telling as death, and we have seen so many in our midst perishing after being infected by the deadly virus.
Yet we still become so selfish and greedy such that we plunge ourselves in into mortal danger at the same time subjecting the affected to intolerable mental and physical torture.
All of us should remember that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the universal Declaration of Human Rights, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, that everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others, and that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
We were therefore somehow encouraged when the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs recently announced in Parliament the end to discriminatory customary practices and laws that prevent widows and female children from inheriting properties left behind by husbands and fathers.
The minister said it was wrong and against court procedures to employ customary laws that had been nullified by the High Court.
Much as we appreciate what the minister said, the fact that the Law Reform Commission has conducted studies on discriminatory laws, the Children, Marriage and Inheritance Act, we suggest that rather than solely depend on High Court precedents to protect vulnerable women, it is prudent to ensure that the country`s statutes fully accommodate the rights of women in line with the universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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