'If you haven't got property rights as a woman, you are more vulnerable to stay in an abusive marriage. This case changes these rights.' via TRF_Stories KimHarrisberg
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 29 - Facing destitution when her marriage broke down, 72-year-old Agnes Sithole went to court to challenge a sexist law - and won not only a share of her husband's property but a legal victory that will protect some 400,000 other black South African women.
"This is a major judgment for South African women," said Aninka Claassens, a land rights expert at the University of Cape Town, responding to the ruling against sections of the Matrimonial Property Act of 1984 and amendments made in 1988. Sithole's legal victory in the eastern city of Durban could help an estimated 400,000 women by giving them more economic freedom, said the Legal Resources Centre , a human rights organisation that helped Sithole take her case to court.
Male-dominated tribal authorities hold great sway over rural communities, with the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini controlling 2.8 million hectares of land, an area the size of Belgium, under an entity called the Ingonyama Trust. Ngubane has gone to court to challenge the Ingonyama Trust, which she said only leases land under its control to men, with widows being evicted from their homes when their husbands die."The symbolism of this judgment is important ... hopefully, if enough women know about it they can begin asserting their rights," said Claassens.
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