Womens Inheritance Blues

This story is an epitome of what is happening daily to widows in Zimbabwe. Misihairabwi Mushongas case came to light because she is a minister. She rightly pointed out when she said her case was not unique to her but to the many widows out there who were daily victims to this abuse, while police and society watched.

By law no one has the right to deprive a surviving spouse of the rights he or she may have over property of the deceased spouse. But despite this, most widows in Zimbabwe often find themselves being thrown out of their matrimonial homes by greedy relatives. The widowed women often give up because of lack of protection from police and relatives. Sometimes the women also give up because of a belief that one will be avenged by the spirits of the deceased or they will receive bad luck if they refuse to give up their hard earned property and lifetime savings. For these reasons so many women think it is better to let the relatives take everything and opt to start afresh.

While it may be possible for the well to do woman to start all over, this may mean the end of the world for a struggling rural woman who worked all her life, side by side with her husband, to acquire property and savings. In Misihairabwi -Mushonga’s case, it was a shame that despite the minister going to the highest authority to report her case, she did not get the security she needed.

However, what happened to the minister, makes the plight of women in Zimbabwe seem hopeless. Firstly, her decision to let the property go is a loss for many Zimbabwean women. It means if a minister can just give up like that, then there is no hope for an ordinary woman in the street. Secondly, if a minister like her cannot be offered protection from the highest authority then what hope is there for some obscure woman living in a rural area. Thirdly, what chances are there for the many women who look up to people like the minister to fight for laws in Parliament to protect them?

The whole issue brings women’s emancipation in Zimbabwe into serious question. It makes a mockery about all this talk about achieving 51 percent decision making posts for women. What is the point of getting these posts if this is not going to translate into real empowerment for women? Is there not supposed to be a correlation between these posts and womens empowerment? The minister’s decision to give up fighting for her late husband’s estate, was it not disempowerment for women?

While the threats to the minister’s family were real and her decision was meant to protect them, there is no doubt this issue has left many women in Zimbabwe without hope. It begs the women’s groups in the country to go back to the drawing table and find other strategies to win the gender struggle.