A photograph from a street in America. Similar graffiti in Zimbabwe please, to remind us that those in power are taking us for a ride.
From: Dangerous Minds

Here’s a radical idea: what if Mugabe stays home for a few months and his travel allowance, generous as it is, goes towards helping ZESA, our national power company, get back on its feet? Apparently ZESA has been running adverts on state controlled TV asking people to switch off their switches and geysers. Hmmm. The average citizen is yet again asked to moderate their behaviour but all the while the chefs in suits Just Don’t Give a Damn.

Poetry & Rock

Date & Time: Saturday, July 30 from 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Mannenberg, Harare

Poetry And…Rock a continuation of the Poetry And Events. Poetry And…Rock will feature Poets and will be accompanied with live music. This is an event that wants to establish commercial poetry. We want to blast poetry into your minds with some rock and roll and the cast is the same but some surprises are in store with the presentation. A battle between POETS and some HARD ROCK MUSIC. Featuring a hot, up and coming band, THE MONKEY NUTS! The war has been waged, now let’s get ready for some rock and roll.

See you there!

WLSA has been in existence for the past 24 years. We have handled and continue handling many cases on inheritance. We have also noted an increase in inheritance disputes due to the increase in deaths brought about by HIV/Aids. The case below is one of the thousands of cases that we have dealt with. It illustrates the complexities in our lives especially in relation to marriages.

B (male) paid lobola for A in 1960 under an unregistered customary law union. The union was blessed with five children, three girls and two boys. B acquired a stand in the High density area of Glen View in Harare in 1981. A was a hard working woman and spent time in the rural areas, farming and selling the produce. She also went to neighbouring countries to purchase goods for re-sale. Most of the money generated by A was used to purchase building materials and develop the residential stand in Glen View until it became a complete nine roomed house. A’s desire was to wed in church with B but the latter adamantly refused. In 2001, B met a woman C and started an affair with her. In 2002 B paid lobola for C. She constantly nagged B for a wedding until B gave in. In the same year, B advised A that she should stay permanently in the rural home in Wedza. In 2003, B and C unknown to A “married” at the Magistrate Court in terms of Chapter 5:11 marriage. A only learnt with shock the existence of the marriage on the 1st of June 2007 when B passed away.

Legally, an unregistered customary law union or a registered customary law marriage cannot exist side by side with a monogamous Chapter 5:11 marriage. From research conducted by WLSA, the situation enunciated above is not uncommon. As a result of intense advocacy, the Administration of Estates Amendment Act that started operating on the 1st of November 1997 provides that if a man is married in a registered customary law marriage or an unregistered customary law union but goes on to marry another wife in a Chapter 5:11 without dissolving the marriage or union, both the Chapter 5:11 marriage and the customary marriage or unregistered customary law union will be recognised as and treated as customary law marriages for purposes of inheritance only. A will be considered as the first wife and C the second wife. A and C will be entitled to inherit the house that they each stayed in at the time of B’s death, the household goods and contents and for the remainder they share with the children. A as the senior wife will get more from this remainder.

While WLSA applauds this law, research and other evidence has revealed that women in the situation of A who may have contributed to the acquisition and building of the house will often lose out since wives in the situation of C above who may not have contributed anything will inherit the house by virtue of the fact that they were living in the urban home at the time of B’s death.

On the other hand, if A and B had a registered chapter 5:11 marriage that allows a man to have only one wife at any given time and B goes on to marry C in an unregistered customary law union or registered customary law marriage without dissolving his marriage with A, if B dies, C will not be entitled to inherit anything from B’s estate.

Find out more about this and share your views. Email WLSA on sly [at] wlsazim [dot] co [dot] zw, gettie [at] wlsazim [dot] co [dot] zw or dorcas [at] wlsazim [dot] co [dot] zw

You can also use Skype as follows: slyvia.chirawu, getrude.matsika and dorcas.makaza

You can visit our website on www.wlsazim.co.zw

Making The Law Work For Women, Challenging The Legal System To Work For Women

Photo from The Zimbabwean.

Riot police stand aside whilst violent protesters besiege Parliament. But when activists from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) peacefully deliver a petition to Parliament or ZESA they get rounded up by riot police and taken down to Harare Central.

We recently published information by the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) on the issue of lodger’s rights. Here is one of the responses that we got:

Thank you for your informative news. That piece with lodgers’ rights has opened old wounds for me. We were renting 2 rooms in a house in Glen View 7 at $40 dollars each. We were paying our dues on time but to our surprise the landlord came one morning and told us to look for accommodation elsewhere. We assumed that there was 3 months notice but we were proven wrong as he started calling us 2 days later demanding us out. He started terrorizing us with phone calls and sms, each and every hour telling us time was not on his side. We requested him to give us time citing our demanding work schedules, 2 days was too little for us. l vowed that l was going to make him throw us out and would sleep by his gate with our the 9 months old baby. l am an African and l would like to say strange things started happening at the house during the night. There was one particular incident that really frightened us and the next morning we found ourselves in a rat infested storeroom a sympathetic friend had offered as temporary accomodation. For me, it was fine as long as l had shelter but the poor kid got ill. The rats had the habit of playing all over and would go for the food, clothes etc in that room. She had nausea and a running tummy and also got some rash from the lice the rats normally carry around. We only managed to find some decent place four months later and l believe what the man did to us was one of the most brutal, inhuman things anybody can do, especially to a baby.