A case study of gendered differences in land ownership in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga, South Africa
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Date
2021-09-22
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University of Zululand
Abstract
South Africa has a dual land property rights system in which land can be distributed and owned under statutory or customary communal laws. The study aimed to understand gendered differences in land ownership in the Nkomazi Local Municipality in the context of such customary and statutory laws. It focused on how such gendered differences affect women and female farmers in the same community noting that globally, women were often oppressed by patriarchal and cultural systems. The study, therefore, relied on the legal pluralism theory which asserts that modern societies are not only governed under the power of the state but under pluralistic forces that hold different levels of acceptability to the people governed. It also relooked the feminist political ecology, a theory that relates gender to the access and ownership of natural resources including land. The study adopted a phenomenological research design guided by a critical theory paradigm that aims to empower repressed groups and transform societies. It took a qualitative research approach where data was collected from a sample of 37 participants who included male and female farmers, female residents who were not into farming, municipal and government officials and traditional leaders using semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Collected data were analysed using thematic analysis on the Atlas.ti.8 software. The analysis generated seven themes leading to the conclusion that gendered land ownership differences are a reality in the Nkomazi Local Municipality. They manifest through differences in ease of land ownership between men and women, differences in land sizes, the security of tenure and access to training and support. Gendered land ownership differences result in gendered poverty and worsen the economic plight of women who rely more on the land than men. The study concludes that patriarchal traditional systems as institutionalised in customary law systems are the main force behind unequal access to land between men and women. While statutory laws and a gender-sensitive constitution have been crafted, the excessively overt application of customary law continues to deny women the rights to equality on land issues. The study recommended an implementation framework to resolve gendered land ownership differences and the discrimination of women on land issues. It also recommended the use of new land distribution opportunities to address land ownership inequalities, the codification of customary law, the enforcement of gender quotas on traditional councils and supporting women’s land-related activism as some of the possible solutions to the unbalanced land ownership structure in the Nkomazi Local Municipality.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in the fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Art in the department of Development Studies at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2021