Unequal ground: the ongoing struggle for women’s land rights in South Africa

29 Aug 2024

Despite 30 years of democracy, issues such as outdated tenure systems, patriarchal biases in land restitution, and gender disparities in urban housing policies continue to impede progress in women securing land and housing rights in South Africa.

Women must not be forgotten in the land debate, and they, too, want land.

This was the underlying message in a recent webinar by the University of the Western Cape in collaboration with the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies.

The webinar focused on women’s land struggles in post-apartheid South Africa, and the speakers included Motlanalo Lebepe – Director of Nkuzi Development Association, Tshepo Fokane – Acting National Coordinator of Alliance for Rural Democracy, and Nozi Sigwela – Researcher at Ndifuna Ukwazi.

Challenges in securing women’s land rights

In communal South Africa, tenure reform remains a significant challenge, as highlighted by Fokane through her grandmother’s home in a North West village.

“I’ve seen with my own eyes that over the 30 years of democracy, there’s been little to no change in securing women’s access to land in communal spaces, or tenure reform. Some of the key challenges have been a failure, a shortcoming and a fear from the state to actually tackle this head on,” said Fokane.

She noted that while tenure reform could be implemented in manageable steps, this has not occurred. Instead, there are numerous practices that continue to oppress rural women.

“Perhaps, once upon a time when the household composition was very nuclear, it made sense for a man to be the head of the household, for him to make all decisions regarding land, property, assets, livestock farming. But in our current South Africa, with up to 42% of our households being woman headed, does that still make sense? Maybe not,” said Fokane.

Traditional authorities continue to administer land on behalf of the community in communal spaces. However, there are many misconceptions and confusions, largely because over the past 30 years the government has not clearly defined the role of traditional authorities.

“We haven’t seen our government be decisive and say truly the role of traditional authorities is confined to being custodians of custom and obviously advising on many other important aspects of society, but we have seen the government essentially bow down, sometimes literally, to the feet of traditional leaders,” said Fokane.

Women’s land rights are frequently undermined by large-scale land deals and expropriations, particularly targeting unmarried or elderly women in places like Mpumalanga, where they are seen as less deserving.

“What you do find is that women’s rights are under threat. They are under attack. Who are the attackers? It’s actually large-scale land deals and investors, and at other times, it’s really small types of expropriations, the ones that take the form of women not being consulted or not giving their consent when their land rights are being disposed of,” said Fokane.

Seeds of survival

Fokane said the failures also fell on those who worked in the sector, as significant strides had been made in understanding family homes within urban environments, particularly in terms of property rights and inheritance. However, in rural areas, they have often presented an idealised view where everyone lived in harmony. In reality, property rights were just as contested there, especially when there was the potential for compensation tied to development projects.

Currently, people who speak out — such as human rights defenders, land rights advocates, and women standing up for their rights — are often portrayed as disrespectful. They are questioned about their village, chief, clan, and customs, reducing them to mere representatives of their communities rather than recognising their individual autonomy. This perspective creates gaps in understanding, and while we might grasp the significance of community concerns about land deals, we often overlook the fact that these issues also affect individual households.

“Seldom do we drill down to know we are talking about individual households, and sometimes it is women in those households speaking up because they are the producers and providing care work. For these rural women, that land is livelihood, insurance, retirement. They don’t get the luxury of a two-pot system. The land is both pots for them,” said Fokane.

A male-dominated area

The Constitution supports land restitution and aims to assist communities that have benefited from the land restitution programme. However, it is common to hear that these communities continue to face various challenges. Lebepe said the story of restitution of land rights and women in South Africa is like cementing the patriarchal resistance.

“If you check most of the claims, back in 1998 the old order claims, in particular, were lodged by men. Men being the signatories of the land claims form, it automatically escalated them to be the contact person and when the claims were to be supported, the very same men became members of the committees, the chairpersons and so forth,” said Lebepe.

This approach has neglected the fact that these claims were made on behalf of entire families, communities, and groups, which include women as integral members.

Furthermore, during the documentation, validation and verification of claims, men continue to dominate the process. Even today, at meetings where the legitimacy of claimants is assessed, the panels responsible for confirming eligibility are often composed entirely of men.

The question that quickly comes to mind is, do we really not have elderly women who witnessed the forceful removals?

“The question that quickly comes to mind is, do we really not have elderly women who witnessed the forceful removals? I remember when my grandmother was moved from a farm in Davisville, she had no men by her side, and for me, women like my late grandmother should form part of the panel of elders to decide whether somebody is a legitimate claimant or not,” said Lebepe.

Another issue is that when land claims meetings are held, whether by the government or land claimant groups, it often happens that women are unable to attend because they are occupied with essential tasks such as working in the fields to provide food, or handling caregiving responsibilities.

“It is like matters of restitution, though it is a constitutional right, does not include women as it is being attended to in the country. You even find situations whereby farm dweller and farm worker women and their families are left out,” said Lebepe.

The government’s approach to land restitution often implied that certain individuals did not deserve to access or own land. This was evident in how many current claims were being settled through financial compensation, which deviated from the original goal of land reform and restitution — namely, to address and rectify the unequal land ownership patterns in the country.

“When financial compensation is being popularised, you even ask yourself did people lodge financial claims for restitution of land rights claims. Where are we going as a country?” questioned Lebepe.

The urban context

Sigwela described urban land reform as an unfinished agenda marked by unclear policies, poor implementation, and unequal access.

“This exclusion disproportionately affects women, who face poverty, discrimination, and violence,” Sigwela said.

Women in urban areas face a range of challenges, including gender bias, socioeconomic issues, policy gaps, and cultural barriers. For instance, cultural norms often restrict inheritance rights to male family members, disadvantaging women, especially when a male inheritor’s marriage ends or he dies, leading to a loss of housing due to family politics.

Additionally, the planning profession remains male-dominated, reinforcing gender bias and limiting opportunities for gender-inclusive policies.

“I think we need to advocate for inclusion of gender policies in these spaces, but I don't know how that is going to happen if we still have men controlling those spaces,” said Sigwela.

The gender bias extends to the housing waiting list system. Women who marry or divorce often face complications that can disqualify them from the list, or force them into informal settlements.

When a woman on the waiting list gets married, she must update her details. This update can sometimes disqualify her from the list, putting her at a disadvantage if the new status affects her eligibility. Conversely, if she divorces, she has to start the process over from the beginning, which can force her into informal settlements.

“The lack of access to adequate housing continues to disproportionately affect women as they make up about 53.1% of the country’s informal settlement population,” said Sigwela.

Insufficient state action on land and housing issues

All three panellists agreed that the state had fallen short in addressing land and housing issues.

Fokane criticised the ongoing struggle to secure land tenure for up to 18 million rural residents, noting that reliance on outdated apartheid-era “right to occupy” certificates proved there had been inadequate progress.

Lebepe highlighted the state’s failure in restitution programmes, arguing that they had benefited the wrong individuals due to the government’s reluctance to expropriate land where needed.

Sigwela emphasised that persistent land inequality and the housing crisis demonstrate the government’s inaction.

The way forward

Fokane said more consultation and dialogue with rural women was necessary, and Lebepe said the recommendations in the 2017 high level panel report to Parliament chaired by former president Kgalema Motlanthe needed to be used.

Sigwela said instead of a top-down approach in tackling land programmes, a bottom-up approach must be used where there was a voice from marginalised communities and a voice from women.

“I think starting from reviewing policies, and coming with clarity on urban land reform, what that means, and breaking that down for communities to understand. The implementation of policies and redistribution can be clear, it can prioritise the low income and marginalised housing. The government can collaborate and coordinate, foster collaborations between it, civil society, the private sector and communities,” she said. DM

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