SALC’s Women’s Land and Property Rights programme has the following objectives:

• Developing jurisprudence through cases challenging discrimination in areas of inheritance; sharing and distribution of matrimonial property; legal capacity of married women; and chieftainship.
• Challenging the denial of women’s right to participate in decision-making on acquisition of land resources and developmental programmes affecting rural land and resources.
• Highlighting the particular impact of forced evictions and mining pollution on women.

On-going cases:

African Commission on Human and People’s Rights/Lesotho: Case on women’s right to chieftainship in Lesotho.
Botswana: Case challenging customary law denying daughter’s ability to inherit.
Zambia: Case challenging arbitrary take over of communal land.
Zambia: Preventing the displacement of rural women from their customary land
Swaziland: Case challenging common law marital power.
Zambia: Case challenging conversion of customary land to commercial and eviction of community.
Zambia: Long-term rural residents declared squatters and ordered to vacate the land without fair compensation

Precedent cases:

Botswana: Case challenging constitutionality of customary law rule which provides for male inheritance of family home.
Malawi: Case challenging property grabbing of widow’s land.
Lesotho: Case challenging customary law which denies daughter’s ability to inherit immovable property.
Zimbabwe: Case challenging decision of Master to award widow a child’s share of farm acquired by couple.