Women’s Land Rights in Mozambique

The mwene is expected to look after the land, regulate its use and settle disputes related primarily to land [59] . This is equally true with respect to the institution of apyamwene, whose functions are to mediate between human and spiritual life and oversee the fertility of the land and of its people. According to oral narratives, the land had been divided between lineages and clans from the ancient times. Each mwene knows land limits and borders of the clan and the family to whom the lands were allocated. Inside of the families, each one has to delineate its own land and each can construct and use the land as they agree. The new 1997 Land Law acknowledged the privileged role of a ‘traditional authority’ in solving land disputes. The involvement of the Judicial Courts in resolving land disputes in our study sites was minimal. In each of the sites, judges and other officials of the Judicial Courts were interviewed, and the Court report was looked into. In comparison to Judicial Courts, the impact of the Community Courts was more significant. However, the majority of the cases were resolved by the effort of local communities and community leaders, and went unregistered.

In all the study sites there were courts of two levels: District Judicial Court and Community Court. The Community Court of Angoche City is comprised of five elected judges, including one woman. They were elected in 1985 by the popular assembly, and since then never have been re-elected, neither they had an established mandate. Annually they receive around 150 cases. There had never existed any court in Angoche Koti Islands before 1999 when the Juridic Commission was established there. The Islanders, according to the City Central Community Court judges, never bring their cases to the court rather; instead, they resolve their problems among themselves. If the cases involve significant amounts of money or grave crimes, they are taken to the Community Court in Aube. Otherwise, the Secretary of the Grupo de Dinamisadores (Dynamizing Groups) had to intervene. But the inhapakhos are still very influential in solving disputes.

In Corrane [60] before 1994, there were no Community Courts. Between 1982 to 1986, the Department of the Social Affairs of the Communal Village was responsible for settling disputes, which continued to function until 1994, when the Community Courts were organized. There are currently five Community Courts in the Posto Administrativo of Corrane. In the Community Court of the Posto itself there are five judges, including one woman. They were elected at the general meeting of the local dignitaries, and are ‘traditional’ or government officials.

Anchilo Community Court is comprised of five elected judges, including two women. All male judges were elected in general assembly, while the female judges were elected by the Community Court in Rapale, which is the District central court. Women are expected to deal mainly with the cases involving women, and in particular they have to analyze the injuries on the bodies of female victims and verify women's evidence by visiting their places and families.

There are eight Community Courts in the Muecate District, one in the Posto Adminstrativo itself[61] . There are up to six judges elected by the local population and usually one young literate man as a scribe in each of the Community Courts.

None of the members of the Community Courts have ever received any salary or monetary support from the State, thus they are primarily farmers. The revenues from the cases are deposited in the bank account of the Public Administration Section.

Fifty eight percent of the respondents indicated that official power structures (government and administration) had authority within their communities, while for 37% the authority was with the ‘traditional authority’. In Inguri, for 3% of the respondents the authority rested with the shaykhs. Fifty six percent indicated the government structures are responsible for land and related disputes, while 37% indicated ‘traditional authority’ are responsible. In Inguri, 4% believed that this responsibility rested with shaykhs.

VI.1. Land Disputes

Land is relatively abundant in Nampula, so disputes are relatively rare. Land disputes in the research sites involved conflicts between lineage and family members, between individuals and the local community, and between community and private enterprises. We could not find any cases involving women in this study. Most of the cases were solved by local communities and were not registered.

The only known case at Corrane Community Courts, although unregistered, involved Agosto Vicente and one of the judges of this Court. The judge had lent a parcel of his family land to Agosto Vicente, but he later claimed the land to be his own. The case was taken to District Judicial Court. The Judicial Court in its turn presented the case before the members of the District Agricultural and Community Development Unit, who went to consult with the local community and learned that the judge's claim was correct. After much consultation with both parties involved in the dispute, the land was divided between them, but Agosto Vicente accepted that he was only borrowing land for agriculture from the judge, whose family was the ‘true’ owner.

In Inguri, within urban areas, land disputes emerged between neighbors about the limits of each other’s land[62]. But as land was delineated by the State, it was relatively easy to solve the conflict after consulting the appropriate documentation. Land conflicts are frequent between the Koti and the owners of land in the interior [63]. The most cited reasons are that local inhabitants give the Koti virgin or abandoned lands for agriculture. After the Koti cleared it and cultivated on it for up to three years, the ‘owners’ would rent it to someone else for a higher price. On the other hand, there were cases when the Koti of Angoche occupied the land of local communities. Between 1997 and 2000 there were 5 to 6 cases related to these kinds of conflicts [64].

In the Angoche Community Court there was only one registered case involving the inhabitant of the Inguri land and a local person from the Munari zone, Mario Ossufo João Vs Augusto João, May/2000. Augusto João occupied the land that, according to him, was vacant. Later, Mario Ossufo appeared with claims that the land belonged to his ancestors. After several failed attempts to settle the dispute by the efforts of the local community, the case was transferred to the City Community Court. Mwene and elders of the local community were called to give oral evidence following the provisions of Article 12B of the New Land Law. The dispute was settled in favor of Mario Ossufo. However, Augusto João was compensated for his labor of clearing and working the land.

In the Angoche District Judicial Court there was also only one registered case, Agostinho Assane Vs Momade Assane Nhauela, 1995. Both parties involved were inhabitants of Inguri and were disputing the land in the interior Boila region. In 1991, Agostinho Assane solicited a Governor of the Province to use land with cashew trees on it. This had been authorized in 1995. However, on the land there were also coconut trees belonging to a third party, namely Omar Chale who sold those trees to Momade Assane. Agostinho Assane attemted to negotiate with Momade Assane in order to buy coconut trees, but failed. Although, the ‘owner’ of the land where the cashew trees stood was Agostinho Assane, Momade Assane also collected his coconuts on the same land. In Agsotinho’s understanding, Momade was infringing his property rights. After failed negotiations with Momade, Agostinho presented the case at the Judicial Court. The verdict was that because Agostinho was authorized by the State to occupy the land, Momade should accept the payment for his coconut trees from Agostinho and withdraw from the land. From this case, it is evident that the State violated both ‘customary’ and State law, in favoring Agostinho. It is possible that Agostinho had bribed officials or belonged to some important family of a State official.

Sister Maria do Jesus from the Anchilo Catechetic Center describes that there were several land disputes involving local population and enterprises, due to the occupation of the land abandoned by the owners during the civil war. When the owners came back, the dispute emerged. But all these conflicts were successfully solved due to the intervention of local traditional authority, the Agriculture Sector and the Diocesan Commission for Land.

There was only one case that was taken to the police in Anchilo. A person bought cashew trees from a local inhabitant. But, after buying the trees, this person also started using also the land where the trees were planted. The kinship group with native rights to use this land opposed. The case was solved by oral evidence given by the local mwene, which favored the members of the local lineage. The person who sold the trees had to pay back the money to the buyer.

According to Pedro Antonio Sacuro, head for the agriculture in Anchilo, there are more conflicts involving individuals, rather than between individuals and enterprises. These disputes are related to the limits of individual fields. In these cases when the agriculture officials are called to intervene, they would demarcate together with local mwene the limits of the land of each individual. It seems that these kinds of disputes are new and rare in rural Nampula, because land is relatively plentiful. But the Catholic Diocesan Committee with its center in Anchilo, became so much involved in the elaboration and promotion of the New Land Law that they appear to be anxious to delineate community and individual land limits. This anxiety is due to the perceived threat from large private companies that envision occupying lands, apparently illegally or by force. So far, we have noticed this preoccupation only in Anchilo. In fact there were some disputes involving individual or collective household fields and private entrepreneurs. One such case between locals and Filipe Muianga was still pending due to his unwillingness to appear before the court.

VI.2. Family Disputes: Importance and Accessibility of Institutions to Women During focus group discussions with local women in Anchilo and Corrane, the importance of social institutions such as schools and hospitals surpassed the importance of formal and informal justice institutions. This, of course, is due to the prevailing poverty and malfunction of these institutions locally. Apart from this, schools and hospitals also were less accessible to women, because most women did not have cash to pay for their services as well as for buying medicine and school materials. The healer was understood to be more important and accessible to women than the hospital.

As it was aforementioned, the land disputes involving women were not apparent in any of the places where this survey was done. Thus, the relevance of the ‘traditional authority’ comprised of local mwene appeared to be less important for women. Women did not trust the police and Community Courts, because they were thought to be openly corrupt. Between these two institutions the Community Court was considered more corrupt, which is understandable, as their members do not receive any wages. Especially in Anchilo and Corrane, local women’s preference went to the police because they had weapons and prisons and could scare the men and their maternal families (sanction measures). In the understanding of local women, the fact that there were women incorporated in the institutions such as Community Courts and the police did not change the overall disadvantageous position of the female population with respect to their rights.

Women also responded that the religious institutions did not care about women at all, particularly in settling disputes involving widows and divorcees versus their former husbands and extended kin. In Anchilo, predominantly Catholic women harshly criticized local representatives of the Catholic Church. However, here a Catholic community comprised of ordinary local women, rather than institutionalized religion, provided networks of solidarity and support for women.

In Inguri among the Koti, Islam and Swahili cultures determined the relations between private domestic space and public domain of religious institutions. It is culturally objectionable for a woman to bring private family matters into the public realm. Female shaykhs and the shawriyya of the Sufi orders were expected to educate younger women and give advice to elder ones, but even they were reluctant to talk about family matters with married women. The coastal women had introduced in Mozambique the notion of sidiq (chittik, in Southern Mozambique), where women collectively contribute cash that each woman can use by rotating turns. This was a common practice among the Inguri Muslin women.

In all regions of the study, conflicts related to family matters, such as contested divorces, polygamous marriages, the access to land and family belongings upon divorce and widowhood were often not taken to official justice instances. These were arbitrated by the family or clan mwenes, and in acute cases were taken to the police. In Corrane and Anchilo, women insisting on their rights within families were frequently accused of witchcraft and adultery and suffered general stigma. Widows contending about their rights often were accused of murdering their husbands for the purpose of obtaining ‘his’ belongings [65].

Women's organizations, such as OMM, AMR (Association of Rural Women), and the institution of apyamwene were considered by local women as powerless for resolving conflicts involving women within the families. Corrane women wondered that if even men of the traditional and government institutions could not ameliorate their situation, how could women make these changes?

Top | Contents| VII. Conclusions

59. All the interviewed regulos were unanimous with this respect.Back
60. Interview with the judge –president of the Community Court, José Sabonete. Back
61. Interviews with the judge of the District Judicial Court in Muecate, Alde Abudo Pasarera. Back
62. Interviews with Sayyid Khaled ‘Nakapa’ and shaykh Mamade Abdallah, Back
63. Interviews with regulo Licuaro of Inguri, Shale Abdallah Yussufo and the judge of the Community Court of the Namaponda Sede, Relogio Nikaka. Back
64. Interview with Joao John, local delegate of the IPAJ.Back
65. Focus group discussions.Back