HIV/Aids Africa

First Lady Penexupifo Pohamba spoke out strongly
against the practice of evicting widows and their children from the land and
stripping them of their property. Pohamba said this week that the practice
should not be allowed in the country.?In fact it goes contrary to our
constitution, which guarantees equal rights to all Namibian citizens
irrespective of race, sex or ethnic origin,? Pohamba said.She was speaking in
Windhoek at the official opening of the National Conference on Women and
Children’s Land and Property Rights and Livelihood. The conference, which was
first held in 2003, is a joint initiative between the government and the United
Nations.A study done by the Food and Agricultural Organisation?s (FAO)
Integrated Support to Sustainable Development Programme in Namibia shows that
44% of widows and orphans had lost cattle, which represented both wealth and
status. The study also showed that 28% had lost small stock and 41% had lost
farm equipment.?These are the assets they have depended on for a livelihood over
the years. Depriving them of their possessions undermines the capacity of widows
to produce food and earn an income,? warned Pohamba.Property stripping from
widows and orphans has been practiced among matrilineal societies in Namibia
over generations. However, increasing poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS and
droughts are affecting the magnitude of property stripping. HIV/AIDS has
exacerbated the insecurity experienced by women and children in connection with
property rights and livelihoods. According to UNAIDS, UNICEF and the United
Sates Agency for International Development (USAID), the number of orphans due to
AIDS in Namibia was 57 000 in 2004.?As the middle generation succumbs to AIDS,
orphans naturally fall back on grandparents for care and security.
Unfortunately, more and more of these children are abandoned by their relatives
because they represent an additional burden, especially when they are living
with HIV/AIDS in the family. They have no choice but to find themselves in
child-headed households,? said Simon Nhongo, United Nations resident
co-ordinator for Namibia.Pohamba said the conference should be viewed as a
turning point for attracting public attention to the plight of women and
children.Pohamba said it was a sad reality that although most of African states
had ratified the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and other
international human rights instruments, and had committed themselves to
eliminate all forms of discrimination and harmful practices against women, women
in Africa have continued to be victims of discrimination and harmful
practices.?This is the situation that we should also seek to address and
rectify,? said Pohamba. ?The Ministry of Justice is drafting an inheritance law
and once the law is passed, infrastructure should be put in place to effectively
implement it.?It is difficult for women to contribute positively to the economic
development of this country when their fundamental human rights and those of
their children are being violated. Therefore, the law should make provision for
punishing culprits. I believe that those found guilty of stripping and grabbing
property from bereaved families should face the full force of the law,? said the
first lady.The UN?s Nhongo said that in addition to HIV/AIDS, harmful cultural
practices have conspired with inadequate national legal instruments to deny
widows and orphans their constitutionally enshrined rights to property,
protection and livelihoods.In Namibia, the majority of communities are
traditionally patrilineal. The ownership of land, cattle, crops, homesteads,
cash and income sources tend to be dominated by men.?In many rural settings,
when the husband dies, it is not unusual for relatives of the deceased to claim
all assets that used to belong to him, irrespective of whether he left a widow
or children behind. Since they feel that such assets rightfully belong to them,
they descend on his home and take away all the households items. There are even
instances where the widow will be simply evicted from the homestead even before
the soil on the late husband’s grave is dry,? said Nhongo.