RURAL women have accused traditional leaders of abusing their authority to sideline them in the distribution of land.

BY KUDZAI MUCHENJEKWA

This came out during a women land tenure policy dialogue organised by the Zimbabwe Land Agrarian Network (ZiLAN) in Harare on Monday, where participants bemoaned the marginalisation of single or widowed women in land allocation.

“We are powerless when it comes to owning land because the village heads use their powers to favour men and they take bribes and they sell land, especially if they realise that the land belongs to a woman,” a female participant, who declined to be named said.

ZiLAN representative, Norman Tekwa said a 2014 survey revealed that women still faced challenges in acquiring land.

“The right of women to hold and use land in the various land tenure regimes in the Southern Africa region, including Zimbabwe, continues to be inequitable in all land tenure regimes, despite the major strides taken in promoting more equitable land redistribution and progressive constitutional reform,” he said.

According to the survey, in Zimbabwe over 83,6% women benefited as spouses of the male land beneficiaries and A2 women farmers faced (17,5%) more eviction threats in comparison to men (4,1%).