A Comparative Juridical Analysis of the Constitutional Advancement of Women’s Matrimonial Property Rights in Swaziland and Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-3062/8182Keywords:
women, matrimonial property, equality, reform, human rights, judiciaryAbstract
The equalisation of women’s and men’s marital rights is still a challenge for certain countries on the African continent. Although most African countries have adopted supreme constitutions guaranteeing a host of justiciable human rights, the marginalisation and subjugation of women persists. In this article, we engage in a critical review and assessment of two divergent court decisions (one from Swaziland and the other from Kenya) which concern the matrimonial property rights of women. Those cases will be used as the foundation for investigating and evaluating the degree to which Swaziland and Kenya are either enhancing or constraining women’s matrimonial rights. In this article, we also assess the extent to which national constitutional law is being harmonised with existing and recently promulgated legislation and whether the purported synthesis of enacted marriage laws has affected constitutional equality in those specific countries. Additionally, we contend that the promulgation of new legislation and/or the amendment or repeal of unconstitutional legislation is insufficient to advance true equality. The courts or the judiciary, must also perform their remedial and pre-emptive role in the protection, enforcement and promotion of constitutional rights and the facilitation of equality reform. In our opinion, the matrimonial property rights of women in Africa can be equalised and enhanced even in systems of law that remain rooted in traditionalism and which habitually treat women as inferior to men. Such a mammoth undertaking requires a dual commitment and concerted action from both the legislature and the judiciary.
Metrics
References
Action for Southern Africa, ‘Women’s rights in Swaziland’ <https://actsa.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/12/ACTSA_WR_Brief_-9-June_Final.pdf> accessed 31 July 2020.
Albertyn C, ‘Substantive Equality and Transformation in South Africa’ (2007) 23 South African Journal on Human Rights <https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2007.11864921> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2007.11864921
Armstrong A, C Beyani, C Himonga, J Kabeberi-Macharia, A Molokomme, W Ncube, T Nhlapo, B Rwezaura and J Stewart, ‘Uncovering Reality: Excavating Women’s Rights in African Family Law’ (1993) 7 International Journal of Law and the Family <https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/7.3.314> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/7.3.314
Baloro J, ‘The Human Right to Free Association and Assembly and Multi-Party Democracy: A Study of the Law and Practice in Swaziland’ (1992) 22(3) Africa Insight 206.
Bekker JC, Seymour’s Customary Law in Southern Africa (Juta 1989).
Bennett TW, Human Rights and African Customary Law (Juta 1995).
Besson S, ‘Human Rights and Democracy in a Global Context: Decoupling and Recoupling’ (2011) 4(1) Ethics & Global Politics <https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v4i1.6348> DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v4i1.6348
Bhalla RS, ‘Some Reflections on the Swaziland Marriage Act 1964’ (1994) 111 South African Law Journal.
B:M 2021 <https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/african-history/thecolonisation-of-kenya/> accessed 28 July 2021.
Botha H, ‘Equality, Plurality and Structural Power’ (2009) 25 South African Journal on Human Rights <https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2009.11865191> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2009.11865191
Brown TE, ‘Locating the Women: A Note on Customary Law and the Utility of Real Property in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Formerly the Kingdom of Swaziland)’ in Cameron A, Graben S and Napolean V, Creating Indigenous Property (University of Toronto Press 2020).
Curle N, ‘A Critique of the Patriarchalistic Paradigm as Practiced in the Kingdom of Swaziland’ (2017) 23(1) Conspectus: The Journal of the South African Theological Seminary.
Currie I and de Waal J, The Bill of Rights Handbook (Juta 2015).
Daly JL, ‘Gender Equality Rights versus Traditional Practices: Struggles for Control and Change in Swaziland’ (2001) 18(1) Development South Africa <https://doi.org/10.1080/03768350120045312> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03768350120045312
Debly T, ‘Çulture and Resistance in Swaziland’ (2014) 32(3) Journal of Contemporary African Studies <https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2014.956496> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2014.956496
Differencebetween.com, <https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-protectorate-and-colony/#:~:text=A%20colony%20is%20a%20region,invasion%20from%20some%20other%20country> accessed 28 July 2021.
Dingake OBK, Hasic N, Peppard T and Hayden S, ‘Appointment of Judges and the Threat to Judicial Independence: Case Studies from Botswana, Swaziland, South Africa and Kenya’ (2020) 44(3) Southern Illinois University Law Journal.
Dlamini LS, Swaziland: Democracy and Political Participation (The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa 2013).
Dlamini-Ndwandwe N, ‘The Constitution and Women’s Property Rights in Swaziland’ (2011) 26(2) Southern African Public Law.
Dlamini SR, ‘The Colonial State and the Church of the Nazarene in Medical Evangelisation and the Consolidation of Colonial Presence in Swaziland, 1903-1968’ (2018) 70(2) South African Historical Journal <https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2018.1492626> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2018.1492626
Dube A, ‘Does SADC provide a Remedy for Environmental Rights Violations in Weak Legal Regimes? A Case Study of Iron Ore Mining in Swaziland’ (2013) 3(1) SADC Law Journal <https://doi.org/10.1080/18186874.2017.1337865>
Dube A and Nhlabatsi S, ‘On Amorphous Terms, Terrorism and a Feeble Judiciary: Analysing the Dissenting Judgment in Maseko v Prime Minister of Swaziland and Others (2016)’ (2017) 12(1) International Journal of African Renaissance Studies – Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinary <https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2016/v16n1a12> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/18186874.2017.1337865
Dube A and Nhlabatsi S, ‘The King can do no wrong: The Impact of The Law Society of Swaziland v Simelane NO & Others on Constitutionalism’ (2016) 16 African Human Rights Law Journal. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/1996-2096/2016/v16n1a12
Dube A and Nhlabatsi S, ‘The (mis) Application of the Limitation Analysis in Maseko and others v Prime Minister of Swaziland and others’ (2018) 22(1) Law Democracy and Development <https://doi.org/10.4314/ldd.v22i1.2> DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/ldd.v22i1.2
Dube B and Magagula A, ‘The Law and Legal Research in Swaziland’ <https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Swaziland.html#:~:text=Swaziland%20also%20applies%20the%20common,but%20excludes%20Swazi%20customary%20law.&text=The%20Common%20Law%20of%20Swaziland,Transvaal%20in%2022nd%20February%201907> accessed 3 August 2020.
Evans T, ‘If Democracy, then Human Rights?’ (2001) 22(4) Third World Quarterly <https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590120071812> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590120071812
Ezer T, ‘Forging a Path for Women’s Rights in Customary Law’ (2016) 27 Hasting’s Women’s Law Journal.
Ezer T, Glasford A, Hollander E and Poole L, ‘Divorce Reform: Rights Protections in the New Swaziland’ (2007) 8(3) The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law.
Faranacci-Fernós JM, ‘Post-liberal Constitutionalism’ (2018) 54(1) Tulsa Law Review.
Federation of Women Lawyer’s, Kenya ‘Women’s Land and Property Rights in Kenya: A Training Handbook’ <https://www.google.com/search?q=women%27s+land+and+property+rights+in+kenya&rlz=1C1JZAP_enZA873ZA874&oq=women%27s+land+and+property+rights+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0i512l2j0i10i22i30j0i390l3.8816j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#> accessed 2 August 2021.
Fitzgerald J, ‘The Road to Equality: The Right to Equality in Kenya’s New Constitution’ (2010) 5 The Equal Rights Review.
Fombad CM, ‘Challenges to Constitutionalism and Constitutional Rights in Africa and the enabling role of political parties: Lessons and Perspectives from Southern Africa’ (2007) 55 American Journal of Comparative Law <https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/55.1.1> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/55.1.1
Fombad CM, ‘The Swaziland Constitution of 2005: Can Absolutism be Reconciled with Modern Constitutionalism’ (2007) 22 South African Journal on Human Rights <https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2007.11864914> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2007.11864914
Fombad CM, ‘Mixed Systems in Southern Africa: Divergences and Convergences’ (2010) 25(1) Tulane European and Civil Law Forum.
Freeman MA, ‘Measuring Equality: A Comparative Perspective on Women’s Legal Capacity and Constitutional Rights in Five Commonwealth Countries’ (1990) 16(4) Commonwealth Law Bulletin <https://doi.org/10.1080/03050718.1990.9986106> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050718.1990.9986106
Govender K, ‘Equality, Sexuality and taking Rights Seriously’ (2008) 29(1) Obiter.
Gumedze S, ‘Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Swaziland’ (2005) 5 African Human Rights Law Journal <https://doi.org/10.1163/22116060-90000060>
Gumedze S, Report on Citizenship Law: Eswatini (European University Institute 2021).
Hatchard J, ‘Some Thoughts on Judicial Integrity, Corruption and Accountability in Small Commonwealth African States’ (2016) 3 Journal of International and Comparative Law.
Hatchard J, Ndulo M and Slinn P (eds), Comparative Constitutionalism and Good Governance in the Commonwealth: An Eastern and Southern African Perspective (Cambridge University Press 2004) <https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511494314> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511494314
Hayek FA, ‘Rules and Order’ Vol 1 of Law, Legislation and Liberty (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1973).
Heaton J, ‘Striving for Substantive Gender Equality in Family Law: Selected Issues’ (2005) 21(4) South African Journal on Human Rights <https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2005.11865148> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2005.11865148
Hlatshwayo V, ‘Unpacking Swaziland’s Monarchical Democracy’ <https://africacheck.org/2014/02/21/unpacking-swazilands-monarchical-democracy/> accessed 1 April 2020.
Hubbard D, ‘The Paradigm of Equality in the Namibian Constitution: Concept, Contours and Concerns’ <https://www.kas.de/upload/auslandshomepages/namibia/constitution_2010/hubbard.pdf.> accessed 2 August 2021.
Human Rights Watch, ‘Swaziland World Report 2020’ <https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/eswatini-formerly-swaziland> accessed 3 April 2020
Human Rights Watch, ‘World Report on Swaziland 2018’ <https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/swaziland> accessed 3 April 2020.
International Commission of Jurists <https://www.icj.org/cijlcountryprofiles/swaziland/swaziland-introduction/swaziland-court-structure/> accessed 29 July 2021.
Kagaba M, ‘Women’s Experiences of Gender Equality Laws in Rural Rwanda: The case of Kamonyi District’ (2015) 9(4) Journal of Eastern African Studies <https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2015.1112934> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2015.1112934
Kameri-Mbote PG, ‘Gender Dimensions of Law, Colonialism and Inheritance in East Africa: Kenyan women’s experiences’ (2002) 35(3) Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin-America <https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2002-3-373> DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2002-3-373
Kariuki F, ‘Customary Law Jurisprudence from Kenyan Courts: Implications for Traditional Justice Systems’ <http://kmco.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/TDRM-and-Jurisprudence.pdf> accessed 31 March 2020.
Kibwana K, ‘Women and the Constitution in Kenya’ (1992) 25(1) Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America<https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-1992-1-6> DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-1992-1-6
Klare K, ‘Legal Culture and Transformative Constitutionalism’ (1998) 14 South African Journal on Human Rights <https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.1998.11834974> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.1998.11834974
Konrad-Adenauer Foundation, Media Law Handbook for Southern Africa Vol. 1 (Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Media Programme, 2011).
Kyed HM, ‘Legal Pluralism and International Development Interventions’ (2011) 63 Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law.
Langwenya M, ‘The Judiciary Under Siege in Swaziland: Re-engendering a Unique Democracy’ (2012) 14 University of Botswana Law Journal.
Liebenberg S and Goldblatt B, ‘The Inter-relationship between Equality and Socio-economic Rights under South Africa’s Transformative Constitution’ (2007) 23 South African Journal on Human Rights <https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2007.11864918> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2007.11864918
Machira MA, ‘The Experience of Patriarchy by Kenyan Women in the Pursuit of Higher Education’ (DPhil thesis, Walden University 2013).
Magagula A, Nhlabatsi S and Dube B, ‘Update: The Law and Legal Research in Swaziland’ <https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Swaziland1.html#ANewConstitutionalDispensation> accessed 29 July 2021.
Mapaure C, ‘Decoding the Right to Equality: A Scrutiny of Judiciary Perspicacity over 20 years of Namibia’s existence’ (2010) 2(2) Namibia Law Journal.
Marrengane N, ‘Local Governance, and Traditional Authority in the Kingdom of eSwatini: The Evolving Tinkhundla Regime’ (2021) 80(1) African Studies <https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2021.1940843> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2021.1940843
Maseko T, ‘The Drafting of the Constitution of Swaziland, 2005’ (2008) 8 African Human Rights Law Journal.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy> accessed 1 April 2020.
McKinney Gardner T, ‘The Commodification of Women’s Work: Theorising the Advancement of African Women’ (2007) 13 Buffalo Human Rights Law Review.
Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW), ‘National Gender Policy (2010-2020)’ (MGECW, 2010).
Mofolo T, ‘Investigating the Factors Contributing to the Disempowerment of Women in Swaziland: Perceptions of Swazi women and Non-governmental Organisations Operating in Swaziland’ (2011) 41(2) Africa Insight <https://doi.org/10.4314/ai.v41i2.70397> DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/ai.v41i2.70397
Msizi JB, ‘The Dominance of the Swazi Monarchy and the Moral Dynamics of Democratisation of the Swazi State’ (2004) 3(1) Journal of African Elections <https://doi.org/10.20940/JAE/2004/v3i1a6> DOI: https://doi.org/10.20940/JAE/2004/v3i1a6
Mthembu VM, ‘Participation of Swazi Women in the Traditional Public Sphere, Sibaya, in The Kingdom of Swaziland’ (2018) 37(1) Communicare: Journal for Communication Sciences in Southern Africa. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v37i1.1583
Murungi LN, ‘Consolidating Family Law in Kenya’ (2015) 2 European Journal of Law Reform <https://doi.org/10.5553/EJLR/138723702015017002009> DOI: https://doi.org/10.5553/EJLR/138723702015017002009
Musangi P, ‘Women, Land and Property Rights in Kenya’ (World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington DC, 20-24 March 2017).
Nahamya E, ‘Child, Early and Forced Marriages (CEFM) in the Commonwealth: The Role of the Judiciary’ (2017) 43(1) Commonwealth Law Bulletin <https://doi.org/10.1080/03050718.2017.1329964> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050718.2017.1329964
Namibian National Gender Policy (2010–2020) <#10-0989-MGE-Policy Booklet (africanchildforum.org)> 3 April 2020.
National Development Plan of Namibia 3 April 2020.
Ndulo M, ‘African Customary Law, Customs, and Women’s Rights’ (2011) 18(1) Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies <https://doi.org/10.2979/indjglolegstu.18.1.87> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/indjglolegstu.18.1.87
Nyane H, ‘A Critique of the Swazi Constitutional Rules on Succession to Kingship’ (2019) 52(1) De Jure <https://doi.org/10.17159/2225-7160/2019/v52a4> DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/2225-7160/2019/v52a4
Nyane H, ‘Re-visiting The Powers of the King under the Constitution of Lesotho: Does He Still Have Any Discretion’ (2020) 53 De Jure <https://doi.org/10.17159/2225-7160/2020/v53a11> DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/2225-7160/2020/v53a11
Obioha OO, ‘The Powers of Lesotho Monarchy and the Constitutional Instruments: The Chicken and the Egg Question’ (2019) 3(1) Journal of Nation-Building and Policy Studies <https://doi.org/10.31920/2516-3132/2020/v1n1a10> DOI: https://doi.org/10.31920/2516-3132/2020/v1n1a10
Odhiumbo AR, and M Adour, ‘Gender Equality in the new Constitutional Dispensation of Kenya’ in Lumumba PLO, K Mbondenyi and SO Odero The Constitution of Kenya: Contemporary Readings (Law Africa Publishing Ltd 2011).
Olivier NJJ, Olivier NJJ (jnr) and Olivier WH, Die Privaatreg van die Suid-Afrikaanse Bantoetaal-sprekendes (Butterworths 1981).
Omwami EM, ‘Relative Change-theory: Examining the Impact of Patriarchy, Paternalism, and Poverty on the Education of Women in Kenya’ (2011) 23(1) Gender and Education <https://doi.org/10.1080/09540251003674105> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540251003674105
OXFAM, ‘Women’s Rights’ <https://kenya.oxfam.org/what-we-do/womens-rights> accessed 31 July 2020.
Owino FK, ‘The Division of Matrimonial Property in Kenya: A Feminist Approach’ (LLB Thesis, Strathmore University Law School 2017).
Piknerova L, ‘British Colonial Policy Toward Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland: Real Periphery of Peripheries or the Suez of the South?’ in Zahorik J and Piknerova L (eds), Colonialism on the Margins of Africa (Routledge 2017) <https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351710534-8> DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351710534-8
Rautenbach C, ‘Comments on the Constitutional Protection of Religion in Swaziland’ (2008) 8 African Human Rights Law Journal.
Rautenbach C (ed), Introduction to legal pluralism in South Africa (Lexis Nexis 2018).
Rebouche R, ‘Labor, Land, and Women’s Rights in Africa: Challenges for the New Protocol on the Rights of Women’ (2006) 19 Harvard Human Rights Journal.
Rubin N, ‘Swaziland: The Marriage Proclamation, 1964’ (1965) 9(1) Journal of African Law <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021855300007890> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021855300007890
Sarkin J, ‘The Need to Reform the Political Role of the African Union in Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in Domestic States: Making States More Accountable and Less Able to Avoid Scrutiny at the United Nations and at the African Union, Using Swaziland to Spotlight the Issues’ (2018) 26(1) African Journal of International and Comparative Law <https://doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2018.0221> DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2018.0221
Schapera I, The Tswana (Routledge & Sons 1962).
Smith A, ‘Equality Constitutional Adjudication in South Africa’ (2014) 14 African Human Rights Law Journal <https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2692091> DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2692091
Southern African Development Community (SADC), ‘Declaration on Gender and Development’ <128_SADCDeclarationonGenderandDevelopment.pdf (internationaldemocracywatch.org)> accessed 3 April 2020.
Stretton T and Kesselring KJ (eds), Married Women and the Law: Coverture in England and the Common Law World (McGill-Queen’s University Press 2013).
Swaziland Government, ‘National Gender Policy 2010’ <https://www.undp.org/content/dam/swaziland/docs/publications/UNDP_SZ_Gender_SwazilandNationalGenderPolicy2010.pdf> accessed 3 April 2020.
Swenson G, ‘Legal Pluralism in Theory and Practice’ (2018) 20(2) International Studies Review <https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viy019> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viy019
Tait AA, ‘The Return of Coverture’ (2015) 114 Michigan Law Review.
The Borgen Project, ‘Women’s Empowerment in Namibia’ <https://borgenproject.org/womens-empowerment-in-namibia/> accessed 2 August 2021.
Twala P, ‘Gender Mainstreaming in Swaziland: Issues and Lessons Learnt’ in Tadesse M and Daniel A (eds), Gender mainstreaming experiences from Eastern and Southern Africa (African Books Collective 2010).
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights A practitioner’s toolkit on women’s access to justice programming: Module 2: Marriage, Family and Property Rights at accessed 3 April 2020.
Van Hook P and Ngwenya BN, ‘The Majority Legal Status of Women in Southern Africa: Implications for Women and Families’ (1996) 17(2) Journal of Family and Economic Issues <https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02267045> DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02267045
Van Niekerk GJ, ‘Constitutional Protection of Common Law: The Endurance of the Civilian Tradition in Southern Africa’ (2012) 18(1) Fundamina.
Van Niekerk GJ, ‘Reflections on the Interplay of African Customary Law and State Law in South Africa’ (2012) 57(3) Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai.
Wamue-Ngare G and WN Njoroge, ‘Gender Paradigm Shift within the Family Structure in Kiambu, Kenya’ (2011) 1(3) African Journal of Social Sciences.
Weyler KA, ‘Marriage, Coverture and the Compassionate Ideal in the Coquette and Dorval’ (2009) 26(1) Legacy.
Whelpton FP, ‘The Indigenous Swazi Law of Succession: A Restatement’ (2005) 4 Journal of South African Law.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
© Published by the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law, University of South Africa and Unisa Press.
Accepted 2021-10-20
Published 2022-05-18
