ALL AFRICA
A Botswana court made history Tuesday by upholding the right of women to inherit under customary law and rejecting the tradition of males as sole heirs, according to a report in The Maravi Post.
In a case heard by the appeals court in the capital city of Gaborone, the issue was whether daughters can inherit family property under customary law that long has held only males had the right of inheritance.
Edith Mmusi, 80 years old, argued that since she lived in the ancestral family home, and she and her sisters had invested in improving it, she and her three sisters should inherit it.
Her claim was challenged by a nephew’s assertion that, as the male heir, he should inherit the homestead, although he had never lived there, because his father had been given the home by a male relative.
The judges unanimously ruled in favour of the four sisters, rejecting a long history of customary law that favoured males in inheritance matters.
Women Living Under Muslim Laws for more