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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Good morning to you all</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yes property grabbing is a problem that seem
to affect the poor women in particular because property ownership has a class
dimension in any economic context, its not only facilitated by cultural
practices and believes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As regards the orphans- one way is to empower the
poor families and the young. The reason for this is quite simple- they the youth
as well as the poor families-especuially the poor women ought to know that part
of it si do with ones' ability to interpret ones' world. You know women's worlds
are different from the men's worlds.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Because culture is not going to change itself- its
needs a revolution perhaps. Prperty grabbing happens because of a number
of reasons- but the inderlying believe is that women do not have power not the
status to own property- this has been given ligitimacy by the traditional
mercantile and upholded by the modern capitalism. It has both political and
ideological dimensions that need to acknowledged as a tactical approach towards
solving the persisting problem.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In societies were class is pronounced property
ownership is a sign of social standing and men have allways seen as
identified by a male capitalist as well as wife of those who belong to the
establishment as their divine right to own property.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Today women are seen as clients who need to be
serviced and least taken care of- thus denying them their right to own any means
of property - remember this happens despite that in contenmporary capitalism
property ownership is promoted as one of the pillars of liberal democracy- so
you see the antithesis? This should form the beggining of prblemitising the
issue instead iof repeatdly saying culture- culture is not behaving like a
substance that change form or shape out of natural conditions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Peter</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:lindiwe@genderlinks.org.za"
title=lindiwe@genderlinks.org.za>lindiwe nkutha</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:research@genderlinks.org.za"
title=research@genderlinks.org.za>research</A> ; <A
href="mailto:egemtraining@lists.sn.apc.org"
title=egemtraining@lists.sn.apc.org>egemtraining@lists.sn.apc.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 02, 2002 1:32
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Egemtraining] Property
grabbing</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear All</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We enter discussions for week 4 slightly later
than is practice, I hope to hear your views on this problem that faces us in
Southern Africa.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yours sincerely</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lindiwe Nkutha</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><B><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Property
grabbing<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">"When a
woman dies no man has to worry about the loss of his property nor his right to
stake a claim to it, but when a man dies a woman worries about both her
ability and right to hold on to her own individual as well as matrimonial
property"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 5">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 4">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Participant
at a media training course on covering gender violence<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Amidst
the increase of social ills such as poverty and economic inviability of
average Southern African households, the death of the head of the household,
mostly men, present opportunities for the economic violation of
women.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">In many
Southern African cultures, a woman, married or single cannot own property in
her own right. This inability to own property particularly for married women
opens the door for the man's family, in the name of culture, to present their
demands upon his death of property they believe belonged to him solely.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">The
absence of wills places widows at a disadvantage, with cultural practices and
customary law privileging the man's family above his widow and children in
determining who is entitled to "his" property upon his death. In southern
</SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Africa</SPAN></st1:place><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">
particularly, studies show that a large amount of people die without having
prepared a testamentary succession plan for their property. Compounding the
problem of intestate succession are other appending cultural practices which
are practiced on the death of a man as a means of determining and defining a
widow's position within the deceased's family. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Practices
such as <B>wife inheritance</B>; where a widow has to be inherited by a male
relative of the man's family in order for her to retain her position within
the family, as well as <B>widow cleansing</B>; where a widow before being
inherited is believed needs to be cleansed of the spirit of the dead by
engaging in sexual activities with a male relative of the deceased. Although
the genesis of these practices (however patriarchal) were for economic
reasons, mainly to secure the widows property by ensuring that "the man's"
property stayed in her family for the support of herself and her children,
increasingly it is these very practices that are being used as justification
for her being stripped of the property that belongs to her and her children.
Women who have refused to be inherited and thus opted out of the "protection"
of her property offered culturally, have found that they have everything
including their land and homes, only in very exceptional instances have they
found they were left with what is referred to as bride property (all things
found in a kitchen). <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Within
the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the appending customary practices of
widow cleansing and wife inheritance serve to put the widow at an increased
risk of contracting HIV. Add this risk to the difficulty of accessing
antiretroviral drugs, as was illustrated in brief during last week's
discussion we find ourselves presented with yet another problem that of taking
care of orphans whose parents may have lost their lives to the virus, the
question that begs to be answered that becomes: Where the orphans parent's
property has been appropriated by the deceased relatives who bears the
responsibility to take care of these orphans. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Let's
then this week about amongst other things the following:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<OL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0cm" type=1>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">Do
cultural practices such as widow cleansing and wife inheritance increase the
violation of women economically and make them more vulnerable to property
grabbing?<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">In
the project of recovering good cultural practices and redressing gender
imbalances, are there any ways in which these practices, the genesis of
which were to protect women's economic viability after their husbands death,
can be claimed as the protection measures which they were meant to be
instead of being the catalyst<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>to women's economic violation?<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">How
do we as communicators begin to address and fairly present the plight of
HIV/AIDS orphans who in most cases find themselves without economic means of
survival either from their relatives and or from the
state?<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US">And
finally what is the communicator's role in highlighting the ills, both
cultural and economic which serve to entrench women's
disempowerment?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI></OL>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>