A Reflection on the Lived Experiences of Womxn in Rural KwaZulu-Natal Living Under Ingonyama Trust

Abstract

The idea that womxn in rural spaces are the least resistant is a definite misperception when you look at some of the changes that have been negotiated since 1994 during which time some of the most significant changes have been precipitated by womxn. At one level you have judgments at the Constitutional Court about customary marriages, succession and inheritance that have been won by womxn. At a more fundamental level, you have womxn claiming land rights for themselves and actually attaining those land rights because the legitimacy of their claims is recognised. That has been achieved through a process of claiming spaces based both on custom, in saying I am a child of this land and I need land too, and based on the belief in equality i.e. I am equal to my brother. Drawing on the lived experience of a womxn residing in the rural north of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, this perspective will document the life of one womxn who is facing potential land dispossession at the local level by...