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African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho

Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2023.

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Other Authors: Maimela, Charles
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Maimela, Charles
author_browse Maimela, Charles
author_facet Maimela, Charles
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2023.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/94825 African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho Maimela, Charles matselatebello@gmail.com Matsela, Tebello Bernice UCTD Customary law Women’s rights Women’s status Developing living customary law Court Colonialism Apartheid Postcolonial Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2023. Colonialism and apartheid were alien forces that changed the trajectory of customary law in the legal systems of South Africa and Lesotho. The effect of this interruption positioned customary law as a secondary legal system, compared to Roman-Dutch Law and English common law, which both form South African and Lesotho common law. The South African and Lesotho Constitutions currently recognise customary law as being on a par with common law. Nevertheless, customary law in its current state is distorted and underdeveloped. In both South Africa and Lesotho, customary law was encoded through legislation during colonial and apartheid times, with the intention of such customary law fitting in with Western standards. These Western standards formulated customary law to bear Eurocentric principles such as patriarchy and, in turn, discriminated against and excluded women’s rights and status in traditional environments. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the effect of colonisation and apartheid on customary law and the rights of women in traditional environments. The study argues that due to the marginalisation of customary law endured in the South African and Lesotho legal systems, women in traditional settings end up further marginalised, as evident from the judgments discussed in the study. Moreover, women, who were formerly protected under indigenous institutions like marriage, are now excluded from the collective group to which they belong in areas such as succession and inheritance, property ownership and traditional leadership roles because of the patriarchal systems that have dominated indigenous communities. This happens even though numerous women in contemporary societies are currently leading and heading households. The failure to develop customary law continues to restrict the way women are perceived in traditional contemporary communities and as a result this also affects their status. This thesis seeks to provide recommendations that can emancipate women in traditional environments, as well as the promotion of customary law in its living state. Private Law LLD Unrestricted Faculty of Laws SDG-05:Gender equality 2024-02-22T10:01:33Z 2024-02-22T10:01:33Z 2024-05 2023 Thesis * A2024 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94825 Disclaimer Letter en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Customary law
Women’s rights
Women’s status
Developing living customary law
Court
Colonialism
Apartheid
Postcolonial
African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho
title African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho
title_full African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho
title_fullStr African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho
title_full_unstemmed African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho
title_short African customary law and its Impact on the rights of women : A study of South Africa and Lesotho
title_sort african customary law and its impact on the rights of women a study of south africa and lesotho
topic UCTD
Customary law
Women’s rights
Women’s status
Developing living customary law
Court
Colonialism
Apartheid
Postcolonial
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/94825