Namibia: Securing property for rural widows and their children

The Namibian government aims to introduce a new inheritance bill to protect the rights of widows and children, who are often dispossessed of land and homesteads. Traditional practice following the death of a husband in the rural northern areas of the country has seen women and children lose most of their assets, including livestock and household items, to their in-laws. Speaking at a two-day national conference on the land and property rights of women and children, which ended last Friday in the capital, Windhoek, Justice Minister Pendukeni Ithana said new legislation to prevent their victimisation was currently being drafted.