Johannesburg, South Africa – For over a decade, Johanna Motlhamme has been fighting to reclaim her family home after it was sold without her knowledge, leaving her and her four children without their rightful inheritance. The 74-year-old’s battle is rooted in the racist laws that prevented Black people from owning land during apartheid South Africa. Housing activists assert that the situation has been exacerbated by legislation introduced in the early days of democracy that, unfortunately, created barriers for women.

“Thirty years after the end of apartheid, hundreds of thousands of Black families in urban slums in South Africa face uncertainty in property ownership and risk homelessness as they struggle for ownership, possession, and rights to so-called ‘family homes,’” states the legal group Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) in a recent report.

Motlhamme’s story dates back to 1977 when she married her husband in community of property. They lived in a small house in Soweto, a large township southwest of Johannesburg, where Motlhamme resided until their divorce in 1991. At that time, Black people in urban areas were only able to secure long-term leases for their homes, as the law aimed to keep the majority of the population landless.

After the fall of apartheid in 1994, the government introduced new legislation intended to provide a more secure form of property ownership for Africans with fragile property rights under the apartheid regime. However, there was a significant barrier; according to the law, only men could be considered owners. “Motlhamme, who owned 50 percent of her home according to her divorce agreement, was not recognized as an owner when her ex-husband registered the house,” explains SERI.

This led to her ex-husband selling the house after his death, without Motlhamme being able to stop it. “We were thrown out when our father died,” said her eldest son, Elliot Maimane.

Judicial statistics that have documented several cases involving insecure property rights for women offer little hope to those who have lost their homes. According to a SERI report, women and children often face the risk of losing their housing rights, and many women in South African townships are taken by surprise when they receive eviction notices from family members.

The now 39-year-old Lebo Baloyi was also affected by this issue when she lost her family home over a decade ago, which was originally registered in her father’s name. After participating in legal battles, Baloyi decided to give up and move away from the area.

“I just want everything to go back to normal. I want us to have our childhood home back,” Maimane expressed regarding his mother’s situation. This highlights the injustice of the system and how it undermines women’s rights to property.

Despite new laws and regulations, many families are still without their homes and face a long road to justice. Social workers and activists warn that legal remedies are often insufficient to protect women’s property rights, and the struggle for equality in property ownership continues in South Africa.