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In South Africa, the land in communal areas is held by the state and administered by traditional leaders who have historically discriminated against women, the book employs a case study method to show case how cultural laws are exercised when women apply for a piece of land at the three levels of traditional authority viz: village, sub-village and traditional council levels. Although women are often the de facto rights holders in rural areas as a result of male migration to urban areas, the author argues that it is difficult and/or sometimes impossible to translate paper laws which are meant to mitigate the difficulty faced by women in gaining access to land into practice while cultural laws are still operating.

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Bayanda Ntwasa was born on 11 June 1973 in Willowvale, in South Africa. He studied his lower grades in Nqadu. He completed his junior degree of Bachelor of Social Science at Rhodes University. He enrolled with the University of Fort Hare and completed Honour´s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies and completed a Master´s degree in Social Science.

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