The fight for equality in domestic relationships goes to the courts - The Mail & Guardian

South African law currently does not allow women living with a man to claim “spousal” recognition from their deceased partners’ estates, despite the fact that 3.5-million South Africans live in such partnerships.

The matter between Bwanya and the executor of Ruch’s estate has been settled in that they have opted to make a monetary offer to her. The question of the ongoing discrimination caused by the lack of recognition, however, remains before the court for adjudication. The WLC has seen increasing numbers of women approach us for legal advice after the death of their long-term domestic partner.

It is a very common misperception and it is the reason women, particularly black women, find themselves destitute when there is a break-up or death. South African society has continued to evolve in respect of our values and norms and as a result, so have our cultures and traditions. The WLC has also noted this incongruence in cases in which domestic relationships break down irretrievably. In these cases, men are more likely to deny that the relationship was a domestic partnership or that any duty to maintain ever came into existence between the parties. Women in these instances are then dismissed as mere “girlfriends” who are not entitled to any financial support or to any rights to housing, land or property which may have accumulated during the relationship.

The emphasis should therefore not be on a couple’s choice to enter a marriage, but the couple’s intention of caring, supporting and maintaining each other during their relationship. This is of particular importance in relation to the fact that women are more likely to perform care work, which is unrecognised, undervalued and not paid during a relationship. There has been a failure on the part of government to legislate the issue.

Women in heterosexual domestic partnerships have been recognised by courts as being able to claim maintenance from the Road Accident Fund where their partner has died in an accident, for instance.

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