Nampula: Widow forced to leave family home by late husband’s niece – Ikweli

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Nampula: Widow forced to leave family home by late husband’s niece – Ikweli

1:27 CAT | 17 May 2021

Photo: Ikweli

An elderly woman over 60 years of age, a widow and resident of the Mutauanha neighbourhood on the outskirts of Nampula, is being forced to leave her home by her late husband’s niece, allegedly for having failed to have a child with the deceased.

The widow, Angelina Joaquim, says she lived with her late partner for just over 40 years, until death separated them. Over this period, the niece who now demands the right to inherit her uncle’s assets, lived with them for about 20 years.

Angelina says that, after her husband’s death in 2020, his other relatives took away everything she had inside the house, leaving her to her destiny until now, when his niece wants to sell what is left.

“My late husband and I bought everything together. I remember well when we bought this space, it was all bush. God didn’t give us children, neither inside nor outside the marriage, until his death. All that we acquired, we acquired together, and I don’t know where I will stay if I get thrown out of this house,” Angelina said. “At first, I thought that she wanted to sell the house and buy me another one somewhere, but it wasn’t that, she wants to sell the house and keep all the money.”

“Where will I end up?” she asks. “Is she going to throw me out of my house because God didn’t give us children? Why are we to blame?”

The situation has touched the widow’s neighbours, who characterises the niece’s behaviour as ‘pure evil’. “I have known this couple, because I live in this neighbourhood. This niece, who wants to sell this house, was raised with this lady, grew up in that lady’s hands, but today she wants to take away the only thing of value that she has, this is not right,” Ms Julieta Azarias told Ikweli.

Another neighbour, Abílio Augusto, also disagrees with his neighbour’s actions. “This lady has no children, and she is already old,” he says. “Where will she end up if they sell this house? At least, here she has neighbours who consider her as a grandmother. When she is sick, we take her to the hospital, but if she is far away, how can we help her?”

Law scholars make it clear that, legally, the widow is the legitimate successor to her late partner, as she is his successor under the terms of the succession law in force in Mozambique.

Dr Bogaio Nhancalaza, a university professor of civil law, says: “The new law of succession already protects legitimate heirs, and even the old law of succession protected these situations of de facto unions. In a de facto union, when a partner dies, the person who inherits the property is the spouse, in this case the partner or partner who is alive and the descendants. Specifically, in the case of the lady, if there are no children, she becomes a universal heir. With the information that I received – that the deceased lived with her since a young age, the assets acquired are common assets, and from the regime of acquired assets after his death, she is the universal heiress.” “However, there may be no niece, nor nephew, nor cousin to come and claim a property that is in the couple’s estate, because the heirs of the first class are the spouses and their descendants.”

“If there is someone threatening her property, she must open an unspecified precautionary measure, so that this niece does not action this behaviour of removing the woman from the property, and later opening a case to recognise ownership of the property, because she is a universal heir,” Dr Nhancalaza advises. “Even if the court understands that the requirements are not met, there are many doubts and a space to appeal and express her position.”

By Elisabeth José

Source: Jornal Ikweli