Botswana (2007), High Court

Botswana (2007), High Court

Masusu v. Masusu
(CAHLB-000001-07) [2007] BWHC 149 (6 July 2007)

The appellant appealed a decision made by the Customary Court of Appeal, which granted the marital home to her husband. The High Court found that the Tswana law discriminated against women by automatically faulting the wife for filing a divorce. The Court ordered the home be sold and the profits given to the wife.

“There is, in this country a supreme law, namely the Constitution, and it grants all persons both equality before the law and equal protection of the law. The suggestion that a woman can be punished by being denied a portion of the matrimonial property just because she failed to tolerate her husband’s intolerable behaviour is totally unacceptable… Notions may well be part of Customary law… but all laws must tested against the Constitution and if found wanting, they must be struck down.” (Quoted form Original Judgment)

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