Freedom of conscience / association • Our client, a member of a Pentecostal Church, visited the LRF seeking advice and assistance on how to contest an eviction order that was brought against him by his village head. He was accused of failing to contribute towards the traditional rain-making ceremony and the village head was threatening to eject him from the village. The LRF assisted by drafting an application for an interdict and the interim order has since been granted. This case was clearly one of abuse of authority by traditional leaders who have failed to come to grips with the fact that the Constitution enshrines the right to freedom of conscience. Had the client not been assisted in the manner described above, he would have been illegally evicted and his right to freedom of religion would have been violated with impunity. Inheritance • When a woman from Inyathi, Bubi District (Matabeleland South) was widowed, her in-laws took away all the cattle she had acquired with her late husband. Years later, she became involved with another man, who wanted to marry her. On hearing this, her mother-in-law came to her homestead and chased away this new man, claiming that he had first to pay ‘lobola’ to her and not the widow’s parents as the widow belonged to her first husband’s family. The woman happened to attend a legal education session on the topics of marriage and inheritance where she learned how her rights were being infringed and was advised to register the estate of her late husband and claim her cattle back. The LRF assisted her to challenge her former mother-in-law’s abusive conduct through a protection order, knowing now that she could get remarried without the consent of her ex-motherin-law. • Our client, a 23 year old woman, lost her parents when she was eight years old. Her mother’s twin sister took care of her and took over the affairs of the parental home. When the client came of age she tried to have the house transferred into her name. It was still in her late father’s name but her aunt thwarted her efforts, alleging that it was not necessary. Due to increasing tension, our client moved out and left her aunt in occupation. She tried on several occasions to get a share of the rentals but her aunt refused. After she heard about inheritance laws at an outreach, she registered her late father’s estate with the assistance of the LRF. A round-table conference was held to settle the matter and the client is now collecting the rentals from the house. She had this to say: “I would like to thank the LRF for assisting me to get back my inheritance from my late mother’s relatives. As an only girl child I almost lost my late father’s house to greedy relatives but thanks to the LRF now am benefiting from my inheritance, may the Lord bless you all for the help that you are giving to poor people.” Judicial Process • The LRF assisted a man who was arraigned by a Chief’s Court to answer to a charge of incest on behalf of his deceased brother. He had appeared before the Chief’s Court twice and was afraid he would be made to pay for his brother’s offences. After consulting with the presiding officer of the local court, the case was withdrawn from the courts and the client was all smiles when he came to report the verdict to us. • The organisation attended to a case at Murambinda Magistrates’ Court where the client was suing Chief N for wrongfully attaching her goats in execution of a judgment against her son. The judgment disregarded the fact that she was not a party to the proceedings and had not been served with any papers to appear in court or with a notice of removal. The chief simply sent his messenger to her homestead to uplift her goats. Spoliation was granted and the client’s goats were returned. These goats were her only source of income and she was elated when she succeeded in her claim through the LRF intervention. These cases are important because local courts have been found to make people pay for offences committed by their relatives, in defiance of laid down procedure. Such cases allow the LRF to support local courts with advice on correct procedure while achieving redress where the client was prejudiced. 21