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Government has finally agreed to raise the age of consent from 12 to 16 years in response to concerns raised by members of the public who felt the law was not adequately protecting the girl child.
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is also the leader of government business in Parliament said the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs agreed with some lawmakers to raise the age in the criminal code. “Let me first deal with the issue of age of consent which was 12 years. We have agreed with several honourable members who have approached me, to lift the age from 12 years to 16,” said Cde Mnangagwa. He said although some members had wanted the age to be 18 years, they finally settled for 16 years.
Cde Mnangagwa said according to General Laws Amendment Bill, anyone between the age of 12 and 16 is regarded as a “young person” and those aged 12 and below are regarded as children. The decision by the government to raise the age of consent to 16 is a people’s victory for it is members of the public that have for months been lobbying the lawmakers to review the age of majority which they felt exposed girls to sexual abuse.
Members of the public accused the courts of trivialising child sexual abuse by passing non-deterrent sentences such as community service against sex predators. Since last June the media, and particularly this publication exposed numerous cases whereby individuals convicted of child sexual abuse got away with light sentences.
A number of MPs later joined in the campaign to force the government to review the age of consent to protect the girl child. We usually do not want to beat our own drum but this campaign was a demonstration of the media’s watchdog role. It was also a confirmation that the media as the fourth estate has a critical role to play in the whole governance matrix.
The government also demonstrated that it is responsive to concerns raised by members of the public. The judiciary, as another arm of government, has an obligation to ensure the mandate to protect the girl child is fulfilled now that the government has agreed to amend the legislation to raise the age of consent to 16 years.
Society on its part has an obligation to assist all arms of government to enforce the law so that at the end of the day the girl child is protected from children molesters. Now that those that we have elected to represent us in the august House, Parliament, have demonstrated that they can listen to concerns we raise, it is now our responsibility as communities to play an active role in governance issues.
It should be our duty to identify any shortcomings in the way public affairs are being handled and raise these with our MPs so that corrective measures are taken. Corruption is rampant in both the public and private sectors and all that is required are men and women who raise the alarm so that action is taken.
Zimbabweans should disabuse themselves from accepting the notion that corruption in the country has become institutionalised to the extent that nothing can be done about it.
The government, the private sector and members of the public have the capacity to fight corruption.
We want to once again say thumbs up to the government for responding positively to the people’s cries to have the legislation amended to protect the Girl Child.
Online Reporter