Online Reporter
Zvikomborero Parafini
YOU are rushing to work when you toss a banana peel out of your car window.
At a braai later that afternoon, the music gets louder as the drinks flow. The next morning, you stick a poster advertising your business onto a streetlight.
To many Zimbabweans, these are ordinary, harmless acts. But in the eyes of the law, they may not be.
Buried in Zimbabwe’s statute books are dozens of offences that rarely make headlines, yet remain enforceable.
They are laws that govern everyday behaviour—from making unnecessary noise to creating public nuisances—and many people break them without ever realising they have committed an offence.
As the country grapples with growing urbanisation, congestion and environmental concerns, legal experts say these little-known provisions are becoming increasingly relevant.
“Ignorance of the law is no defence”
One of the oldest principles of criminal law is that a person cannot escape liability simply because they did not know their conduct was illegal.
Legal expert Tawanda Machinga explains that while many of these offences are considered minor, they exist to protect public order, health and safety.
“The law is designed not only to punish serious crimes like robbery or murder, but also to regulate everyday conduct that affects other people’s rights, sometimes everyday behaviour becomes criminal,” he says.
“Across Zimbabwe, thousands of people unknowingly engage in conduct that legislation classifies as criminal nuisance or other offences. Some examples include throwing litter from your car.
“That empty drink bottle or takeaway container tossed onto the roadside is more than poor manners—it can amount to criminal nuisance.
“Section 82 of the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27] is titled “Prohibition against littering” and in substance, the law prohibits a person from discarding, dumping or leaving litter on land, water surfaces, streets, roads or other places, unless it is put into a receptacle provided for that purpose or deposited at a designated disposal point.”
So everyday conduct such as throwing a food wrapper onto the pavement, dropping a plastic bottle in the street, dumping rubbish on open land or throwing rubbish from a vehicle can fall within Zimbabwe’s anti-littering framework and is prosecutable.
Councils’ anti-littering by-laws
Respective local authorities have their own anti-littering by-laws. This is important because local authorities may impose additional obligations and penalties through their by-laws.
“Recent council by-laws show how detailed these rules can be. For example, 2025 anti-litter provisions prohibit depositing litter in public places outside designated receptacles, sweeping waste into gutters or roads and causing litter-bin contents to spill onto the ground.
Other council rules require businesses/property occupiers to provide suitable bins and keep waste receptacles properly maintained.
There can also be specific rules affecting public transport operators. For example, Plumtree’s 2025 environmental by-laws require operators of public passenger vehicles entering public termini to provide sufficient bins for passengers.
Blasting music from the comfort of one’s home may seem like a private affair, but Zimbabwean law does not necessarily see it that way. Where the noise begins to interfere with the peace and rest of the neighbourhood, the law can step in.
“Noise is regulated in Zimbabwe, and there are several legal routes depending on where the noise occurs and what is causing it.
“Playing loud music, shouting, persistent barking, noisy advertising and even using certain machinery at particular times can potentially breach the law or municipal by-laws,” said legal expert Mr Farayi Zuva.
“The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] contains a broad offence of criminal nuisance and Section 46, read with the third schedule, a person can commit criminal nuisance by wantonly or mischievously making noise or causing a disturbance, or playing a musical instrument or radio in a public place.”
Some of the conduct identified by the city’s municipal offences list includes: Making noise by shouting or using an instrument where that noise disturbs or interferes with the peace and rest of people occupying premises in the neighbourhood; using an instrument to make noise for advertising purposes where it disturbs the neighbourhood; sounding a horn; ringing a bell; blowing a whistle; or shouting for advertising purposes in a public place where it causes disturbance or annoyance.
In residential areas, operating a power-driven grass or hedge-cutting machine before 8am, between 2pm and 4pm, or after 6pm is also an offence.
“Keeping a bird or animal whose continued or repeated crowing, screeching, barking, whining or other noise causes inconvenience to people in the neighbourhood, last one is particularly interesting: your continuously barking dog can potentially become a legal noise issue,” he said.
Due to the growth of the informal sector, many businesses have normalised displaying goods on pavements or motorists parking in ways that obstruct pedestrians, actions which violate local laws.
Parking a vehicle across a pavement may be commonplace in Zimbabwe’s urban areas, but motorists could be breaking the law when they turn pedestrian walkways into private parking spaces. Zimbabwe’s municipal legal framework specifically provides for the prevention of vehicles obstructing roads, footways and other public places.
“The Urban Councils Act [Chapter 29:15] expressly gives municipal councils power to make by-laws for the prevention of obstruction of any road or other public place, while The Municipal Traffic Laws Enforcement Act [Chapter 29:10] is even more explicit in relation to vehicles. It recognises municipal by-laws aimed at preventing the obstruction, by a vehicle, of “any road, footway or other public place.”
That means, depending on the applicable by-law, parking a vehicle across a pavement and forcing pedestrians into the road can constitute an offence rather than merely being inconsiderate parking.
Harare also has specific traffic, hawker, vendor and other municipal by-laws enforced by municipal police.
The city’s published offences include, for example, obstruction of a road or traffic way by a hawker’s motor vehicle or pushcart, as well as trading outside specified areas.
There’s also a broader national-law angle. Section 47 of the Roads Act [Chapter 13:18] creates offences relating to obstruction and encroachment of roads. Among other things, it deals with placing materials such as timber, stones, rubbish or other material on or over a road and erecting or keeping obstacles or structures that encroach upon a road, subject to authorised exceptions.
Another interesting silent law would be Zimbabwe’s Liquor Act that allows bar owners and managers to eject people who habitually frequent licensed premises for the purpose of soliciting drinks.
They can refuse to serve such patrons and can call upon police officers to assist in removing them.
Particularly, Section 79 says: “Exclusion of certain persons from licensed premises says a licencee or manager may refuse admission to, or remove from licensed premises, a person who “habitually frequents licensed premises for the purpose of soliciting drink.”
They may also refuse to serve that person alcohol. The enforcement dilemma has forced critics to argue that while these laws remain valid, authorities tend to enforce them inconsistently.
Some offenders receive warnings. Others are prosecuted. The inconsistency often leaves citizens unsure where the legal boundaries lie.
This has prompted calls for greater public education, clearer municipal by-laws and a review of outdated legislation that may no longer reflect modern society.
Zimbabwe’s laws are filled with provisions that quietly shape everyday life. Most citizens will never stand before a magistrate for throwing litter or playing loud music.
But the fact remains that these offences still exist. The real question is not whether Zimbabweans are breaking the law.
It is whether the public knows where the law begins—and whether lawmakers should modernise legislation that has quietly faded into the background.
