Sundaymail Editor
Tendai Chara
THE enactment of the Marriages Act has triggered a wave of excitement, confusion and misleading statements from both the general public and the media.
The Marriages Act (Chapter 5.15) is the new law that regulates all marriages in Zimbabwe.
It was signed into law by President Emmerson Mnangagwa early this year.
Jairos Mhiripiri immediately took to social media to “celebrate”.
“The payment of lobola is now a thing of the past! Money and cattle cannot buy love,” a clearly excited Mhiripiri wrote on social media.
However, Moleen Chirewo, another social media user, countered Mhiripiri, correcting him.
“Go back and re-read the new law. It (the new law) does not outlaw lobola. There is nothing to celebrate,” Chirewo sarcastically said.
Chirewo, however, said the Marriages Act promotes adultery and co-habiting.
“I am not a law expert, but even the most uneducated of people can see that this new
law promotes co-habiting and adultery,” she said.
Some media outlets mischievously mislead the public about lobola, a topic that generally generates excitement. Apart from triggering eagerness, the marriages law is dividing public opinion through different interpretations.
According to legal experts, the new law repealed and replaced the Customary Marriages Act (Chapter 5:07) and the Marriages Act (Chapter 5:11).
The new law also aligned the country’s marriage laws to the Constitution, in terms of, among other provisions, gender equality and outlawing child marriages.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the new law seeks to address the problem of unregistered customary marriages.
“The first issue that I wish to address is the problem of unregistered customary law unions. Roora or lobola traditionally solidified bonds between families, but a disturbing trend has developed over time to commoditise or monetise the marriage relation for material gain,” Minister Ziyambi said as he presented the new law to the Senate when it was still a Bill.
After noticing several misrepresentations, the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) went to great lengths to explain and simplify the contents.
There are three types of unions — a civil marriage, a registered customary marriage and a qualified marriage.
“A civil marriage is a monogamous marriage between a man and a woman and a registered customary marriage is potentially polygamous and done according to customary rites.
“A qualified marriage is a union contracted according to religious rites, it is not registrable as civil or customary marriage and is potentially polygamous. A registered customary law can be converted to a civil marriage,” reads a statement by ZWLA.
The association further states that unregistered customary law unions (kubvisirana pfuma) are not recognised marriages.
Also, according to the new law, a civil partnership (kubika mapoto), is not a marriage, but is recognised only for purposes of property sharing.
Defined as a relationship of a man and a woman above the age of 18 living together on a genuine domestic basis, this relationship can co-exist with any other union, including a civil marriage.
The Act states that all marriages are equal; there is no marriage superior to the other.
According to the ZWLA, both parties to a marriage have equal rights and obligations during the subsistence of the union and its dissolution.
Magistrates, ministers of religion, chiefs and heads of embassies are the marriage officers.
Chiefs solemnise customary marriages.
The Matrimonial Causes Act, the law on divorce, applies to all types of marriages and civil partnerships.
The law does not, however, apply to unregistered customary law unions.
While the new law seeks to remove the requirement that customary marriage officers satisfy themselves that lobola has been paid before solemnising customary unions, this is no longer the case.
But there is no provision in the new law that abolishes lobola.
Ekenia Chifamba, the founder of Shamwari yeMwanasikana, an organisation that represents the interests of women and girls, said the enactment of the new law “is just the beginning of an end to child marriages in Zimbabwe”.
“The new Act protects the girl child from child marriages and forced marriages. It criminalises child marriages and hold those who assisted and participated in concluding the child marriage accountable and punishable if found guilty.”
Online Reporter