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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT says it has completed the aligning of the Marriages and Child Justice Bills and they will soon be forwarded to Cabinet for approval.
The Marriages Bill seeks to cater for all forms of marriages, including civil marriage and customary marriage. It also seeks to deal with confusion over customary and modern law.
The Bill is also expected to remove contradictions in statutes where the age of sexual consent is 16 years and yet the age allowable by law for one to get married is 18 years.
The Child Justice Bill seeks to provide separate legislation that is sorely promulgated to provide for a juvenile justice system.
At the moment, there is no Child Justice Act in the country and matters relevant to juvenile justice are dealt with through various pieces of legislation, of which the principal ones include the Children Act and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Responding to a question in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said they were prioritising the two Bills.
“These are two separate Bills – the Marriages Bill is almost ready. We are going to table it at the Cabinet Committee on Legislation which is due to sit anytime from now. After that, the process of bringing it to Parliament will commence.
“The Child Justice Bill is being finalised too. I promise the honourable member that these Bills are on the top of our priority and they will be presented to this August House very soon,” said Minister Ziyambi.
He said the Bill would be transmitted to Parliament soon after Cabinet approval.
“Once the Cabinet process is finalised, we will transmit it to Parliament. We will then have the 14 days that is required by law for it to be gazetted. After that, I will then bring in a notice of presentation of the Bill,” said Minister Ziyambi.
In the Marriages Bill, there will be one Act of Parliament governing marriages in Zimbabwe and the new Act will also update the law in line with the Constitution.
Among the main Constitutional precepts which the Marriages Bill takes into account are gender equality, recognition of the rights of women, youths and children, recognition of the rights of cultural groups and the preservation of cultural values and practices which enhance the dignity, well-being and equality of people.
The Bill will expound the ban on the pledging of children in marriage; the equality of rights and obligations of spouses during marriage and at dissolution and provision for the protection of any children of a marriage upon the dissolution of marriage whether by divorce or on death.
The Bill also seeks to consider the best interests of the child, a child being a person under the age of 18 years and the right of any person who has attained the age of 18 to found a family, not to be compelled to enter into marriage against their will and the prohibition of same sex marriages (Section 78 of the Constitution).
In 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that no child under the age of 18 should marry in terms of the Constitution.
The judgment struck down Section 22 (1) of the Marriages Act (Chapter 5:11) which allows children of 16 years to marry, saying it was unconstitutional.
It also declared that Section 78 (1) of the Constitution sets 18 years as the minimum age of marriage and that any law to the contrary was unconstitutional.
Last week legislators stirred debate after they proposed that the new Child Amendment Bill should incorporate a clause which allows children as young as 12 who are engaging in sexual activities to be given a right to access contraceptives and health care without the need for a parent.
This, legislators said, would help reduce unplanned pregnancies and other sexually transmitted infections.
However, the message by the legislators, they alleged, was misconstrued to suggest that they had proposed the downward review of the age of consent from 18 to 12. —@AuxiliaK
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