Andrew
Online Reporter
PARLIAMENT has suggested that those serving time for wilful transmission of HIV be considered for amnesty as the Marriages Amendment Act, signed into law last month, decriminalises non-disclosure of HIV.
President Mnangagwa signed the changes to the Marriages Amendment Act, which included a clause that removed obligation to the infected person to fully disclose to their partners their HIV status.
During Tuesday’s National Assembly session, chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Child Care, Dr Ruth Labode, said: “Zimbabwe has successfully extracted itself from countries that continue or maintain the criminalising of wilful transmission. We now thank God that Zimbabwe is no longer part of that.”
She saluted the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi for bringing the Bill to Parliament.
Added Dr Labode: “I now want to ask the President of Zimbabwe to take a further step in this regard to now please use his powers, I do not know whatever name they call it, when he normally declares for amnesty to release every prisoner who is in jail serving a 15 to 20-year term in jail for having been alleged to have wilfully transmitted HIV, to be released.”
Online Reporter