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first apply for the cancellation of those marriage certificates at competent courts.
Registrar-General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede on Monday said 716 marriage officers had gone underground after his office introduced a new system to flush out bogus officers. He said those who had failed to turn up could be “fake” and the marriages they solemnised in the past would be cancelled.
Harare lawyer Mr Chris Mhike yesterday said for a marriage to be valid, it should be solemnised by a competent and authorised marriage officer. He said a marriage solemnised by a bogus or unqualified marriage officer was void “ab initio”, meaning it had no legal force or effect from the onset. “If that is the case, therefore, there never was a marriage and the High Court of Zimbabwe, which is empowered to terminate marriages, could not possibly preside over the sham marriage. There cannotbe a decree of divorce where there never was a marriage in the first place,” he said.
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Mr Mhike said there were exceptional cases where the ministry administering the Marriage Act would validate a void marriage solemnised by an incompetent marriage officer.
“In terms of the Marriage Act, if the minister is satisfied that the purported marriage officer (be it a priest or pastor not registered by Government as a marriage
officer) acted under the bona fide belief that he was a legitimate marriage officer, the minister may direct in writing that the person shall be deemed to have been a marriage officer during the relevant period so that all the marriages that were solemnised by that person become valid.
“The validation procedure cannot be carried out if the purported marriage officer acted in bad faith,” he said.
Another Harare lawyer, Mr Jonathan Samkange, said a marriage solemnised by a fake marriage officer was not a “marriage at all” and should be cancelled.
He said people should verify whether the marriage officer solemnising them was genuine before wedding.
“When an unqualified marriage officer joins you, it is not a marriage at all. A proper marriage should be solemnised by a legally qualified marriage officer, pastor or reverend.
“People should verify first and they should go to a proper church, not these funny churches we are seeing these days. Another option is for them to go to court. Failure to do so would be inviting disaster,” he said.
However, Mr Norman Mugiya of Mupindu and Mugiya Law Chambers said the cancellation should be done by a competent authority.
“If you want to cancel a marriage certificate you apply for cancellation and this is normally done at the courts. This is because in terms of the law a marriage certificate’s validity is determined by the courts.
“If the Registrar-General or his office cancels the marriage then people should also check whether he is a competent authority. However, people should note that
marriages presided over by fake marriage officers and second marriage certificates are invalid,” he said.
He said for a marriage to be valid, certain formalities should be observed and these include solemnisation by a competent and authorised marriage officer, celebration of the marriage ceremony only after publication of banns by both parties, or publication of a notice of intention to marry by both parties and procurement of a marriage licence.
According to Mr Mudede, since the introduction of the new system in March this year 1 253 marriage registers have been issued to marriage officers so far, yet his office had 1 966 marriage officers in its marriage register.
He said some marriage officers operated when they ceased being marriage officers long back or were on suspension from their organisations.
Online Reporter