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Sifelani Tsiko
Agric, Environment Editor
Child rights campaigners are calling on Parliament to expedite the passing of an amendment to the Marriage Bill which seeks to align the inconsistencies in the current marriage legislation to the Constitution to help curb the high prevalence of child marriages in the country.

Prominent legal practitioner Advocate Choice Damiso told a multi-stakeholder meeting on ending child marriages in Zimbabwe recently, that Parliament must take the passing of the Marriage Bill into law as a matter of urgency so as to strengthen child protection measures.

“The Bill has stalled in Parliament and this is a concern to us. Child marriages continue to soar while this Bill has stalled in Parliament.

“This inordinate delay to pass the law is worsening the situation. We need measures to combat and respond to child marriage cases in the country,” she said.

UN Women organised the multi-stakeholder meeting as part of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls by 2030.

Participants discussed a number of issues aimed at addressing sexual gender-based violence, harmful practices and sexual and reproductive health and rights facing girls in Zimbabwe.

“It is still a matter of concern that more than 15 million girls are married every year. Zimbabwe is also facing a similar problem and we need to step up our special focus on Sustainable Development Goal 5 which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls,” said Pamela Mhlanga, UN Women deputy country representative.

“The raging Covid-19 has had a negative effect on all strategies to fight harmful practices which are exacerbating child marriages in Zimbabwe.”

Child rights campaigners were unanimous in their call for Parliament to expedite the signing of the Marriages Bill because it clearly criminalised child marriages helping to strengthen child protection measures.

The Marriage Bill has been tabled in Parliament for debate for about two years with legislators arguing on various key issues pertaining to the Bill.

The Senate has been waiting for months for the Minister of Justice to complete his response to and wind up the Second Reading debate to enable the Bill, as amended by the National Assembly, to be put to the Second Reading vote.

Most senators who contributed to the debate voiced dissatisfaction about the manner in which the Bill dealt with the issues of lobola or roora and civil partnerships.

Differences also emerged on solemnisation of customary law marriages and what questions could be put to the parties and their witnesses before a customary law marriage is solemnised by a marriage officer.

“The new clause provides that an unregistered customary law union must be registered by the parties “within five years of the date the union was entered into or as soon thereafter as is possible,” a legal analyst said.

“There is no statement about what the result of failure to meet this deadline will be, but there is an assurance that failure to register a customary law marriage will not “affect the validity of the marriage at customary law with respect to the status, guardianship, custody and rights of succession of the children of such marriage.”

Sinikiwe Mvenge, an official in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs said existing marriage regimes had a negative impact on women’s rights.

“Our ministry is working flat out to harmonise our marriage laws.

“We need to be clear about the minimum age of marriage and the role of our marriage officers,” she said.

“Girls remain vulnerable to exploitation through child marriages and it is my hope that the passing of the Marriages Bill will be expedited to help strengthen our child protection laws.”

Other participants said the passing of the Bill would help strengthen the country’s legal, policy and programmatic measures to halt any harmful practices that destabilised the health, the education, the social and economic wellbeing of young girls.

They all said child marriage was an impediment to development and appropriate action was required to fight the scourge of child marriages in the country.

A 2019 report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Zimbabwe said school dropouts and those from poor households were more likely to get married before reaching 18 years — the legal marriage age in the country — as compared with those who continue to higher education.

Adv Choice Danisoac

Another report published by UNICEF in 2019 said that about one in three (34 percent) of women between the ages of 20 and 24 were first married or in union before the age of 18.

The coronavirus has forced many girls into child marriage, pushed more families into poverty and kept girls out of school for a longer period.

In a 2020 report, international charity Save the Children said an estimated 500,000 more girls were at risk of being forced into child marriages worldwide, as a result of the economic effects of Covid-19.

This marked a four percent year on year increase, reversing the progress made to reduce early marriage over the previous 25 years.

In January 2016, the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe ruled that “no person, girl or boy should be married before the age of 18.”

Despite the existence of the laws, child marriages are still a problem.

“We need to continue to engage with all stakeholders to push for the passing of the Bill and to compel everyone to protect the rights of women.

“Engagement is critical in sustaining the movement against early child marriages,” said Mhlanga.