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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter

The recent passage of the Zimbabwe Marriages Bill by Parliament is a positive development in the fight against child marriages, since it bans all underage marriage and insists that the partners in a marriage are adults giving their own consent, a two-day workshop of traditional leaders drawn from five Sadc countries heard on Monday.

The Marriages Bill was passed after going through intense debate for over a year and criminalises child marriages in both customary and common law marriages when the Bill is enacted and replaces the present Marriages Act and Customary Marriages Act.

Only people aged 18 and over will be able to get married and both partners need to give their informed consent, with no one else able to approve or disapprove of a marriage.

Speaking at the Traditional Leaders Conference on 18+ Ending Child Marriages, Chief Makumbe said the practice of marrying off young girls hindered development.

The conference was attended by chiefs from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania and was held in conjunction with Plan International.

“I am happy that the Marriages Bill was passed. The age of marriage is now 18 years and further to that there is also criminalisation of those who marry off young girls.

“I am happy that our lobbying and efforts as traditional leaders bore fruit,” he said.

Chief Makumbe also urged traditional leaders to discard harmful cultural and social practices that promote abuse of underage girls.

Chief Chikumbu from Malawi said it was important that traditional leaders take the lead in fighting against child marriages.

“We want to see that our girls do not get into early marriages.

“I have been preaching that girls should not get into early marriages and I have worked to ensure that those who went into early marriages get back to school,” she said.

She added that provision of free basic education and other empowerment initiatives was also another way of preventing child marriages and teenage pregnancies.

In a speech read on her behalf, Dr Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, the AU Goodwill Ambassador on ending child marriages also called for outlawing cultural practices that expose girls to early marriages and said countries need to come up with legislation that criminalises early marriages.