Align marriage laws with Constitution: civic society

CIVIC organisations have called on Government to align marriage laws with the Constitution and end child marriages.

In a recent interview, Simukai director Mrs Barbara Matsanga said existing laws were at odds with the Constitution and were increasingly frustrating efforts to curb child marriages.

Advocacy consultant with Simukai, Mrs Tafadzwa Kaja, said calls by both public and private sectors on Government to amend the Marriage Act and other relevant laws that were still at odds with the Constitution seemed to be going unheeded.

“There is need to realign laws, as delays by the Government have resulted in some perpetrators getting away with this conduct because the law as of now is not watertight, and as long as it remains that way, perpetrators will continue to roam our streets,’’ said Mrs Kaja.

There are reportedly high cases of child marriages in Manicaland, especially in the Odzi, Marange and Mutasa communities, with people linking the evil to poverty and religion.

Critics say Section 21 of the the Marriage Act (Chapter 5:11) allows the marriage of minors by written consent of their legal guardian(s), and if for whatever reason consent cannot be obtained, a High Court judge may grant consent to the marriage.

According to Mrs Matsanga, efforts to curb child marriages were being hampered by the lack of a law to bring perpetrators to book.

“Even reported cases of child abuse and child marriages have low success rate in courts due to inadequate legal framework,’’ she said.

Mr Tanaka Adrian Mbotshwa, a lawyer, added that the disharmony in the laws on child marriages was evident by the fact that the Criminal Law Code (Chapter 9:23) stipulated or put a benchmark on the age of consent for sexual intercourse.

“The criminal code criminalises those perpetrators who have sexual intercourse with a person who is below the age of 16 years,” he said. “There is, therefore, a disharmony in the laws and a gap that has to be filled in the laws on child marriages.

“The question that boggles one’s mind is whether or not a person aged 17-yearsold can start a family. On the other side of the spectrum, to put blame on the law entirely would be tantamount to portraying a frivolous state of affairs, as some of the problems which emanate from child marriages are more sociological than legal.”