By Dorcas Rumano

Calls have been made to amend Clause 40 of the Marriages Bill in order to give it a deeper meaning before it is brought into law.

Presenting on the recognition of marriages and the advent of civil partnerships at a consultative workshop on the Marriages Bill today, a representative from the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) called upon the responsible authorities to consider amending Clause 40 of the Marriages Bill.

Under the clause, the Bill provides for the relationships which make a clear distinction between civil partnerships and formal marriages.

The Clause identifies Civil Partnerships as the equivalent of what would be referred to under the general law as ‘common law marriages.’ Civil partnerships are not recognised as marriages as defined under this Bill but for the purposes of realising justice between the partnership in terms of Matrimonial Clauses Act (Chapter 5:13) upon dissolution of the relationship.

According to the clause, the parties to a civil partnership must have lived together as a couple on a genuine domestic basis before their rights and obligations on the dissolution of the relationships.

The grey areas raised on that clause include failing to define what genuine domestic basis means. If not amended, the involvement of civil partnership will also cause conflict in sharing property with the persons already in the formal marriages.

Recommendations were also made to recognise cohabitation as a form of marriage, address Marriage Property Act, address issue that hinder access to courts at dissolution, look at the inheritance laws in greater detail and the provision that caters for property rights before divorce or death.

Legal Resources Foundation Lawyer, Valerie Zviuya highlighted that if clause 40 of the bill is not amended, it may open flood gates for an immoral society.