By Tendai Matunhu

Constitutional Law Expert, Professor Lovemore Madhuku has commended the marriage bill saying it will consolidate the two current marriages laws, the Marriage Act, [Chapter 5: 11] and the Customary Marriages Act [Chapter 5:07].

Speaking at a Stakeholder Consultative workshop on the alignment of legislation to the Constitution, Professor Madhuku said, “The structure of the bill is in two parts. First, the marriage bill can be called a consolidation bill. It brings together the Marriage Act and the Customary Marriages Act. There are two statutes that deal with the Marriage Act and the Customary Marriage Act. Over 90% of the bill is made up of consolidated material that has always been part of the law.”

Prof Madhuku mentioned that there is the consolidation of new laws. He said only 10% of the issues in Bill were new, and these include issues of child marriages, Chiefs as marriage officers, civil partnerships, new position of unregistered customary marriage and outlawing and criminalisation of the deliberate transmission of HIV and AIDS.

He highlighted that there are constitutional dimensions that influence the Bill and these are international and regional instruments.

The other positive thing that Professor Madhuku highlighted is that the customary law which was known as the native, used to undermine the poor rural people whilst civil marriage was meant for the rich and respected people. The separation of the two, he said, was to some extent a colonial segregation and hiding behind these two was the issue of race causing divisions.

The Marriages Bill has also been seen to bring some important positive changes to the marriage law as it abolishes child marriages. Under the Bill, lobola will not be abolished or outlawed but will no longer be a legal requirement for customary marriages. The bill has much progressive advancement in the law pertaining to child marriages and hoped to end child marriages in Zimbabwe and ensure the rights of children are protected.