Zimbabwe to deal with the issue of child marriages before the end of next month

HON. TOFFA:  Thank you Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity.  My supplementary question to the Hon Minister, through you Mr. Speaker Sir, the Hon. Minister said that this was a very important question yet it seems to be taking very long.  He said that it is work in progress.  In the communities that we are in, there are a lot of children who are being abused and the Marriage Bill or the age of consent is taking time.  May the Hon. Minister please give us a timeline as to when this work in progress is going to come to an end?

When you look at the constitutional judgment of 2016 and we also look at the fact that we have had public hearings as Parliament with regards to child marriages and the adoption of the SADC Model Law on the Eradication of Child Marriages but we have not come to a conclusive end to deter this situation that is going on in the country.  I thank you.

HON. ZIYAMBI:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  Mr. Speaker, the issue of the Marriage Bill and child marriages, I explained last week before Senate and there were issues where chiefs had reservations pertaining to roora that they wanted legislated which I then referred to our officials to negotiate with them because the net effect of legislating to say you cannot marry without paying lobola would be to say that women are perpetual minors.  We need to find each other between the traditions, customs and what is obtaining now.

So I intended to give negotiations a chance but should that fail then we will proceed, like I said that they can vote if they have to have that inserted. We can bring it here but rest assured that it can be challenged in court and it will be dropped.  I was not of that opinion but thought that we must just do the right thing.  So the issue of child marriages, we are almost through with it and it has a fine within the Bill.  Hon. Gonese corrected me last week, I had made reference to two young teenagers having sex, that is not criminalised but if you are a parent and you give your child away in marriage and she is below 18, it is now an offence.  So that is going to be dealt with.

What I was making reference to which I said is very important is what Hon. Gonese raised to say that we need to streamline and make sure that our sexual offences are very clear, unambiguous and we can then have discussions along the lines that he proposed, on whether we should leave the age of consent where it is.  I thank you.

HON. TOFFA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My question that I asked the Hon. Minister has not been addressed.  I spoke about a timeline and he said very soon.  May the Hon. Minister please be more specific?  I know that he said that he is working on it but how much time is he giving the Senate because all this is happening at the expense of the girl child.  I thank you.

HON. ZIYAMBI:  Thank you very much Mr. Speaker.  Mr. Speaker, before the end of this session we must be done with the Marriages Bill.  I thank you.

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