Prisca Mupfumira, the ZANU PF Senator for Mashonaland West province, asserts that girlfriends of married men, colloquially known as “small houses,” should not receive benefits from a deceased estate to the detriment of the deceased’s spouse.

As of 2022, the Marriages Act (Chapter 5:15) acknowledges ‘civil partnerships’—unions between a man and a woman who cohabit without the customary payment of lobola—and grants property rights to the individuals in such relationships.

During a Senate debate initiated by Mashonaland West Senator Bybit Lydia Tsomondo, Mupfumira emphasized that “small houses” should not automatically inherit from a deceased estate solely based on cohabitation.

“You find that sometimes some girlfriends end up benefitting. It might be because the husband was cohabitating with a girlfriend for three months and you find such a woman benefitting…Because he died while staying with a small house, she ends up taking everything,” said Mupfumira.