By A Correspondent- Harare West legislator Joanna Mamombe has called on parliament to clarify and ensure that the issue of age of consent for sexual activity for young girls is clarified to protect the girl child.

She requested that if the Marriages Bill comes back to Parliament, the issue of sexual consent should also be clearly stated.

Said Mamombe:

“I also want to add my voice to the Marriages Bill debate. Firstly, I want to talk about the issue of harmonisation of the Marriages Bill.

This consolidation has assisted us women and the Zimbabwean population because it has been aligned to the new Constitution. So, that is the first thing I want to say.

Let me advise this House that as a Member of Parliament for Harare West Constituency, we were also able to hold consultations in Harare West informing them what the Bill talks about and they also gave their opinions to their Member of Parliament.

So, I will also talk about some of the issues that were expressed by the people in Harare West Constituency.

Firstly, there was an issue about child marriages which was welcomed by Harare West Constituency because when we look at the issue of child marriages, we hear no one has the right to marry a child who is under the age of 18.

It is something that was welcomed by the Harare West Constituency and other people in Zimbabwe because this had become a menace and was violating the rights of the girl child, especially those who wanted to go to university. The other issue was on consent to sexual activity.

The Bill does not address the issue of age of consent to sexual activity. My request is that if this Bill comes back to Parliament, the issue of sexual consent should also be clearly stated.

Thirdly, was the issue of chiefs that chiefs- are now marriage officers. This was welcomed before it was the magistrates and pastors but there were also questions that if the traditional leaders…

The issue that I was talking about is on traditional leaders as marriage officers which was a welcome development but there were questions on the distance for people to go and register their marriage and also the issue of funding that mostly people do not have money to go to the urban centres to see the magistrate or the pastors.

The issue was that once the traditional leaders are accorded this privilege of being marriage officers, is there a payment that will need to be done because if a traditional chief normally charges a goat or a sheep before your case is brought before the court. So that is the question that was raised that if one wants to register a marriage are you not required to produce a goat.

          The other issue was of distance. So that issue of distance, will it be addressed since traditional leaders have vast areas to take care of? Furthermore there was the issue of whether the chiefs will be trained in order to be marriage officers. That was one of the issues. 

Mr. Speaker Sir, the other issue I want to talk about is that of civil partnerships.  Taking from those who debated on Tuesday on this civil partnership issue, my view is that all of us are in agreement that Zimbabweans are against the issue of civil partnerships.  

We know that this Bill is bringing in the issue of gender balance between men and women but there is also an element of discrimination or denigrating women especially when we look at those who are married under Chapter 5:11. 

The residents of Harare West say that if possible, the Minister should remove Clause 40 because it violates the rights of those who are in a civil marriage, Chapter 5:11.  For those who want to be in polygamous marriages, they should proceed with their choice but without infringing on the rights and benefits of those in a monogamous marriage. 

Lastly Mr. Speaker Sir, it was the issue of HIV and Aids.  As this Bill is coming into place, it proposes to decriminalise willful transmission of HIV and AIDS. This issue was welcomed because it affects women the most, especially the young women.  They are the ones who are affected by this matter.

This Bill is being welcomed by the people because it will reduce the number of women at Chikurubi Prison  since they are the ones arrested for having willfully transmitted the disease to their partners.  Because of our biological make up, we are ones who give birth and mostly the disease is discovered in women, hence they are affected and end up imprisoned.  

It is an issue that was welcomed by the women.  There are women at Chikurubi Female Section that are there because of this issue. 

There are also issues that were raised by the residents that this Bill is harmonising marriages in Zimbabwe but there are certain things that are not in the Bill.  Amongst other things that were mentioned by the residents was that in the event of death, who then takes inheritance?  The inheritance issue was not addressed by the Bill.

The issue of inheritance was of importance and concern to the residence because it is not clear. If we say a Bill is coming in to harmonise our marriage laws, it should then bring all Acts that address the issue of marriage so that whoever wants to know about our marriage laws can use one Act than to have different Acts. 

There was also the issue of the rights of men and women bordering on who has the right to custody of children in the event that they divorce. The issue of guardianship is not addressed in the Bill. Our request Mr. Speaker is that the issue of guardianship should be addressed in the Marriage Bill. It should be in the Bill so that you do not need to refer to other Acts. 

Lastly Mr. Speaker, is the issue that the Bill does not clearly explain the issue of child marriages.  The issue should be clear.  The clause is there but it is not clear when we say child marriage, what exactly we are referring to.  

I am saying this in cognisance of the SADC Model Law on Child Marriages and protecting those in marriage as mentioned by Hon. Kwaramba on Tuesday.

So we want this to be clear in the Bill and also on what happens if a parent marries off a child below the age of 18.  We do not want just one clause but we want it to be comprehensive and show that we have the political will to address the issue of child marriages.  With these words Mr. Speaker, this is my view in terms of the Marriages Bill. I thank you.