By A Correspondent- Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe has given in to pressure from the public and finally unleashed the police on the husband of the late 14-year-old girl Memory Machaya, who died while giving birth.

Memory’s death caused an outcry, with the international community expressing concern over the rising cases of child marriages, especially within white garment churches.

Evans Momberume, a member of the Johane Marange in Bocha Mutare, is set to appear at the Mutare Magistrates Court following his arrest in the eastern border town on Wednesday.

Law enforcement sources said Momberume, who had escaped police after abruptly leaving the shrine, was arrested by detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department’s Homicide Division.
If convicted of having sexual intercourse or performing indecent acts with a young person, Momberume will be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

According to Memory’s mother and aunt, she was buried inside the shrine two hours after her death, but the church’s leaders have denied this.

Memory’s mother said she was blocked from witnessing her burial and banished from the church for “causing trouble”. Investigators are still searching for her burial site.
Zimbabwe has two sets of marriage laws, the Marriage Act and Customary Marriages Act. Neither law gives a minimum age for marriage consent, while the customary law allows polygamy.
A new marriages bill that is before parliament for debate seeks to synchronise the laws, ban the marriage of anyone below 18 years and prosecute anyone involved in the marriage of a minor.