Rutendo Chirume
Section 83 of the marriage act stipulates that a person has the right to get married when they reach 18 years but section 70 states that children are allowed to indulge in sexual activities once they reach 16 years o and close-in-age exemption for both children who engage in consensual sex, leaving them at the risk of child marriages as well as teenage pregnancy.
Even though the law allows for pregnant girls to continue school, over 5000 girls dropped out of school in 2021 due to pregnancy whilst statistics released by Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZIMSTATS) show that 33.7 percent enter into marriage before they reach 18 years and only two percent of boys get married before they are 18 showing that girls are at a high risk of being affected.
In a recent publication by ‘Because I am a GIRL’ as many as 31 percent of girls under the age of 18 are married. Of these, four percent were married under 15 years whilst 60 percent of women aged between 18 and 24 have had sexual intercourse before the age of 18.
Inspector Tawanda Tongofa from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)’s Victim Friendly Unit (VFU) said the reason why there is continuously accumulating numbers of girls entering into early marriages is that the enabling Act has loopholes and as the police they are only there to enforce the law hence policy makers should act to amend the law which is affecting children especially the girl child.
“Section 70 of the constitution which says age of consent to start having sex is 16 was deliberately left out by policy makers because they wanted to trap small girls into having sex with them and dump them without having to marry them since they will be hiding behind the law.
“There is still need for policy realignment in order to end child marriages because as long as we have those age differences, we will have cases of early pregnancies. The Act has loopholes and we will continue to have accumulating numbers of early child marriages because that is where the problem is emanating from. As the police, we are only there to enforce what is in the constitution,” said Tongofa.
Even though the constitution requires that children are not pledged in marriage before they reach 18, there is no specific law of what should be done to parents who marry off their children before they reach 18 which is another loophole.
Junior councilor Amos Bamhonya from Ndarama High School said the reason why there is increase in numbers of school drop outs is because the law has not done more to deal thoroughly with parents who marry off their children before they are 18.
“Sometimes due to the economic hardships in the country some parents consent their children to get married before they reach 18. That case is difficult because the child will be having her parents’ blessings, how then do you report such a case? Early child marriages have implications which may result in death of the mother, premature birth or may be in some cases lead to divorce which both destroy girl child’s future. Therefore, as a suggestion there should be a policy which works to deal with parents who marry away their children before they are 18,” said Bamhonya.
United Nations in the third cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) urged Zimbabwe to increase efforts in the protection of children and to criminalize child marriages on the basis that although the constitution now prohibits child marriages, there is no law penalizing adults who engage in sex with children who are 16 years or enter into marriages with children which as result, the country is far behind in achieving the global target of ending child marriages by 2030.
Zimbabwe also does not have a close-in-age exemption in place to prevent the prosecution of individuals who engage in consensual sexual activities when both participants are significantly close in age to each other, and one or both partners are below the age of consent.
Because there is no close-in-age exemption in Zimbabwe, it is possible for two individuals both under the age of 16 to willingly engage in intercourse and no protections are reserved for sexual relations in which one participant is a 15-year-old and the second is a 16 or 17.
Patience Chisango, who became a mother just before her 16th birthday is one example of how the loopholes in the constitution are forcing young girls to assume responsible positions of parenthood before they reach 18 years as she narrates how she was forced to drop out to become a mother and cut short her dream of going to university whilst the boy responsible for it continued with his education.
“I find out that I was pregnant whilst I was waiting for my Ordinary level results. When the boy responsible for the pregnancy denied it, we tried to seek recourse but nothing much was done as it was considered not rape under the judgment that we had both given consent to sexual intercourse. Although the boy’s family assists me here and there in raising the child, my dreams of acquiring a degree has been cut short as responsibilities overwhelms me and I was forced to consider other options in order to take care of my child but at the same time it was heartbreaking to watch him continue with his education,” narrated Patience.
Director of Shamwari yeMwanasikana Ekenia Chifamba said the law is one big push factor which leads to child marriages because if a 16 year old consent for sex she will be forced to go to live with the perpetrator and in most cases nothing is done as a way to penalize him except for community service and sometimes the case just dies a natural death since the procedures too take longer.
“There is a huge need surrounding realignment of policies in Zimbabwe. These are young girls even if they make certain decisions in life, we can see that these are uninformed decisions. We are having so many perpetrators walking freely because the law fails to fully protect and support these young girls. Some of these girls who are willing to report are left traumatized because the court procedures are too long. Even when the law decides, the perpetrator is given a community service which leaves parents of the victim too traumatized and discouraged. We are calling for these gaps to be closed because we are facing so many challenges,” said Chifamba.
Child marriages have been a topical issue since the death of Anna Machaya a 14 year old girl who died while giving birth and overall, the State has not done enough to protect the girl child ,there is an urgent need to institute legislative, institutional and other reforms to prevent child marriages and also to support and protect children who have been illegally married, including allocation of sufficient resources towards the eradication of child marriages and reparations for children who fall victim to child marriages.
