Zimbabwe raises age of consent to 18

Legal experts and child rights advocates have warmly welcomed the introduction of the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Bill, 2024.

This groundbreaking legislation raises the age of consent from 16 to 18, better protecting young people from sexual predators and early marriage.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially signed the bill into law on Tuesday, after it was approved by both houses of parliament in July.

The Act was formally announced in a proclamation under General Notice 1441A of 2024, published in an Extraordinary Gazette by Martin Rushwaya, Principal Secretary to the President and Cabinet.

The new law brings the minimum age of sexual consent into line with the Constitution, which defines juveniles as those under the age of 18 and sets the minimum age for marriage at 18.

Previously, the law defined juveniles as persons under the age of 16, meaning that 16- to 18-year-olds did not have adequate legal protection.

For comparison, the age of consent is defined as the minimum age at which a person is considered legally capable of consenting to sexual acts.

Professor Lovemore Madhuku, an expert in constitutional law, spoke to The Heraldpraised the legislation as progressive and said it is in line with international best practices and standards. Prof Madhuku said:

This is a progressive law that meets international best practices and standards. It also brings the law into line with the Constitution, in line with the ruling of the Constitutional Court.

Professor Madhuku highlighted some important aspects of the new legislation:

• Tougher penalties: The law now imposes tougher penalties, up to 10 years in prison, for child abusers, closing an earlier gap in the legal framework.
• Enhanced Protection: By establishing that persons under the age of 18 cannot legally consent to sexual acts, the law removes “consent” as a possible defense for persons who engage in sexual acts with minors.
• Enhanced safeguards: The legislation introduces criminal penalties for those who transmit sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, to children and young people.

Reverend Taylor Nyanhete, executive director of the Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children, described the introduction of the bill as a significant step forward in the area of ​​child protection.

Speaking at a workshop on children’s expectations for the 2025 national budget organised by the Southern Africa Parliamentary Support Trust, Pastor Nyanhete said:

Today (yesterday) people are celebrating because now we have a law and we hope that those who commit the crime (of sexual abuse of children and young people) will also face the law and serve the sentences for their crimes. So, this is a progressive thing.

Anesu Tazarurwa, Child MP for Highfield Constituency, who was among the child MPs who attended the meeting, thanked the President for assenting to the bill. Tazarurwa said:

I want to thank President Mnangagwa for signing the bill into law. This bill will go a long way in protecting children and youth from child marriage and sexual abuse and providing mechanisms to deal with perpetrators of such crimes.

The new law is the culmination of a legal journey that began with a groundbreaking ruling by the Constitutional Court (Concourt) in May 2022.

This ruling highlighted an important gap in the Criminal Code and underlined the failure to adequately protect children between the ages of 16 and 18 from sexual exploitation.

In response to this judicial mandate, President Mnangagwa took swift action in January 2024. He invoked his authority under the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act and published Statutory Instrument 2 of 2024 in the Government Gazette.

This executive measure was a direct response to the Court of Justice’s declaration that the existing law, which set the minimum age of sexual consent at 16, was unconstitutional.

However, these presidential measures were by definition temporary, with a legally established validity period of six months.

This time constraint made it imperative to develop and promulgate a more permanent, substantive law as quickly as possible.

Parliament then drafted, debated and approved the new legislation. The legislation was officially published in the Government Gazette on Tuesday.

Presenting the Bill before it was passed by the National Assembly and Senate, Minister of Justice, Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi described it as a relevant Bill that sought to bring Sections 61, 70, 76, 83 and 86 (of the Criminal Code) into line with the Constitution of Zimbabwe. He said:

In these articles, a young person is defined as a person under the age of 16. However, the Constitution of Zimbabwe sets 18 as the age of majority.

Zimbabwe faces a pressing problem: child marriage and early pregnancy are widespread, especially within certain religious communities such as the white-robe churches, including the Johanne Marange sect.

The impact of this problem is clearly illustrated by the statistics from 2023, which show that more than 4,500 students, including at least 150 primary school students, left school due to pregnancy.

More: Pindula News