The Constitution is clear that childhood does not end until a person reaches the age of 18. Until then, children should enjoy the right to their childhood and parental care and in particular to education. For too long early marriage has deprived the girl child of these rights.

Under the Customary Marriages Act, there was no specific minimum age at which people got married. This has resulted in a high percentage of marriages in poorer communities involving young girls, sometimes as young as 12 years old. These children are often married to old men in polygamous unions; there have been instances where some rape cases involving girls have not reached the courts since the girls’ families agree to accept a marriage payment.

Sometimes a mother marries a young girl off so that there is one less mouth to feed and the marriage payment can be used to support the rest of the family. Sometimes girls are coerced into marriage such that even when they marry with consent, they do so for the sake of their families or because they have nowhere else to turn. They are not old enough to know about the responsibilities of marriage. They are often abused in these marriages and in many cases are divorced or abandoned by their husbands even when they have children, and their children are not supported.

Under the Marriage Act [which applies to monogamous marriages], the age of marriage was 18 for boys and 16 for girls. This was against gender equality guaranteed by the Constitution and the constitutional definition of children. It also did not conform to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child or the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, both of which fix the minimum age for marriage at 18. Zimbabwe is a state party to these agreements.

The Constitutional Court ruling of January 20 2016 states that no person, male or female, in Zimbabwe my enter into any marriage, including an unregistered customary law union or any other union, including one arising out of religion or a religious rite, before attaining the age of 18. This came into force on the date of the ruling.

Child marriages perpetuate poverty. Girls who marry young because of poverty are not educated and cannot get jobs which might alleviate their condition. They have their children at a young age and those children, because of poverty, are again married off young if they are girls. Thus the cycle of poverty is perpetuated.

There are other socio-economic ills associated with child marriage. A girl who is not mature enough to bear children often has medical complications and some die in childbirth. Their children are sometimes uncared for and malnourished. For a country to reduce poverty, the education and health of its children should be paramount.

Much remains to be done to advance the interests of women and children in Zimbabwe.