The Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) has petitioned Parliament calling for an inquiry into the country’s failure to curb child marriage warning that thousands of girls remain unprotected despite strong laws on the books. The petition, presented today by the coalition represents more than 2 000 women’s rights activists and 86 organisations accuses the state of critical implementation gaps in enforcing Section 3 of the Marriages Act which criminalises child marriage and associated practices. Although Zimbabwe legally set the minimum marriage age at 18 in 2022, the coalition notes that 34% of girls are still married before turning 18 with rates rising to 50% in Mashonaland Central.
Rural poverty, limited education and harmful traditional and religious practices particularly within some Apostolic sects remain the major drivers. The petition urges Parliament, under its constitutional oversight role to establish a time-bound inquiry into how the Marriages Act has been implemented since its enactment. It demands detailed data on arrests, investigations, prosecutions and convictions insisting that authorities have not been transparent about enforcement.
WCoZ says that although child marriage is criminalised, law enforcement and the judiciary lack training and resources while cultural resistance continues to shield perpetrators. The coalition also highlights that many cases involve unregistered customary unions a major loophole made worse by the lack of mandatory birth registration which makes it difficult to prove a child’s age in court. The petition draws attention to a growing modern threat technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV).
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Activists warn that online grooming, cyber-exploitation and non-consensual intimate imagery are increasingly pushing families to marry off girls in attempts to restore honour after digital abuse. UNICEF guidance, referenced in the petition calls for survivor-centred approaches that avoid punishing victims and instead focus on protection, rehabilitation and swift removal of harmful online content. WCoZ also warns that penalties in the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act remain misaligned with the Marriages Act creating inconsistencies that could allow perpetrators to evade justice.
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