Zimbabwe’s Vagrancy Act: Beyond redemption

The ghosts of colonialism linger long after the Union Jack is lowered, often finding refuge in archaic laws that disproportionately target the vulnerable.

Zimbabwe’s Vagrancy Act [Chapter 10:25], a relic of the colonial era, is a prime example of such legislation, and despite years of condemnation and advocacy, it remains a stain on the nation’s human rights record.

It is a law beyond redemption, demanding nothing short of complete and utter repeal.

At ZimRights, we had an opportunity to continue our campaign against the Act and lift the veil on this law, interrogating its unconstitutional nature at a breakfast meeting with the parliamentary portfolio committee on defence, home affairs and security services on July 18, 2025.

The parliamentary breakfast meeting served as a stark reminder of the Act’s continued existence and its devastating impact on the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.

The Act, in its essence, criminalizes poverty and homelessness, defining a “vagrant” as someone with “no settled or fixed place of abode or means of support” who “wanders from place to place”.

This vague and overbroad definition grants law enforcement officials sweeping powers to arrest individuals based on their socio-economic status, effectively punishing them for being poor.

Yet, poverty is not a crime and should not be treated as such. Nelson Mandela’s words loom large, “overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice”.

The vagrancy law, therefore, does not address the root cases of poverty and homelessness as social injustices, but rather perpetuates a cycle of exclusion.

At ZimRights we have computed that, approximately 1.5 million Zimbabweans are homeless – making them potential targets of this draconian law.

The consequences can be dire, with reports indicating that nine people have died in police custody after being arrested as vagrants.

These are not mere statistics; they are human beings whose lives have been tragically cut short by a law that should have been consigned to the history books long ago.

The Vagrancy Act is not only a violation of fundamental human rights, but also a betrayal of the very principles upon which Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle was fought.

One of the philosophical underpinnings of the liberation struggle was to “do away with unjust laws and all forms of segregation, inequality, injustice, and freedom of blacks”.

Yet, here stands the Vagrancy Act, a vestige of colonial oppression, continuing to perpetuate the very injustices that freedom fighters sought to eradicate.

Source: The Standard Zimbabwe