Common Law with Mike Murenzvi
“Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are in my opinion more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality.” ~ Frank Zappa
On Tuesday, 9 July 2024, the Senate debated and passed the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Bill H.B. 4A, 2024. The debate strongly supported the Bill and there was no debate on the clauses. Either the Senators present didn’t read the Bill and consider it fully, or they decided to rush it through given the time factor. Whatever the case, the process was done in minutes.
This was, perhaps, the best outcome from a bad situation where half a loaf is better than none. The ball is now squarely in the President’s court. If he sticks to the principles of temporary measures, official notice of presidential assent will be published in the Government Gazette as soon as possible.
[Also read: COLUMN | Common Law: Our MPs have, yet again, left Zimbabwe’s children at the mercy of sex predators
Common Law | Protection of Children: When bad drafting meets negligence
Temporary Measures expired
As of midnight on 10 July 2024, the Temporary Measures that were put in place by the President in January, have expired. From this point, until the Bill is signed into law, all bets are off, and the children are on their own.
Future amendments
There is always room for future amendments to the Criminal Law Code, but between now and then, there are loopholes that will be left open because of bad drafting and seemingly poor understanding by the legislature.
Among those loopholes, is the issue of deliberate infection with a sexually transmitted infection among adults. The Bill removes any criminal action against an adult who knowingly infects another adult with an STI. This will now purely be action available against an adult who infects a child.
A lot of work still needs to be done to correct the errors of drafting and pressure needs to be put on both the government and Parliament to make those changes in the shortest possible time before we face a new threat of our own making.
Over to you Mr President, start by signing this badly drafted law into effect as soon as possible. It is easier to turn a moving ship than be bogged down by inaction.
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Mike Murenzvi writes in his personal capacity and his views are not associated with any organisation he is, or may be, affiliated with.
