LEGISLATIVE watchdog, Veritas, has urged the government to repeal sections of the Marriages Act on child marriages, arguing the sections have remained stuck in the country’s statute books although the practice has been outlawed.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Veritas said the Customary Marriages Act should be amended to totally prohibit child marriages. In January this year, the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) delivered a landmark judgment on Veritas’ matter declaring that that section 22(1) of the Marriage Act, that permitted children under the age of 18 to marry, violated the Constitution.
The legislative watchdog said the government must go a step further to repeal the section on issues relating to child marriages and, therefore, criminalise the practice and order stiffer sentences for offenders.
“Although section 22(1) of the Marriage Act has been declared invalid, it remains on the statute books. It must be repealed at the earliest opportunity,” Veritas said in its commentary.
“Other provisions of the Act also deal with the marriage of minors, and they too must be repealed: sections 20, 21 and 22(2) and (3).”
The ConCourt ruling, however, did not affect pre-existing marriages by declaring them invalid.
Veritas said: “The Customary Marriages Act also needs amendment, primarily to insert a provision prohibiting the marriage of minors (at present no minimum age is specified in the Act). In fact more amendments are needed: so many, in fact, the whole Act should be revised and re-enacted.
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“It is not enough for the law simply to state that the marriage of minors is invalid. Some penalty should be imposed on adults, who compel or induce minors to get married. This needs to be done with great care, however, because the law must not unduly disrupt family relationships.”
