Ziyambi plans to dribble chiefs on Marriages Bill
Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi is planning to dribble chiefs in the Senate in a bid to pass the Marriages Bill which has been stuck over lobola issues.
Chiefs want lobola to be made a condition for marriage. However, Ziyambi is of the view that such a move will be against international instruments that the country signed.
Ziyambi also says making lobola mandatory will go against the legal age majority.
The Chiefs are however digging in and have vowed to not pass the Bill until their view is adopted. Ziyambi is now planning to dribble the Senate and use the National Assembly to send the Bill to the President.
Answering a question from Honourable Paurina Mpariwa on when the Bill was going to conclude, Ziyambi said he is planning on calling for a vote in the Senate. He said if Senate votes against then he will bring it back to the National Assembly.
‘’Mr Speaker Sir, the rules allow me to proceed if I so wish. I can allow the Senate to vote. If they decide that they want to vote against what happened here, I can still bring it here and explain what has transpired in the Senate and then this House will vote. If this House votes and the vote in this House is different from the vote in the Senate, what would have happened in this House is what is supposed to go to the President.
‘’I have indicated that we need to resolve this before the end of this session. If it is not resolved and we are approaching the end of the session, I will then request the Senate to proceed, vote and I will bring it here and then we conclude and proceed.
‘’It is my desire that some sort of agreement is reached, rather than follow the rules and procedures. For some reason, it may happen that the vote in the Senate may be different from here, then our chiefs may think that I did not listen to them, but I want dialogue to happen.
‘’Definitely, I can assure you that before the end of this session, we must have concluded the Bill,’’ he said.
The Marriages Bill is coming to harmonise the country’s two marriage laws, the Customary Marriages Act [Chapter 5:07] and the Marriage Act [Chapter 5:11].
Ziyambi plans to dribble chiefs on Marriages Bill
