Parliament passes bills that protect rape survivors, women
Parliament has passed two amendment bills that will ensure the law protects victims of rape and women.
The Prescription in Civil and Criminal Matters (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill has been passed to allow all sexual offences to be prosecuted regardless of when they happened.
Section 18 of the Criminal Procedure Act stipulates that after 20 years lapse, the prosecution of certain crimes can no longer be possible, including sexual offences.
"The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services believes that amendments such as these will encourage survivors of sexual offences to report these matters, even if the incidents took place many years ago, so that perpetrators of sexual offences are not met with impunity. It means that these crimes can be prosecuted irrespective of when the crime took place. We are also cognisant of the fact that our criminal justice system still has to undergo more substantive reforms in order to systemically address any secondary victimisation experienced by survivors in the criminal justice system.," said Ministerial spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri.
Phiri added this Bill also means that bribery and corruption crimes are also no longer subject to a time limitation.
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The second bill amendment that has been passed by Parliament is the Recognition of Customary Marriages Bill which protects the interests of women who are in polygamous marriages.
The bill will ensure that proprietary consequences of a customary marriage in which a person is a spouse in more than one customary marriage which was entered into before the Recognition Customary Marriages Act (RCMA) of 1998 has joint and equal ownership and other rights as well as equal rights of managing the marital property.
Previously, section 7 1 of the RCMA provided that proprietary consequences of customary marriages entered into before its commencement continue to be governed by customary law, in terms of which wives have no right of ownership and control over marital property, which right is reserved solely for the husband.
"With the amendment, all monogamous customary marriages, whether they were entered into before or after the commencement of the RCMA, are in community of property unless the spouses specifically determine otherwise by means of an antenuptial contract," said Phiri.
