Paedophiles who targeted children under the age of 16 since May 25, 2023, are currently immune from prosecution in Zimbabwe. This is because the government failed to amend the law as directed by the Constitutional Court, ZimLive reported. The legal loophole was discovered by Justice Christopher Dube Banda of the Bulawayo High Court while ordering the acquittal of Nkosilathi Gumbo, who had been convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for engaging in sexual intercourse with a minor.
The Constitutional Court had declared certain sections of the Criminal Law Code, which determined the age of consent for sexual intercourse, as unconstitutional on May 24, 2022. The court then allowed 12 months for the authorities to correct and amend the law to protect children from sexual exploitation. However, this deadline passed on May 25, 2023, without any new law being enacted.
As a result, Justice Dube Banda ruled that Gumbo’s conviction was based on a non-existent law and therefore should be set aside. The judge stated:
Therefore, the accused was charged, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced with contravention of a non-existent law.
Charging, prosecuting, convicting and sentencing an accused person with a non-existent law is an irregularity so fundamental that the law cannot countenance.
Such proceedings are susceptible to be reviewed and set aside. I therefore find that the proceedings in the trial court were not in accordance with real and substantial justice, as a result, a substantial miscarriage of justice has actually occurred.
The conviction cannot stand… the conviction and sentence be and is hereby quashed and set aside.
The Justice Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, acknowledged the need for amending the law but cited a shortage of drafters as a delay in the process. He mentioned that they have requested the president to use presidential powers to expedite the amendment, to have it gazetted by the coming weekend.