Law-Zim

  THE DEONTOLOGY. (Study the law with Blessed Mupatsi). Assisted by: Nompilo P. Nkomo. In Zimbabwe in the late 19 th century, through the promulgation of the Termination of Pregnancy Act [Chapter 15:10] (hereinafter ‘the Act’) to deliberately terminate a pregnancy was criminal except when necessary. It was permitted if the purpose was to save the mother’s life, if the pregnancy caused serious threat of permanent impairment of mother’s physical health (not mental health), serious threat that the child will be born with physical or mental defect which will seriously handicap him or her or /and the foetus is conceived as a result of unlawful intercourse which is usually rape. This position was affirmed by section 60 ‘ unlawful termination of pregnancy ’ of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. Therefore, in light of these provisions it is crystal that in our jurisdiction it is not lawful to carry out an abortion on socio-economic grounds, however Zambia pres...

Introduction The delict of adultery has sparked considerable debate in recent years in Zimbabwe largely due to the fact that Seychelles, South Africa and Botswana have recently done away with the delict. Questions have been levelled at the doctrine on whether it still has relevance in the Zimbabwean society. In the case of Njodzi v Matione, the High Court of Zimbabwe maintained the delict of adultery, on the basis of public policy. Mwayera, J rejected the South African approach arguing that public policy considerations differ from country to country and that Zimbabwe has not yet expressed an intention to abolish the delict and still wishes to maintain it as a safeguard for the marriage institution. This write up will juxtapose the Zimbabwean position with the South African and Botswana position in the context of the legal philosophical question on whether adultery should be maintained as a remedy for the bruised ego of an innocent spouse hinges and whether or not the law should ...