![]() Under customary marriage a man may petition for divorce if the wife is adulterous. The grounds for divorce under customary law are many and vary from one ethnic group to another. The marriage will also be dissolved if the woman commences the action for reconciliation, with no intention of divorcing, as long as the man tells the court that he no longer wants her. Īllegations by a woman require proof, and the marriage will usually not be dissolved if the man contests it. Allegations by a man do not need to be proved in the local court, and the marriage is usually dissolved as long as the man no longer wants his wife. In both courts, parents of the parties, particularly of the woman, are required to confirm that the parties were actually married by explaining matters of consent, and marriage payments. If the parties wish, they may proceed to a traditional court or to a local court for the dissolution of their marriage. The families are fully involved in the processes of marriage as well as of divorce. It is in this respect, of polygamous marriages, that conflict is usually experienced because the man fails to share his affectionate equally to his wives which sometimes leads to divorce.Ī customary marriage comes to an end after families of both parties have made several attempts to counsel and reconcile the parties to the marriage. This means that, a man is allowed to marry more than one woman. Customary marriages are potentially polygamous. On the other hand, a boy is considered ready for marriage once he grows a beard and shows ability to do work that can support a wife, children and other members of the family. A girl is considered capable of marrying at puberty although some ethnic groups allow a longer period for a girl to be more mature. Under customary marriage there is no specific age for marriage. This is followed by marriage payments which concretise the marriage. Ī customary marriage is arranged and consented to by the parents. The first one is the statutory marriage which is governed by the Marriage Act Chapter 50 of the Laws of Zambia and the second one is under Zambian traditions and customs. In Zambia today, there are principally two ways under which marriage can be contracted. Marriage forms a very important institution from which a family is founded. ![]() This article seeks to analyse the laws that govern statutory marriages and customary marriages in Zambia and how they can be dissolved. The high number of divorce petitions granted by the Local Courts was attributed to the fact that the Local Courts handle customary marriages which makes it easy to dissolve a marriage. This has also been a topical issue on various social media platforms and other media houses such as Mwebantu Facebook Page, Zambia Daily Mail Newspaper and other online networks. It was submitted that between 20 the High Court granted 1,299 divorce petitions while the Local Court granted a total of 61,499 divorce petitions. On 29 th January, 2021, the Honourable Minister of Justice Given Lubinda reported to Parliament on how the country has continued to report high numbers of divorce rates. This week we are discussing the law governing marriage and divorce in Zambia.īy Mwila Chikwanda- Jangazya and Mordecai Mweene This will be a weekly feature published every Wednesday in which we discuss the legislative aspects of a topical or current issue.
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