Criminalisation of homelessness and poverty by Zimbabwe’s Vagrancy Act Unconstitutional and against the African Charter
Posted: 2 October, 2024 Filed under: Namatirayi Ngwasha, Zororai Nkomo | Tags: AfCHPR, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Constitution of Zimbabwe, criminal justice system, Criminalisation, criminalisation of poverty, freedom fighters, homeless, homelessness, human rights, inequality, inhumane and degrading treatment, injustice, poverty, racism, slavery, unjust laws, vagabonds, vagrancy laws, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s Vagrancy Act Leave a comment
Author: Zororai Nkomo
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
In the mid-1960s, Zimbabwe prosecuted a protracted liberation struggle officially dislodging the colonial government of Ian Smith in 1980. One of the liberation struggle’s philosophical underpinnings was to do away with unjust laws and all forms of segregation, inequality, injustice, and freedom of blacks.
Despite all the invaluable efforts by freedom fighters, Zimbabwe is among countries in Africa that are administering an archaic, draconian, and segregative colonial piece of legislation – the administration of vagrancy laws in the criminal justice system- the Vagrancy Act Chapter 10:25.
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