Zimbabwe

Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Criminal Law Act 2006, which criminalises acts of ‘sodomy’. This provision carries a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment and a fine. Only men are criminalised under this law.

Zimbabwe codified its criminal laws in 2006, explicitly criminalising same-sex sexual activity in legislation for the first time since it gained its independence. Prior to this, Zimbabwe’s criminal provisions operated under the common law inherited from the British during the colonial period, under which ‘sodomy’ was criminalised.

There is some evidence of the law being enforced in recent years, with LGBT people being occasionally subject to arrest, though there appear to be no successful prosecutions under the law. There have been consistent reports of discrimination and violence being committed against LGBT people in recent years, including assault, sexual violence, harassment, blackmail, and the denial of basic rights and services.

2024

There are reports that the National Assembly is considering passing a law which condemns “promoting” LGBT activities and prohibits “foreign entities” from funding these activities.

2019

Ricky Nathanson, a transgender woman, won her case at the High Court at Bulawayo. She had sued the police for unlawful arrest, detention, malicious prosecution and emotional distress, having been arrested in January 2014 by six riot police officers on charges of “criminal nuisance” for wearing female clothes and using a female toilet. Nathanson was awarded $400,000 in damages. However, according to a civil society report from 2021, the damages had still not been paid out at that time.

2015

Raymond Sibanda successfully appealed against being fired from the civil service for “allegedly engaging in homosexual activities.” Reportedly, Labour Court President Justice Evangelista Kabasa determined that Mr. Sibanda’s appeal against his dismissal was valid as “no one should be dismissed from work on the basis of their sexual orientation.”

2013

Zimbabwe approved a new Constitution, article 78(3) of which provides that: “Persons of the same sex are prohibited from marrying each other.”

2000

On 29 May, in Banana v State, the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe held that the common law crime of sodomy is constitutional. The Court held that section 23 of the Constitution, which guaranteed protection against discrimination on ground of “gender”, could not be construed to include protection on the ground of “sexual orientation”, and therefore the law was not discriminatory against the LGBT community.

2024

According to a report by Amnesty International, there have been a growing number of arrests under the sodomy laws. These arrests are reportedly often carried out by corrupt police officers seeking bribes.

It was reported that two gay men who were in a relationship were convicted of sodomy in September, and may face around a year in prison.

2023

In September, two individuals were arrested on charges of sodomy in Gweru. One of them asked the police to arrest his partner because he had been deceived into believing that his partner was a woman. They were both arrested and charged for engaging in consensual same-sex activity.

In September, a 42-year-old man committed suicide in Gokwe while on the run, chased by police for alleged sodomy.

A US Department of State Human Rights report for 2023 noted that the criminalising law was rarely enforced, but that civil society organisations reported that LGBT persons were disproportionately charged with public indecency and disorderly conduct.

2020

The US Department of state report found that there were no known cases of prosecutions of consensual same-sex sexual conduct. This has been the consistent finding of these reports in recent years.

2018

In April, two men were arrested on “homosexuality charges” for allegedly urinating behind the back of a bar. The men were held in jail where they were beaten, and then released on bail. The outcome of the case is not known.

2017

The US Department of State report noted that police reportedly detained and held persons suspected of being gay for up to 48 hours before releasing them. LGBT advocacy groups also reported police used extortion and threats to intimidate persons based on their sexual orientation.

2014

In January, a transgender activist was arrested after entering a female toilet. She was forced to strip and examined by doctors. She was charged with ‘criminal nuisance’ after spending two nights in jail, but the charges were dropped.

It was reported in May that a Budiriro councillor and a colleague had been charged with ‘sodomy’ after being found in a “compromising” position. A magistrate’s court denied the councillor’s request for bail, citing then President Mugabe’s homophobic rants to highlight the alleged seriousness of the charge. The pair were acquitted in July.

2024

On 15 February, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga made a statement condemning scholarships for LGBT persons to allow them to attend higher learning institutions, denouncing it as an “unlawful, unChristian, anti-Zimbabwean, and unAfrican insidious attempts by foreign interests to entice, lure, and recruit Zimbabwe’s less privileged but able students into lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activities”.

On 9 June, it was reported that a group of protesters shouted hateful slogans and vandalised the offices of GALZ (an association for LGBTI people in Zimbabwe) in Harare.

2023

A US Department of State Human Rights report for 2023 set out that leading LGBT NGOs noted harassment and discrimination against LGBT persons in education, employment, housing and health services. This included reporting higher rates of unemployment and homelessness among the LGBT community than the rest of the population. Furthermore, there were reports by advocacy organisations of extortion and “outing”, including by police. Finally, civil society organisations reported instances of families and communities implementing psychological “therapies” to change a person’s sexual orientation, as well as instances of coercion or pressure to enter arranged marriages, “corrective rape” and exorcisms performed by traditional healers.

2022

The US Department of State reported that LGBT community leaders found that instances of state-sanctioned violence targeted at LGBT individuals were lower than in the previous administration. The report however mentions harassment, discrimination, blackmail because of criminalisation, and uninvestigated homophobic attacks.

2021

In November, gay TV star Somizi Mhlongo cancelled a trip to Zimbabwe after the Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe wrote to the government to ban his entry to the country. Mhlongo had been invited to the reopening of a restaurant in Harare.

2020

According to a US Department of State report, local organisations stated that LGBT people were vulnerable to harassment, discrimination, and blackmail, and felt unsafe and unwelcome in churches. Transgender people experienced discrimination when presenting documents which didn’t correspond with their identity. A local organisation noted a decline in the arrest and detention of LGBT community members but found that half of gay men had experienced being assaulted, and 64% had been disowned by their families. 27% of lesbians reported harassment, assault, or disownment.

2019

Research published in 2019 found that 43% of LGBT people had experienced physical violence in their lifetime, with 23% reporting incidents in the previous year, while 39% had experienced sexual violence (18% in last year). Additionally, 63% had experienced verbal harassment related to their sexual orientation and gender identity (39% in the previous year).

An article by Open Democracy reported that discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace was widespread in Zimbabwe, including instances where LGBT persons had lost their jobs after being outed to their employers, or were blackmailed by colleagues who had found out about their sexuality. It was further reported that at the 2018 World Economic Forum, when the Zimbabwean president Emerson Mnangagwa was asked whether he would protect LGBTIQ rights, he responded: “In our constitution it [homosexuality] is banned – and it is my duty to obey my constitution.”

2018

With the inauguration of Robert Mugabe’s replacement, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, in November 2017, LGBT activists were reported to be uncertain as to whether Mnangagwa’s Presidency would mark a departure from Mugabe’s deeply homophobic position (see below). However, in 2018 President Mnangagwa rejected calls to decriminalise same-sex sexual activity, claiming that it is his duty to obey the Constitution, under which it is “banned”.

2017

The US Department of State report noted that some families subject LGBT relatives, particularly women, to ‘corrective rape’ and forced marriages to encourage heterosexuality. These crimes were rarely reported.

President Robert Mugabe, who was known for making deeply homophobic comments on numerous occasions, was ousted by his party in November. In 2015, Mugabe declared to the UN General Assembly that Zimbabwe rejects attempts to proscribe “new rights” contrary to its values, norms, traditions, and beliefs. “We are not gays!”, he asserted. In 2013, he stated that gays were “worse that dogs and pigs”, and threatened to behead them.

[Gays are] worse than dogs and pigs.

Former President, Robert Mugabe, 2013

2015

Human Rights Watch’s World Report observed that in 2015: “Authorities continued to violate rights of LGBT people. A Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission report published in July showed continued hostility and systematic discrimination by police and politicians against LGBT people, driving many underground.”

2014 

Local LGBT organisation Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) faced severe discrimination and legal action throughout 2014. In February, after a lengthy court trial, the Harare Magistrates Court cleared the Chair of GALZ of running an “unregistered” organisation in contravention of the law. In March, police arrested two members of GALZ for organising a media training workshop without police clearance. In December, a group of intruders forced their way into the private year-end event of (GALZ), attacking, robbing, and leaving 35 attendees injured. However, in January, the High Court ruled that the 2012 raid on the offices of GALZ (see below) was unlawful.

2013

A report by Human Rights Watch set out that throughout 2013, there were ongoing attacks against the LGBT community from the highest levels of government. This included a statement by President Mugabe during his election campaign in July, during which he claimed that LGBT citizens are “worse than dogs and pigs” and threatened to behead them.

2012

In August, police officers raided the offices of GALZ and confiscated documents, after the group was allegedly preparing to launch a report on the abuse suffered by LGBT people in Zimbabwe. The police assault some of those present during the raid.