Judgment No. CCZ 12/2015 46 Const. Application No. 79/14 father or a mother has charge of his or her children as a family deserving of protection by the State. Section 78(1) of the Constitution means that everyone who has attained the age of 18 years has the right to enter into a marriage with a person of the opposite sex and found a family. See Mavedzenge and Coltart “A Constitutional Law Guide Towards Understanding Zimbabwe’s Fundamental Socio-Economic and Cultural Human Rights” 2014 p 146. Section 78(1) of the Constitution sets eighteen years as the minimum age of marriage in Zimbabwe. Its effect is that a person who has not attained the age of eighteen has no legal capacity to marry. He or she has a fundamental right not to be subjected to any form of marriage regardless of its source. The corollary position is that a person who has attained the age of eighteen years has no right to marry a person aged below 18 years. Section 81(1) of the Constitution puts the matter of the legal effect of s 78(1) of the Constitution beyond any doubt. It provides that a person aged below 18 years is “a child” entitled to the list of fundamental rights guaranteed and protected thereunder. That means that the enjoyment of the right to enter into marriage and found a family guaranteed to a person who has attained the age of 18 years is legally delayed in respect of a person who has not attained the age of eighteen years. The effect of s 78(1) as read with s 81(1) of the Constitution is very clear. A child cannot found a family. There are no provisions in the Constitution for exceptional circumstances. It is an absolute prohibition in line with the provisions of Article 21(2) of the