Date of Commencement Coroner's Office Act [Chapter 721] (No. 12 of 2019)
The Coroner's Office Act came into force on 5 September 2024, five years after it was passed — Zimbabwe now has a statutory coroner system for investigating deaths.
The President has fixed 5 September 2024 as the day the Coroner's Office Act [Chapter 7:21] (No. 12 of 2019) comes into operation. The Act was passed in 2019 but had sat dormant since, waiting for exactly this notice.
This instrument does nothing else. It carries no substantive rules of its own — what the coroner's office does, who is appointed, and how inquests run all live in the Act itself, which you need to read alongside this notice.
Anyone whose work touches sudden, violent or unexplained deaths — police, pathologists, hospitals, funeral parlours, lawyers acting for bereaved families — should now be working to the Act rather than to the previous inquest arrangements.
What changed
- The Coroner's Office Act [Chapter 7:21] (No. 12 of 2019) comes into operation on 5 September 2024
Who this affects
- police officers investigating sudden or unexplained deaths
- pathologists and hospital mortuary staff
- families of the deceased and their lawyers
- magistrates who previously held inquests
- funeral parlours
Plain-language summary — not legal advice. Always read the full instrument.