Signatures play an important role in the field of law as well as in daily transactions. They are a symbolic representation and signify the intent of a person. In Zimbabwe, more businesses have gone digital and are interacting directly with consumers resulting in the growth of e-business. In e-business digital signatures play the central role as they allow for easy and rapid approval procedures. Zimbabwe presently has no legislation dealing with electronic transactions and there are no guidelines or regulations on electronic transactions. For many decades the legal industry has been adhering to the Wills Act which relies on face-to-face interactions, paper files, and physical signatures but is it time to embrace technology and move over to electronic wills and digital signatures?


The right to ownership of property terminates upon death. Making a Will enables a person to control how their property will be distributed after they die. A Will is therefore a legal document that expresses the wishes of a testator (a person who makes a will) regarding the distribution of their property after death. The Wills Act [Chapter 6:06] regulates the writing of wills in Zimbabwe.


Section 2 of the Wills Act defines a Will as including an oral will, a codicil and any testamentary writing but does not include a document evidencing an ante nuptial contact or other transaction of a contractual nature. Simply, a Will is a document which shows the testator’s wishes on how their estate will be distributed after they die. For the document to be valid and regarded as a will, it should comply with the formalities for Will writing as set out in section 8(1) of the Wills Act. These formalities are as follows;

1. a will should be in writing
2. a will should be signed by the testator
3. a will should be attested to by two or more witnesses in the presence of the testator

A document that does not comply with these formalities may not be accepted as a Will. It thus follows that an electronic Will is not accepted in Zimbabwe and neither will a digital signature be recognized for the purposes of a Will.


However, it is interesting to note that the Wills Act provides for exceptions to these formalities where a Will has been executed during an epidemic. Section 11 of the Wills Act defines an epidemic as;


‘a greatly increased incidence of an infectious or contagious disease which results in the deaths of large numbers of persons in Zimbabwe or in any area within Zimbabwe’


Wills executed during an epidemic will be accepted only if they are in writing and even without complying with all the other formalities. Covid-19 is therefore an epidemic in terms of section 11 and this means that digital signatures can be accepted for wills executed during this era. It is also important to highlight that a Will executed during an epidemic, which does not comply with all the formalities of Will writing above can only be valid if the testator dies within one year after making the will.


The global outbreak of the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) has irrefutably led to a paradigm shift in the way in which enterprises are operating both internationally and locally. Businesses have increasingly evolved to e-commerce, a modern activity of entering into contracts with consumers through the use of the internet. I am confident electronic wills and digital signatures should be adopted and that the technology that could be implemented will be more secure than hand-written Wills.  While some people may object to electronic Wills on the basis that making such an important document could perpetuate fraud –  such things are prevalent in the making of Wills and associated documents in any event. 


The move towards modernisation of the law of Wills remains a crucial one, so as to take into account technological advancements. Whether the Wills are in paper or electronic format, what is important is for individuals to sufficiently prove their identity. Signing a Will digitally or otherwise is the work of mere moments and could remove the administrative burden that can put people off from making Wills, and more people making Wills is a good thing.