@ansvar/zimbabwe-law-mcp

Zimbabwe Law MCP Server

The VERITAS Zimbabwe alternative for the AI age.

Query Zimbabwean legislation — from the Cyber and Data Protection Act and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act to the Labour Act, Companies and Other Business Entities Act, and more — directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing Zimbabwean legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden

Why This Exists

Zimbabwean legal research is scattered across VERITAS Zimbabwe (veritaszim.net), the Parliament of Zimbabwe (parlzim.gov.zw), the Zimbabwe Law Reports, and government gazette publications. Whether you're:

• A lawyer validating citations in a brief or contract
• A compliance officer checking obligations under the Cyber and Data Protection Act (Chapter 11:22) or the Financial Intelligence Unit Act
• A legal tech developer building tools on Zimbabwean law
• A researcher tracing legislative changes through Acts and amendments

...you shouldn't need a dozen browser tabs and manual PDF cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes Zimbabwean law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.

Initial release: The Zimbabwe law database is actively being populated from official sources (VERITAS Zimbabwe, parlzim.gov.zw, and the Government Gazette). Coverage will expand with each release. See the roadmap below.

Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version — zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://zimbabwe-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp

Client	How to Connect
Claude.ai	Settings > Connectors > Add Integration > paste URL
Claude Code	claude mcp add zimbabwe-law --transport http https://zimbabwe-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp
Claude Desktop	Add to config (see below)
GitHub Copilot	Add to VS Code settings (see below)

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zimbabwe-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://zimbabwe-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot — add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "zimbabwe-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://zimbabwe-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

npx @ansvar/zimbabwe-law-mcp

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zimbabwe-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/zimbabwe-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "zimbabwe-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/zimbabwe-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

• "What does the Cyber and Data Protection Act (Chapter 11:22) say about data processing obligations?"
• "Find provisions about employment termination in the Labour Act"
• "Is the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act still in force?"
• "Search for company director obligations in the Companies and Other Business Entities Act"
• "What does the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act say about cybercrime?"
• "Find provisions about banking supervision in the Banking Act"
• "Validate the citation 'Cyber and Data Protection Act, s. 15'"
• "Build a legal stance on data protection obligations for financial institutions in Zimbabwe"

What's Included

Category	Count	Details
Acts	Initial release	Database being populated from VERITAS Zimbabwe / parlzim.gov.zw
Provisions	In progress	Full-text searchable with FTS5
Premium: Case law	0 (free tier)	Supreme Court and High Court decisions planned
Premium: Preparatory works	0 (free tier)	Hansard and parliamentary reports planned
Premium: Agency guidance	0 (free tier)	POTRAZ, RBZ, and ZIMRA guidance planned
Database Size	Growing	Optimized SQLite, portable
Daily Updates	Automated	Freshness checks against official sources

Verified data only — every citation is validated against official sources (VERITAS Zimbabwe, parlzim.gov.zw). Zero LLM-generated content.

Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

• All statute text is ingested from VERITAS Zimbabwe (veritaszim.net) and the Parliament of Zimbabwe (parlzim.gov.zw)
• Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
• Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing — the database contains regulation text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

• Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
• Provision retrieval gives exact text by Act + section number
• Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

VERITAS Zimbabwe / parlzim.gov.zw → Parse → SQLite → FTS5 snippet() → MCP response
                                      ↑                      ↑
                               Provision parser        Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

Traditional Approach	This MCP Server
Search VERITAS by Act name	Search by plain English: "data processing consent"
Navigate multi-chapter statutes manually	Get the exact provision with context
Manual cross-referencing between Acts	build_legal_stance aggregates across sources
"Is this Act still in force?" → check manually	check_currency tool → answer in seconds
Find SADC or AU convention alignment → dig through treaty databases	get_eu_basis → linked international instruments instantly
No API, no integration	MCP protocol → AI-native

Traditional: Search VERITAS → Download PDF → Ctrl+F → Cross-reference Zimbabwe Law Reports → Check gazette → Repeat

This MCP: "What are the data protection obligations for telecommunications operators under Zimbabwean law?" → Done.

Available Tools (13)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

Tool	Description
search_legislation	FTS5 full-text search across provisions with BM25 ranking. Supports quoted phrases, boolean operators, prefix wildcards
get_provision	Retrieve specific provision by Act name + section number
check_currency	Check if an Act is in force, amended, or repealed
validate_citation	Validate citation against database — zero-hallucination check. Supports "Cyber and Data Protection Act, s. 15"
build_legal_stance	Aggregate citations from multiple Acts for a legal topic
format_citation	Format citations per Zimbabwean conventions (full/short/pinpoint)
list_sources	List all available Acts with metadata, coverage scope, and data provenance
about	Server info, capabilities, dataset statistics, and coverage summary

International Law Alignment Tools (5)

Tool	Description
get_eu_basis	Get international instruments (SADC, AU, UN) that a Zimbabwean statute aligns with
get_zimbabwean_implementations	Find Zimbabwean laws corresponding to a specific international instrument
search_eu_implementations	Search international instruments with Zimbabwean implementation counts
get_provision_eu_basis	Get international law references for a specific provision
validate_eu_compliance	Check alignment of Zimbabwean statutes against international frameworks

International Law Alignment

Zimbabwe is not an EU member state. The international law alignment tools cover Zimbabwe's participation in regional and multilateral frameworks:

• SADC (Southern African Development Community) — Zimbabwe is a founding member. SADC Model Law on Data Protection informs the Cyber and Data Protection Act.
• African Union (AU) — AU Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention). Zimbabwe is a signatory.
• Commonwealth — Common law tradition and shared jurisprudential heritage with UK, South Africa, and other Commonwealth jurisdictions.
• UNCITRAL — Electronic commerce and arbitration frameworks reflected in Zimbabwe's Electronic Transactions and Electronic Commerce Act.

Note: International cross-references reflect alignment and treaty obligations, not EU transposition. The alignment tools help identify where Zimbabwean and international instruments address similar domains.

Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative Zimbabwean legal databases:

• VERITAS Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe legislation and parliamentary monitoring
• Parliament of Zimbabwe — Official Acts of Parliament
• Government Gazette — Statutory instruments and proclamations

Data Provenance

Field	Value
Authority	Parliament of Zimbabwe / Government Printer
Retrieval method	VERITAS Zimbabwe and parlzim.gov.zw
Language	English (official language of legislation)
License	Public domain (government publications)
Coverage	Initial release — major Acts being ingested

Automated Freshness Checks (Daily)

A daily GitHub Actions workflow monitors data sources:

Check	Method
Act amendments	Date comparison against known versions
New Acts	Parliament of Zimbabwe publication monitoring
Statutory instruments	Government Gazette monitoring

Verified data only — every citation is validated against official sources. Zero LLM-generated content.

Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

Scanner	What It Does	Schedule
CodeQL	Static analysis for security vulnerabilities	Weekly + PRs
Semgrep	SAST scanning (OWASP top 10, secrets, TypeScript)	Every push
Gitleaks	Secret detection across git history	Every push
Trivy	CVE scanning on filesystem and npm dependencies	Daily
Socket.dev	Supply chain attack detection	PRs
Dependabot	Automated dependency updates	Weekly

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from VERITAS Zimbabwe and the Parliament of Zimbabwe. However:

• This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
• Initial release — law database is being populated. Do not rely on this tool as an exhaustive source until coverage is complete
• Court case coverage is not included in the free tier — do not rely solely on this for case law research
• Verify critical citations against primary sources (Parliament of Zimbabwe, Government Gazette) for court filings
• Statutory instruments may not be fully covered in this release

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | SECURITY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment. Consult the Law Society of Zimbabwe guidance on technology use in legal practice.

Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/zimbabwe-law-mcp
cd zimbabwe-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

npm run start                                     # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

Data Management

npm run ingest           # Ingest Acts from VERITAS Zimbabwe / parlzim.gov.zw
npm run build:db         # Rebuild SQLite database
npm run drift:detect     # Run drift detection against anchors
npm run check-updates    # Check for source updates

Performance

• Search Speed: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
• Database Size: Optimized SQLite (growing)
• Reliability: 100% ingestion success rate

Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite — MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude — GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. Full regulatory text with article-level search. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/zimbabwe-law-mcp (This Project)

Query Zimbabwean legislation directly from Claude — Cyber and Data Protection Act, Labour Act, Companies Act, and more. Full provision text with international law cross-references. npx @ansvar/zimbabwe-law-mcp

@ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

Query US federal and state compliance laws — HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, GLBA, FERPA, and more. npx @ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/security-controls-mcp

Query 261 security frameworks — ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CIS Controls, SCF, and more. npx @ansvar/security-controls-mcp

70+ national law MCPs covering Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and more African jurisdictions.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Full Acts of Parliament ingestion
• Supreme Court and High Court case law
• Statutory instruments coverage
• SADC and AU treaty alignment mappings
• Historical Act versions and amendment tracking

Roadmap

• Core MCP server architecture with FTS5 search
• International law alignment tools (SADC, AU, Commonwealth)
• Vercel Streamable HTTP deployment
• npm package publication
• Full Acts of Parliament ingestion (all current Acts)
• Supreme Court and High Court case law
• Statutory instruments coverage
• SADC Protocol and AU Convention alignment
• Historical versions and amendment tracking
• Zimbabwean Law Reports indexing

Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{zimbabwe_law_mcp_2026,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {Zimbabwe Law MCP Server: AI-Powered Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/zimbabwe-law-mcp},
  note = {Zimbabwean legislation database with international law cross-references}
}

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Acts of Parliament: Parliament of Zimbabwe / Government Printer (public domain)
• International Law Metadata: Public domain treaty texts

About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the global market. This MCP server is part of our Sub-Saharan African coverage — ensuring that legal research is accessible across the full African continent alongside our European and global fleet.

So we're open-sourcing it. Navigating Zimbabwe's legislative corpus shouldn't require a law degree.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden

_{Built with care in Stockholm, Sweden}