Judgment No. CCZ 11/15 14 Const. Application No. CCZ 28/11 Constitution and s 23 thereof. A reading of the Preamble to the Declaration of Rights in the old Constitution made this clear. On the one hand, it stressed the entitlement of every person in Zimbabwe to the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals specified in the Declaration. On the other, it highlighted the fact that it was the duty of every person to ‘respect and abide by the Constitution and the laws of Zimbabwe ….’ (my emphasis) My reading of these provisions suggests that while one was entitled to the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution, such entitlement did not absolve one of the duty to respect and abide by the law. Applied to the circumstances of this case, the applicant had a duty to respect the law that outlawed the conduct with which he was charged. It was because of this perceived breach of the law that he was arrested and charged. He would escape the consequences of his conduct only if a court absolved him of all guilt, and not because of any notion of discrimination arising out of the fact that another person who might have engaged in similar conduct was not likewise charged with the same offence. Clearly, this would not be a defence to the charge, since every person must face the consequences of his or her own actions. A constitution, by its nature, is not likely to offer immunity to people who violate the law. Secondly and more to the point, however, is the fact that the applicant, by his own admission, accepts that the ‘íncumbent’ presidential candidate concerned was, at the time he allegedly made the utterances, the President of the country. As correctly submitted for the respondent, the President was, as such, immune from prosecution. Section 30(1) of the old Constitution read as follows: “30 Presidential immunity