12
5.
S.C. 128\02
ratified treaties should provide a legitimate guide in interpreting
constitutional provisions.7
This Court has had occasion to consider what meaning is to be ascribed
to section 20 of the Constitution.
The court concluded that section 20 of the
Constitution has to be interpreted using the broad principles set out above.
Mr de Bourbon did not seek to argue this point strenuously.
Indeed
He took the view that
the issue of what meaning is to be ascribed to section 20 of the Constitution has
already been determined by this Court on the basis that freedom of expression extends
to corporate persons and includes freedom of the press and that any restriction on the
means of communication including the press abridges freedom of expression
conferred by section 20 of the Constitution.
The case of Retrofit v Posts and
Telecommunications Corporation & Anor8 clearly supports this contention.
It may be argued that this Court, in interpreting section 20 of the
Constitution to include its application to artificial persons and the freedom of the
media, in effect amended the Constitution, a function constitutionally exercisable by
the legislative arm of the government. Whatever merit this argument may have, the
fact of the matter is that the legislature, upon becoming aware of this ascribed
meaning of section 20 of the Constitution, did not seek to amend the Constitution. In
this regard it is also interesting to note that the 1999 Draft Constitution which was
rejected in a referendum but was crafted by a constitutional commission composed of
5
Rattigan v Chief Immigration Officer and Ors 1994 (2) ZLR 54 (S)
New Patriotic Party v The Inspector General of Police Judgment of the Supreme Court of Ghana 4/93
(unreported)
7
Dow v Attorney-General (supra) Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers 2 WLR 449
8
1995 (2) ZLR 199 (S)
6
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