"A central consideration in South Africa is that the Constitution plants new values at the roots of our legal system. values of These include, as stated earlier, the equality, democracy, openness and accountability." 3 7. That same point was recognised in this Honourable Court by none other than Justice Devittie in his seminal judgment in State v Sithole 1996 (2) ZLR 575 (H) when after painstakingly tracing the Constitutional history of this country, he stated; "... The present Constitution, upon which the accused in this case places reliance, is a radical departure from an authoritarian past in which scant regard was paid to the rights of the individual and the role of the courts as guardians of the rights of the individual was marginalised. Our Constitutional history enlightens us to the values on which the present Constitution is premised - but more importantly it should alert us to the dangers of retaining the authoritarian traditions of the part." THE CONSTITUTION AS A TRANSFORMATIVE DOCUMENT 38. On the Constitution as a transformative document recently, Ngcobo J stated in Bato Star Fishing (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Others 2004 (4) SA 494 (CC):~ Page 14 of 46 Applicant's Heads of Argument in the matter between: Loveness Mudzuru & Another v Minister of Justice Legal & Parliamentary Affairs & 2 Others Case Number CCZ 79/2014 Prepared by Tendai Biti Law