Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |149 property or existing rights before he may be heard in his own interest, lays down that an individual who can reasonably expect to acquire or retain some substantive benefit, advantage or privilege must be permitted a hearing before a decision affecting him is taken. The proper question to ask in any given case is therefore whether the person complaining is entitled to expect, in accordance with ordinary standards of fairness, that the rules of natural justice will be applied.” Thus, under such circumstances, it will be unfair to proceed and make the administrative decision without hearing the affected party first.26 There are two related but distinct points which arise. First, it is clear that hundreds of residents whose houses have been demolished had substantive rights or benefits which stood to be affected by the local authorities’ decision to demolish the houses. Consequently, it is submitted that they had a legitimate expectation to be heard before any decision affecting their rights was to be taken. The city fathers were bound by rules of natural justice to invite the residents whose houses were to be demolished to make representations before the local authorities before proceeding to raze down their houses. It is common cause that no such opportunity was ever accorded to the residents thereby violating the principles of natural justice. In most cases, the residents were merely given twenty-four hour notice to vacate. Accordingly, the house demolitions fail to satisfy the administrative conduct standards set by s 68 of the Constitution and are therefore potential violations of the affected people’s right to administrative justice. Further and in any event in light of the new constitutional dispensation it is submitted that the legitimate expectation principle is no longer a requirement for the applicability of the principles of natural justice. Section 68 states that every person has a right to administrative conduct that is procedurally and substantively fair whether or not they have a legitimate expectation (my emphasis). In this regard, it is put forward that the applications of the principles of natural justice have been entrenched by s 68 of the Constitution. It follows then that any administrative conduct has to fall 26 See also Taylor v Minister of Higher Education & Anor 1996 (2) ZLR 772 (S)