Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |7 More recently, the South African Constitutional Court maintained the same stance in President of the Republic of South Africa v M & G Media Ltd,28 , when it held that: “The constitutional guarantee of the right of access to information held by the state gives effect to accountability, responsiveness and openness, as founding values of our constitutional democracy. It is impossible to hold accountable a government that operates in secrecy. The right of access to information is also crucial to the realisation of other rights in the Bill of Rights. The right to receive or impart information or ideas, for example, is dependent on it. In a democratic society such as our own, the effective exercise of the right to vote also depends on the right of access to information. For without access to information, the ability of citizens to make responsible political decisions and participate meaningfully in public life is undermined.” Similarly, in De Lange v Eskom Holdings,29 the South African High Court had the occasion to interpret the significance and purpose of the right of access to information held by the State where it held as follows: “Various authorities and our higher courts have consistently held that the purpose of the right of access to information is to subordinate the organs of the state to a new regimen of openness and fair dealing with the public.” Thus, the South African jurisprudence on the interpretation of the right of access to information shows that the judiciary has taken the view that the purpose of this right is to guarantee citizens’ access to information held by Government as a means of compelling the State to operate transparently and to be accountable. The Court also endorses this right to provide citizens with access to certain information necessary for them to exercise their other rights as transparency and accountability are entrenched as constitutional values30 28 29 30 2012 (2) BCLR 181 (CC); 2012 (2) SA 50 (CC) at 10 2012 (1) SA 280 (GSJ); [2012] 1 All SA 543 (GSJ); 2012 (5) BCLR 502 (GSJ) at 28 See s 1 (d) of the Constitution of South Africa, 1996