122 | Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal severity of the punishment applicable it is bound to have a severe inhibiting effect on the exercise of freedom of expression. The level of the maximum penalty of imprisonment the law is not justified by the objective it is intended to serve. Freedom of expression is peculiarly more vulnerable to the “chilling effects” of criminal sanctions than any other fundamental right and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression has argued that penal sanctions, particularly imprisonment, should never be applied to offences of publishing false news. Final ruling by Supreme Court The Constitutional Court unanimously declared unconstitutional s 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. It decided that this provision was ultra vires s 20(1) of the 1980 Constitution that was in operation prior to the 2013 Constitution and it was therefore a nullity. Pursuant to s 24(5) of the former Constitution, the Court issued a rule nisi, calling on the Minister of Justice to show cause, on the return day, why this provision should not be declared to be ultra vires s 20(1) of the former Constitution and accordingly invalid. The Minister submitted a document criticising the legal reasoning in the court’s judgment, but failed to provide any evidence of factors, not previously brought to the court’s attention, which might have shown that the provision was in fact justifiable in a democratic society. The court was subsequently informed that the Minister no longer opposed an order declaring the provision unconstitutional and void. The court therefore, in Chimakure & Anor v A-G 2014 (2) ZLR 74 (CC), made a final ruling that the provision was void. Implications of judgment for other offences contained in s 31 Section 31 deals with the making of wholly or materially false statements prejudicial to the State. The ruling by the Constitutional Court that the maximum penalty of twenty years is draconian and will have a serious chilling effect of freedom of expression must surely apply to all the types of offence set out in s 31.