8 | Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal
to be interpreted in a manner which upholds and promotes those values.31 Zimbabwean
courts ought to be persuaded by this stance due to the entrenchment of similar values in
the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
That the right of access to information is a leverage right, predicated on the need to enforce
public accountability and other rights, is unequivocally endorsed by the Constitution of
Zimbabwe, s 62 which allows that the right of access to information held by the State is
guaranteed for two purposes. First, access to State information is guaranteed in order to
foster public accountability. Section 62 (1) entitles citizens and permanent residents as well
as Zimbabwean media to
“… any information held by the State or by any institution or agency of government at
every level, in so far as the information is required in the interests of public accountability.”
Second, through section 62 (2) the notion that the right of access to information is a leverage
right to facilitate the enforcement of other rights is established, and entitles Zimbabweans to
any information held by the State, “in so far as the information is required for the exercise
or protection of a right.”
The term ‘right’ is not only limited to constitutionally entrenched rights. Section 47 indicates
that the entrenchment of the Declaration of Rights “does not preclude the existence of other
rights and freedoms that may be recognised or conferred by law, to the extent that they
are consistent with this Constitution”. Therefore the term ‘right’, as used in section 62 (2)
should be interpreted broadly to include any right recognised under the law applicable in
Zimbabwe, as long as the exercise of that right will not infringe or violate any provision of the
Constitution. Lovemore Madhuku observes that law in Zimbabwe includes legislation, common
law and customary law32 and, although this observation was made prior to the enactment of
31
32
See section 39 (1) (a) of the Constitution of South Africa, 1996
Lovemore Madhuku. An Introduction to Zimbabwean Law (2010) at 13-25
Select target paragraph3
Add to table of contents