What Fundamental Principles Should be Protected in Our New Constitution? Before we try to answer this question, some points need to be made: • If the new Constitution is to protect fundamental principles, then those principles should be stated expressly; they should not have to be deduced from a minute examination of the provisions of the constitution. If they are not made absolutely clear in the constitution then they may be ignored by politicians and politicallymotivated judges. • The principles must be truly fundamental, underlying the entire constitutional structure. They should, moreover, have a close relationship to the constitutional structure and should not merely restate human rights that are protected elsewhere in the constitution, e.g. in a Declaration of Rights. • A constitution must reflect the country’s history, if the sins and misfortunes of the past are to be avoided in the future. The fundamental principles should be framed so as to overcome our past. In the light of the above, here is a selection of fundamental principles that should be considered: Supremacy of the constitution. This is worth emphasising as a fundamental principle, in order to bring about a constitutional State in which all State institutions respect the Constitution. The Constitution has had scant respect up to now. It has been amended 19 times, and the latest amendment, in so far as it limited the number of Ministers, was instantly ignored. Observance of the rule of law. This is a far-reaching principle because, although the rule of law is a vague concept, it implies that: • everyone, including the State and its officers, must obey the law; • no one is above the law. Respect for the inherent and equal dignity and worth of each human being. This is another important principle, particularly in the light of the country’s history before Independence. And it may be worth specifying separately another principle which arises out of it: Tolerance for the views, practices and cultures of other people. Tolerance has always been in short supply in Zimbabwe. Advancement of fundamental human rights and freedoms. So stated, this principle would oblige the Government to advance, rather than simply respect, human rights. A multi-party system of democratic government based on universal adult suffrage and regular, free and fair elections. All the elements of this principle — a multi-party system, democracy, universal adult suffrage, and regular free and fair elections — need to be emphasised in the light of Zimbabwe’s history. Separation of powers between the Legislature, which enacts laws, the Executive, which puts them into practice, and the Judiciary, which interprets them. Strictly speaking, separation of powers is an element of the rule of law, but it would be a good idea to mention it specifically since our present Constitution as amended violates this principle. 11