Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |159 This paper juxtaposes the practice of constitutionalism and constitutional democracy prevailing in Zimbabwe against the fundamental active principles of democracy that were brought to light by virtue of the Nkandla ruling. Opportunity to strengthen transparency and accountability systems in light of specific constitutional provisions coupled with brief comparisons concerning the manner in which constitutional principles are executed in other countries are discussed in this paper followed by a conclusion which comprises a summary of the key points made in the Nkandla judgment relevant to Zimbabwe. Background and Critique of The Nkandla Judgment As a result of several complaints lodged with the public protector concerning certain “security upgrades” made at President Zuma’s private residence in Nkandla, the public protector in accordance with her constitutional powers6 investigated allegations related to improper conduct or irregular expenditure. The basis of the complaints and subsequent investigation was that the improvements were non-security features and that the State was only under an obligation to provide security features for the President at his private residence. Therefore, it was argued any improvements unrelated to security features amounted to undue benefit or unlawful enrichment. The public protector concluded that the President failed to comply with specific constitutional and ethical obligations by knowingly deriving undue benefit from the irregular deployment of State resources and directed that the President, duly assisted by certain State functionaries, should work out and pay a portion fairly proportionate to the undue benefit that had accrued to him. The public protector produced a report arguing that the President had acted in breach of his constitutional obligations in terms of section 96 (2) (b) and (c) of the Constitution which refers to the conduct of Cabinet members and Deputy Ministers and states as follows: “(2) Members of the Cabinet and Deputy Ministers may not; 6 Section 182 South Africa Constitution