Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |179 marginalised a voice, and teeth that would bite corruption and abuse excruciatingly. And that is the public protector”. The court added further that “The purpose of the office of the public protector is therefore to help uproot prejudice, impropriety, abuse of power and corruption in State affairs, all spheres of government and State-controlled institutions. The public protector is a critical and indeed indispensable factor in the facilitation of good governance and keeping our constitutional democracy strong and vibrant.” Zimbabwe does not have an independent office of the public protector because it was repealed by the 2013 Constitution. Its functions have been incorporated into the ZHRC. This means that there is a gap in respect of a public office which is solely designed for the purposes of investigating allegations of corruption or abuse of powers by public officials on behalf of the public. Relevance of The Nkandla Judgment for Zimbabwe The Nkandla judgment draws many political, institutional and legislative parallels for Zimbabwe in respect of how to hold to account members of the executive for conduct that the constitution of Zimbabwe expressly prohibits them from doing. For example, the action taken by the National Assembly of South Africa to undermine the public protector’s recommendations also signifies a similar problem in Zimbabwe pertaining to majority politics where decisions are made to protect political and party interests rather than to ensure the adherence to the rule of law and the principles of transparency and accountability.40 Additionally, a point to consider is that whilst both countries appear to have similar constitutional 40 For example, the Local Government Bill which was pushed through both houses of Parliament in July 2016 and sent for presidential assents to become an Act of Parliament within twenty one days. Zanu-PF took advantage of the vulnerable MDC-T as Deputy Ministers, Ministers and the two Vice Presidents are the only ones who have constitutional powers to bring in bills which require support from treasury.