4 | Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal the State to show that ZEC is an institution of the State and is therefore bound by the right of access to information. In Part III, the paper discusses the scope and meaning of this right in order to show that it includes the right of the citizens to access the national voters’ roll. The paper discusses the two possible constitutional grounds, within the scope of the right of access to information, upon which citizens can claim access to the national voters’ roll. It is argued that the right to a free and fair election, as opposed to the right to participate in a free and fair election, includes the right to know that the elections will be or have been free and fair and that right can only be exercised if one has access to the national voters’ roll. Reference will be made to existing literature on access to information as a human right. The paper also refers to comparative foreign law because a wide or elaborate right of access to information is still a new right in Zimbabwe12 and the local courts are yet to develop adequate jurisprudence in this area. Reference to relevant foreign law is permitted by the Constitution.13 Much of the foreign case law referred to in this paper is drawn from the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the Supreme Court of Kenya because both countries can be regarded as comparable jurisdictions in relation to Zimbabwe. The Constitution of South Africa14 and that of Kenya15 provide for the right to access information in a context where transparency, accountability and free and fair elections are entrenched as constitutional values. In Zimbabwe, constitutional rights are to be interpreted in a manner which upholds, The right of access to information was an implied right under the auspice of the right to freedom of expression enshrined in s 20 of the former Constitution of Zimbabwe, 1979. However the scope of the right was not as widely formulated as it exists in section 62 of the current Constitution. 13 Section 46 (1) (e provides that, ‘when interpreting this Chapter [the Declaration of Rights], a court, tribunal, forum or body may consider relevant foreign law.’ 14 1996 s 32 15 2010 s 35 12