2. THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL BASES FOR THE PROTECTION OF PRIVACY AND PREVENTION OF EITHER SURVEILLANCE AND OR INTERCEPTION OF COMMUNICATIONS 2.1. Section 57 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, supra is the constitutional basis for the protection of privacy; 2.2. The Constitution sets out a fairly high standard for the limitation of rights in general, applicable in equal measure to the right to privacy in the following terms: “The fundamental rights and freedoms set out in this Chapter may be limited only in terms of a law of general application and to the extent that the limitation is fair, reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society based on openness, justice, human dignity, equality and freedom taking into account all relevant factors including – (a) The nature of the right or freedom concerned; (b) The purpose of the limitation, in particular whether it is necessary in the interests of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, regional or town planning or the general public interest; (c) The nature or extent of the limitation; (d) The need to ensure that the enjoyment of rights and freedoms by any person does not prejudice the rights and freedoms of others; (e) The relationship between the limitation and its purpose, in particular whether it imposes greater restrictions on the right or freedom concerned than are necessary to achieve its purpose; and whether there are any less restrictive means of achieving the purpose of the limitation.”[4] 2.3. The right to privacy, like other rights except the right to life, human dignity, freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, freedom from slavery or servitude, fair trial and harbeus corpus, “may be further limited by a written law providing for measures to deal with situations arising during a period of public emergency, but only to the extent permitted by this section and the Second Schedule.” [5] 2.4. It is against the foregoing background that the State and other persons routinely engage in permissible invasion of the privacy of citizens by way of either surveillance and or interception of communications;