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RULING
[1] On 28 May, 2008, when the case of Mike Campbell (Pvt) Limited and
William Michael Campbell Versus The Republic of Zimbabwe (Case No. SADC (T)
2/07) was called on, counsel for the applicants moved to have this
application heard. The application was purportedly made pursuant to Article
30 of the Protocol on Tribunal and Rule 70 of the Rules of Procedure of SADC
Tribunal.
[2] We dismissed the application in open Court, after hearing arguments from
all counsel. We reserved our reasons for doing so. We now state those
reasons.
[3] As conceded by learned counsel for the applicants at the very outset of
the hearing, the application was in fact a prayer to file a proper
application in due course. We consider that counsel was right to make this
concession since the application was defective, especially in view of the
fact that no list of documents had been filed in support thereof in terms of
paragraph 3(e) of Rule 70.
[4] Even if we had been prepared to treat the application as having been
properly made, we would still have rejected it under paragraph 2 of Rule 70
since the applicants did not provide sufficient material to show that their
application was an exceptional one. Moreover, no good cause had been shown
by the applicants as to why they made their application so late, when the
case to which the application related, commenced way back in October, 2007.
[5] It will be recalled that on 11 December, 2007 a Ruling was given by the
Tribunal granting interim protection to the two applicants (Case No. SADC
(T) 2/07) and another Ruling was given by the Tribunal on 28 March, 2008 to
granting 77 applicants leave to intervene in the case (Cases No. SADC (T)
2/08, SADC (T) 3/08, SADC (T) 4/08) and SADC (T) 6/08).
[6] Furthermore, there is an additional reason for rejecting the application.
Paragraph 1 of Article 15 of the Protocol states as follows:
"The Tribunal shall have jurisdiction over disputes bet-ween States, and
bet-ween natural or legal persons and States ".
[7] Since the alleged dispute in the application is between persons, namely
the applicants, the first and second respondents and the fourth to eightieth
respondents and not between persons and the State, the Tribunal has no
jurisdiction to hear the application.
Made this 30th Day of May, 2008 at Windhoek in the Republic of Namibia.
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H. E Justice Dr Luis Antonio Mondlane
PRESIDENT
H. E Justice Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay
MEMBER
H. E Justice Isaac Jamu Mtambo
SC MEMBER
H. E Justice Dr Rigoberto Kambovo
MEMBER
H. E Justice Dr Onkemetse B. Tshosa
MEMBER |
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