Wakilii

Jack v United Republic of Tanzania (Application No. 001-2019)

African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights · [2025] AfCHPR 34 · 2025 Application Struck Out AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights alleging violations of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights arising from criminal conviction and detention in Tanzania
Decision
Application struck out from the Court's cause list with liberty to apply for restoration upon showing good cause

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights struck out the application under Rule 65(1)(b) and (c) of its Rules where the applicant, having been released from detention following a presidential pardon, failed to pursue his case for over one year and seven months, and his counsel was unable to locate him despite numerous attempts. The Court held that under these circumstances the applicant was negligent in pursuing his application and it was no longer justified to continue with the examination of the matter.

Outcome

Application struck out from the Court's cause list with liberty to apply for restoration upon showing good cause

Facts

The applicant, a South African national, was arrested at Tunduma border in Tanzania on 18 November 2010 and charged with trafficking in narcotic drugs. On 7 June 2016, the High Court of Tanzania at Mbeya convicted him and sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment and a fine of TZS 3,119,760,000. His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed on 12 December 2018. He received a presidential pardon on 26 April 2021 but remained detained until 7 October 2023 pending payment of the fine. He filed an application before the African Court on 9 January 2019 alleging violations of the African Charter. After his release, his court-appointed counsel was unable to locate him despite numerous attempts. From 9 August 2023 to 3 April 2025, the applicant took no action to pursue his case. Counsel requested the Court to strike out the application for lack of instructions.

Issues

  1. Whether the application should be struck out where the applicant has failed to pursue his case within the time limit provided by the Court.
  2. Whether it is justified to continue with the examination of the application where the applicant's counsel has been unable to locate the applicant and has received no instructions to proceed.

Orders

  • Application No. 001/2019 - Vuyo Jack v. United Republic of Tanzania struck out from the cause list of the Court.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Striking Out — Failure to Prosecute — Duty of Diligence
Rule 65 of the Rules of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights requires parties to an application to pursue their case with diligence, and where parties implicitly or expressly indicate their lack of interest to do so, the Court is empowered to strike out the application from its cause list.
Civil Procedure — Striking Out — Discretion of Court — Circumstances Justifying Strike Out
The Court retains discretion to decide whether a particular application should be struck out where an applicant fails to pursue his case within the time limit provided by the Court or where it is no longer justified to continue with the examination of the application, subject to the circumstances of each case.
Civil Procedure — Striking Out — Restoration — Liberty to Apply
A decision to strike out an application does not prevent the applicant from applying for restoration of the matter to the Court's cause list by showing good cause, pursuant to Rule 65(3) of the Rules.

Legislation cited (15)

  • Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 22
  • Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 34(6)
  • Rules of Court Rule 9(2)
  • Rules of Court Rule 65(1)
  • Rules of Court Rule 65(1)(b)
  • Rules of Court Rule 65(1)(c)
  • Rules of Court Rule 65(3)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 1
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 3(1)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 3(2)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 5
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 7(1)(b)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 7(1)(d)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 27(1)
  • Drugs and Preventions of Illicit Traffic in Drugs Act Cap 95 RE 2002 s.16(b)(i)

Cases cited (6)

  • Andrew Ambrose Cheusi v United Republic of Tanzania (26 June 2020) 4 AfCLR 219
  • Ahmed Ally v United Republic of Tanzania (3 August 2021) 5 AfCLR 324
  • Abdallah Ally Kulkarni v United Republic of Tanzania (25 September 2020) 4 AfCLR 556
  • Magweiga Mahiri v United Republic of Tanzania (Application No. 029/2017)
  • Thomas Boni Yayi v Republic of Benin (Application No. 023/2019)
  • Mohamed Ali Abess v Republic of Tunisia (Application No. 026/2018)

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Jack v United Republic of Tanzania (Application No. 001-2019) [2025] AfCHPR 34 (9 October 2025)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.