objections of all kinds and even tried at the eleventh hour, against all evidence to the contrary, to contend
before us that the Applicant had not exhausted domestic remedies through the failure of his legal advisers
to raise certain fundamental issues relating to the case before the High Court and the Supreme Court of the
Respondent, as indicated already, when in fact they had done so.
Moreover, the Respondent's learned Agent chose not to address those issues before us on the ground
that, in his view, it would be better to raise them first before the Supreme Court of the Respondent. We
consider that the stand taken by Counsel both pre-empted and pre-judged our decision on the issue of the
exhaustion of local remedies which, it must be stressed again, he had raised not in the defence of the
Respondent but in a supplementary affidavit which he sought belatedly to produce and which we refused to
admit, as indicated already.
We take the view that, if an objective observer were present at the proceedings of the Tribunal, he or she
would have come to the irresistible conclusion in the circumstances that no counter-arguments were
offered on behalf of the Respondent since the Respondent knew or ought to have known that it stood no
prospect of success; that the Respondent persisted all the same to pursue the matter regardless, instead of
coming to terms with the Applicant who has always been willing to compromise and come to an amicable
settlement with the Respondent, especially in the light of the formidable authorities produced before the
Tribunal on behalf of the Applicant, including the Mike Campbell v The Republic of Zimbabwe case, quoted
already, which had significantly decided the very same legal issues against the Respondent and in which
learned Agent for the Respondent had appeared.
For all the reasons given, we consequently make a costs order against the Respondent under Rule 78(2)
of the Rules. The costs are to be determined by the Registrar in case of disagreement between the parties.
Delivered in open court this 14th day of August 2009, at Windhoek in the Republic of Namibia.
......................................................................
H. E. Justice Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay
PRESIDENT
......................................................................
H. E. Justice Isaac Jamu Mtambo, SC
MEMBER
.......................................................................
H. E. Justice Dr. Luis Antonio Mondlane
MEMBER
.................................??...................................
H. E. Justice Dr. Rigoberto Kambovo
MEMBER
.......................................................................
H. E. Dr. Onkemetse B. Tshosa
MEMBER
1 Editor's note: The article to which reference is made here is Article 26 as it was before the entry into force
(in 1998) of Protocol No. 11 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms. Protocol No. 11 has changed Article 26 and the provisions of the latter are now
found in Article 35 of the European Convention
9