restates Article 56(6) of the Charter, only requires an application to be filed
within “a reasonable time from the date local remedies were exhausted or
from the date set by the Court as being the commencement of the time limit
within which it shall be seised with the matter.”
39. The Court notes in this respect, that the reckoning of time within which to
assess reasonableness in filing the present Application should in principle
be the date when the Court of Appeal rendered its judgment on review that
is on 18 August 2017. However, in the instant case, the actual starting date
for computing the time is 29 March 2010, that is, when the Respondent State
filed its Declaration because that is when individuals could seise the Court
with claims against the Respondent State.
40. The Court also observes that the period between 2007 and 2013 constituted
the formative years of its operation. As the Court has previously held, during
the stated period, that members of the general public, let alone persons in
the situation of the Applicant in the present case, could not be presumed to
have had sufficient awareness of the existence of the Court.12
Consequently, the period to be assessed in the present case, is that
between 2013, when the public would not be expected to have become
aware of the Court and 2018, the year when this Application was filed, which
is a period of five years. The issue for consideration therefore, is whether
such a period of time is reasonable within the meaning of Article 56(6) of
the Charter.
41. The Court recalls its jurisprudence, that: “… the reasonableness of the
timeframe for seizure depends on the specific circumstances of the case
and should be determined on a case-by-case basis.”13 Some of the
circumstances that the Court has taken into consideration include: lack of
12 Sadick Marwa v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits and reparations) (2 December 2021) 5 AfCLR
728, § 52.
13 Norbert Zongo and Others v. Burkina Faso (merits) (24 June 2014), § 92. See also Alex Thomas v.
Tanzania (merits) (20 November 2015) 1 AfCLR 465, § 73.
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