Judgment No. CCZ 3/2016 3
Const. Application No. CCZ 123/13
subsequently applied to the High Court for review of the decision of the Minister to subdivide
Lot 1 of Manyewe Farm. She also sought a review of the decision of the Minister to withdraw
the offer letter in respect of Lot 1 without giving her notice of the administrative conduct. The
applicant withdrew the application for review of the Minister’s decision after the second
respondent opposed it on the ground that the application should have been made to the
Administrative Court.
Instead of lodging the application with the Administrative Court after its
withdrawal from the High Court, the applicant approached the Constitutional Court. She made
an application under s 85(1)(a) of the Constitution alleging that her rights under ss 68(1), 71(3)
and 291 of the Constitution had been and were being infringed by the administrative conduct of
the Minister. The administrative conduct alleged to have violated the applicant’s rights was the
decision to withdraw the offer letter relating to Lot 1 of Manyewe Farm without giving the
applicant notice of the intended action and affording her a reasonable opportunity to make
representation on the matter.
The application was opposed on four grounds. The first was that the application
was in the wrong forum as it should have been made to the Administrative Court. The second
ground was that s 291 of the Constitution is not part of Chapter 4 and did not enshrine a
fundamental right.
The contention was that s 291 did not guarantee to the applicant a
fundamental right the infringement of which entitled her to approach the Constitutional Court for
appropriate relief in terms of s 85(1)(a) of the Constitution.