John Tranos Matukutire v The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe

The applicant was a qualified pharmacist holding a valid practising certificate and operating pharmacies in Harare and Chinhoyi. On 7 August 2007, an inspector from the Medicines Control Authority visited the Chinhoyi Pharmacy and discovered it was open for business without a qualified supervising pharmacist present. The inspector ordered immediate temporary closure. Following communications between the parties, on 23 October 2007 the respondent notified applicant of its intention to cancel both his premises licence and person licence for failure to provide continuous personal supervision by a licensed person in contravention of s 55(1)(b) of the Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act. The applicant submitted written representations on 20 November 2007 and attended a meeting with respondent's committees on 20 February 2008. On 25 March 2008, the respondent confirmed its decision to cancel both licences and disqualify the applicant from applying for a person licence for 12 months. The applicant then sought review of this decision without first exhausting the statutory appeal remedy to the Administrative Court provided in s 62 of the Act.

• Whether the court should exercise its discretion to review a decision where the applicant has not exhausted available domestic remedies
• Whether the applicant showed good and sufficient reason for approaching the High Court directly rather than appealing to the Administrative Court as required by s 62 of the Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act
• Whether anticipated delays in the Administrative Court constitute good reason to bypass the statutory appeal process

The application was dismissed with costs. The court declined to exercise its review jurisdiction on the basis that the applicant had not exhausted the available domestic remedies (the statutory appeal to the Administrative Court under s 62 of the Act).

Where legislation provides for a statutory appeal remedy and an applicant seeks to approach the High Court for review without first exhausting that remedy, the court will not exercise its review jurisdiction unless the applicant demonstrates good and sufficient reason for failing to exhaust the domestic remedies. Anticipated delays based on a single past experience of delay in the appeal forum, which appear to be caused by temporary administrative problems rather than systemic issues, do not constitute good and sufficient reason to bypass the statutory appeal process. Where domestic remedies are capable of providing effective redress and the complaint essentially attacks the merits of an administrative decision, the applicant should exhaust such remedies before approaching the High Court.

The court made several non-binding observations: (1) The reason given by the Administrative Court for delays (lack of assessors) was 'flimsy and smacks of administrative inefficiency'; (2) The court noted in passing that the applicant's contention 'directly attacks the merits of the decision by the respondent' and was 'not a determination fit for review but one that is more appropriate to be determined in a full appeal hearing'; (3) The court indicated it would not need to deal with the other preliminary issue raised by respondent or the other arguments on the merits given its conclusion on the exhaustion of remedies point.

This case reinforces the principle in Zimbabwean administrative law that applicants must exhaust domestic remedies before approaching the High Court for review, unless good and sufficient reason is shown. It clarifies that anticipated delays based on isolated past experiences do not constitute good reason to bypass statutory appeal mechanisms, particularly where such delays appear to be temporary administrative problems rather than systemic issues. The judgment emphasizes that where a dispute concerns the merits of an administrative decision (such as interpretation of statutory provisions), the appropriate avenue is an appeal rather than judicial review. This case contributes to the jurisprudence on the proper relationship between judicial review and statutory appeal procedures in Zimbabwe.