Kadoma Municipality wins $1m labour case

KADOMA Municipality has won a High Court case to annul the registration of an arbitral award of close to $1 million in a labour dispute involving the local authority and its non- managerial workers.

The workers - through the efforts of the Zimbabwe Urban Council Workers’ Union ( ZUCWU)’ s Kadoma branch - had obtained a court order against the municipality in July 2014, for the registration of the arbitral award.

The award, issued by arbitrator S. Zimuto, compelled the municipality to pay non- managerial workers a wage increment of 40 percent across the board, backdated to August 2013.

However, the award did not state the number of workers entitled to receive the increment. It also did not state what each worker earned.

After the award, the ZUCWU went ahead to issue a writ of execution in April last year in the sum of $908 239.

Kadoma’s property was attached as a result.

However, t he municipalit y approached the High Court to set aside the award and the writ of exe- cution.

Judge President Justice George Chiweshe presided over the matter.

He duly nullified both the registration of the award and writ of execution.

The judge accepted the submission by Advocate Tawanda Zhuwarara, arguing for Kadoma Municipality, that the arbitral award was defective to warrant registration because it was “not sound in money”.

Adv Zhuwarara referred the judge to several of his judgments in previous cases, where he ruled that the High Court’s role in registering labour awards is restricted to awards that have a definite sum of money and are definitive.

Justice Chiweshe also agreed with Adv Zhuwarara’s assertion that the award did not state any amount, hence the writ that was almost a million dollars had no basis at law.

Adv Tazorora Musarurwa, who acted for ZUCWU, tried in vain to satisfy the court that the registration of the award was proper.

The court ultimately ruled that no valid writ could be issued, which gave a reprieve to the troubled municipality.