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Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
The Constitutional Court has referred back to the Labour Court Masvingo City Council’s $3,5 million labour dispute after granting the local authority the right to be heard.

Council lawyer Patience Chirongoma of Chihambakwe Legal Practitioners said the three year-old matter will be heard at the Labour Court after a series of default judgments were made against council.

The dispute saw about 100 vehicles and other movable property being attached by the Deputy Sheriff following the registering of the $3,5 million arbitration award at the High Court by the workers.

“The matter for our client, Masvingo City Council where workers have won a default judgment and were awarded $3,5 million in outstanding salaries has been referred back to the Labour Court. We applied to the Constitutional Court seeking an opportunity to be heard and it was granted,” said Chirongoma.

She said the new development means the auctioning of attached property will be stalled indefinitely until the matter is heard before the Labour Court.

She said the workers have been winning the case through default judgments as the plaintiff either did not attend the case or showed up for hearings late.

“The verdict appears as if council doesn’t have the grounds to defend themselves yet the truth is they have not been given the chance to be heard. This is why we went to the Constitutional Court for our client’s side of the story to be also heard,” she said.

Council and its workers are locked in a dispute over outstanding salary increment backdated 2009 where the management is accused of having awarded themselves hefty salary adjustments while excluding juniors.

Town Clerk Adolf Gusha confirmed the new development and said the matter had been handled unfairly and this will present them with a chance to be heard.

“We’re happy that the matter has been referred back to where it started. Our lawyers have already prepared submissions on our behalf and at last we have a reprieve,” said Gusha.

He said default judgments are never fair as the court sometimes does not consider the reasons for not attending court but they had to abide by the court order to let council vehicles attached.