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Mashudu Netsianda Senior Court Reporter
AN ex-National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) audit officer is locked in a protracted legal wrangle with his former employer over salary arrears for nine months.

Peter Mvemve, who served the NRZ for more than 29 years, filed summons at the Bulawayo High Court demanding the sum of $21,112,77 in parked salary, cash-in-lieu of leave and refund of fees.

Mvemve is the plaintiff in the matter while NRZ was cited as the defendant.

Mvemve, through his lawyers Dube-Banda, Nzarayapenga and Partners, said the NRZ had, despite acknowledging the debt, continuously failed or neglected to pay him his dues.

“On November 11, 2014, plaintiff wrote a memorandum to the NRZ human resources manager making a proposed payment plan he expected in liquidation of his salary arrears. In response, the human resources manager inscribed on the same memo not denying liability but put a counter-proposal which was not acceptable to plaintiff,” said Mvemve’s lawyers.

According to the court papers, upon being served with a letter of demand by Mvemve, NRZ’s human resources manager responded in a letter dated April 24, 2015 not denying indebtedness but simply explaining that his organisation was in financial challenges.

“Since the service of the letter of demand, the defendant has made some part payment whereon a balance of $21,112, 77 has remained outstanding despite demand,” said Mvemve in his summons.

He is demanding that NRZ pay the money with a five percent interest per annum calculated from January 31, 2015, being his last day of work to the date of full payment and cost of suit at attorney-client scale.

“Wherefore plaintiff claim against the defendant is for an order for the payment of $21,112,77 being balance outstanding parked salary, cash-in-lieu of leave and refund of leave with interest at a rate of five percent per annum,” said Mvemve’s lawyers.

In its opposing affidavit, NRZ’s legal services manager, Daniel Chikwaya, prayed for dismissal of the claim arguing that the provisional sentence summons were not founded on liquid documents or an unequivocal acknowledgment of the known debt sounding in money.

“Plaintiff has not attached in his summons a document bearing the signature of an authorised official of NRZ to signify acknowledgment by the defendant of being indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of $21,112,77,” said Chikwaya.

He further argued that the purported letters which were attached to the summons were not liquid documents in terms of Rule 20 of the High Court Rules because they did not show the exact amount owing.

“In terms of the High Court rules, I submit that plaintiff is not entitled to the relief sought as he does not meet the requirements set out in the rules for the granting of provisional sentence,” said Chikwaya.

After hearing arguments from the two parties’ lawyers, Justice Nokuthula Moyo, who presided over the matter, reserved judgment.

The struggling parastatal, which is teetering on the brink of collapse, has failed to pay its workers for the past 13 months.

The workers, who are owed thousands of dollars in unpaid transport allowances, in May staged nationwide protests aimed at forcing management to pay them their outstanding salaries.

The disgruntled workers recently staged a protest at the Bulawayo main station. The workers are also working on a petition to force the ouster of management and the directors whom they claimed to have “failed” them.

NRZ has been without a substantive general manager since the death of retired Air Commodore Mike Karakadzai in August 2013. The parastatal is struggling to attract investment from the private sector, a situation which has seen it failing to stem its ballooning salary debt.

NRZ’s salary arrears continue to increase as the organisation’s fortunes continue to take a knock due to a subdued market.