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Prosper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
ZIMPAPERS chief executive officer Mr Justin Mutasa yesterday dismissed as false reports that part of the company’s property had been attached in a litigation case involving one of its former workers as reported in some sections of the media. There have been reports that property worth $35 571 was attached by the Deputy Sheriff over a case involving the company’s former driver,  Jonathan Madimba, who was dismissed for violating the company’s code of conduct last year.

Last month, the High Court in Bulawayo granted the Deputy Sheriff a Writ of Execution Case Number HC 1537/13, which was, however, cancelled by Justice Lawrence Kamocha on Wednesday.

The Deputy Sheriff had visited the company premises on Thursday last week seeking to attach property but could not do so.
In the interim order, Justice Kamocha restrained the Deputy Sheriff from effecting the Writ of Execution obtained by Madimba.

“The Writ of Execution issued by this Honourable Court in Case Number HC 1537/13 be and is hereby declared to be null and void and of no effect whatsoever,” ruled Justice Kamocha.

“The attachment made by the Deputy Sheriff on 1 August of the applicant’s property pursuant of such Writ be and is hereby nullified. The respondent pays the cost of this application on an attorney–client scale.”

In an interview from Harare, Mr Mutasa said the reports on the case were grossly misleading and should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve.

“No Zimpapers property has been attached. If the newspaper was ethical they should have checked with us before writing that rubbish. That driver had no basis for such a fictitious award. We dismiss that article with the contempt it deserves. This guy remains dismissed as per the code of conduct of Zimpapers,” said Mr Mutasa.
Zimpapers’ corporate legal service manager Mrs Daphine Tomana said she was aware of the case but said no property was attached.

“We challenged the arbitration award and the High Court suspended it. No property has been removed,” said Mrs Tomana.
Mr Job Sibanda of Job Sibanda and Associates who is representing Zimpapers in the case said the decision made by the arbitrator was legally wrong.

“The order made by the arbitrator was wrong at law because the Labour Court had two weeks to quantify the claim. After receiving the order we successfully applied to set aside the arbitration award but Madimba went ahead and defied the court order,” said Mr Sibanda.

“We have now obtained an order from the High Court staying further execution and that means Madimba cannot execute the order. He should have pursued finalisation of his labour case first and what it means now is that the order to remove property is null and void.”

According to records from the company’s human resources department, Madimba was initially charged for negligent loss of $686 company money, which he was ordered to restitute and given a final written warning.

The company’s Head Office upheld the decision of the disciplinary committee and advised that Madimba be transferred to a different department where he was not going to be involved in handling cash.

Upon receiving the notice he applied for sick leave on 22 February. On 25 February he submitted another application for sick leave that expired on 18 March after which he submitted another sick notice that was valid up to 31 May.

Essentially he was off sick between 22 February and 31 May.
While purporting to be sick, in April the company received information that Madimba was working at Falcon College in Esigodini, which in itself is an offence of repudiation of contract under Labour Laws.

Investigations were made and authorities at Falcon College confirmed that Madimba had signed a contract with them starting from 1 March 2012, the time he was expected to be off sick.

On being questioned about the issue, Madimba produced a backdated resignation letter, which he claimed was induced by constructive dismissal.
During this time Madimba despite misrepresenting things was still benefiting from the company’s medical aid scheme.

The purported resignation letter was submitted on 20 April.
At Falcon College Madimba worked for three months on probation and when his contract was terminated he sought recourse at the National Employment Council (NEC) for the welfare and education sector and the matter went for conciliation.

An arbitrator awarded Madimba $9 805 and Falcon College Trust made an urgent chamber application for stay of execution of the arbitrary award. The matter is yet to be heard in court.

It was at that time that Madimba took the matter involving Zimpapers to the Labour Court for conciliation where a certificate of no settlement was issued and the matter was referred to the arbitrator, Mr P Chenyika who ruled in his favour on 28 December 2012.

Zimpapers then applied for the stay of execution and an order was granted by the Labour Court President Mr Selo Nare on 6 May 2013, pending the finalisation of an appeal noted by the applicant in case number LC/MT/04/13.

However, Mr Chenyika ignored the court order and proceeded with the quantification of damages on 20 May, which were served to Zimpapers  on 7 June.
In response Zimpapers wrote to Mr Chenyika on 12 June urging him to recede his decision and abide by the law but he did not respond and instead proceeded to seek the right of execution on 30 July from the High Court, which he got.

The company then made an urgent chamber application to the High Court, which resulted in Justice Kamocha nullifying the order.
Initially Madimba demanded $27 000 and the figure increased to $56 000 and then to $83 000.