admin
Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter
CHITUNGWIZA Municipality has been ordered to pay outstanding salaries and benefits to the tune of $110 000 to its former chamber secretary Ms Priccilar Vengesai.
The local authority must also transfer ownership of stand number 892 Borrowdale Brooke into Ms Vengesai’s name or pay her an equivalence of $220 500.
Labour Court judge Justice Betty Chidziva confirmed an earlier ruling by a labour officer Mr Faith Mupangani and ordered council to pay up the outstanding salaries and benefits.
“In view of the foregoing, it is this court’s view that there is merit in this application and orders as follows;
1. The ruling by the applicant (labour officer) Faith Mupangani dated 14th of September 2017 be and is hereby confirmed.
2. The respondent, Chitungwiza Municipality, be and is hereby ordered to pay or provide its former employee the following:
a) Net salary arrears amounting to $65 381
b) Cash in lieu of 75 days leave amounting to $21 750
c) School fees arrears for two children valued at $22 740
d) Stand number 892 Brook Villas, Borrowdale Brooke measuring 1 350 square metres or a cash equivalence of $220 000,” ruled Justice Chidziva.
The order, according to Justice Chidziva, should be complied with within 30 days.
Meanwhile, Ms Vengesai has approached the High Court with a chamber application for registration of the Labour Court order.
The High Court is yet to confirm the decision.
“Facts are that Ms Vengesai was employed by the local authority from January 2013 to August 2015 when her contract of employment was terminated.
During her employment, Ms Vengesai was entitled to a monthly gross salary of $10 125 plus a bonus of 40 percent of the monthly gross salary bi-annually.
She was also entitled to school fees allowance for her two children, annual leave days, a residential stand in a low density area and a regional holiday.
Council, according to calculations, owed Ms Vengesai a net salary of $65 381, $21 750 in leave days, and schools fees allowance amounting to $22 740. The promised residential stand was still to be given to her when the contract was terminated.
Chitungwiza Municipality is struggling to pay its workers and it is several months behind in terms of salary payments.
Poor human resources management has left the troubled municipality on the brink of collapse as aggrieved former workers’ lawsuits have inundated courts of law.
Hundreds of retrenched workers are also on the struggling municipality’s case, while over 15 000 home-seekers who paid millions of dollars in the Nyatsime housing programme are pressing to recover their monies from another angle.
Chitungwiza, which was last year swept clean by the Sheriff of the High Court over millions of dollars it owes a local engineering firm, was bailed out through a Presidential proclamation.
The council is spending thousands of dollars to defend cases of unfair labour practice.
Online Reporter