Conductor reinstated

On January 3, 2011 Farai Marembo was working on a bus from Harare to Chiredzi. He allowed a passenger who did not have the fare to board the bus on condition that she surrendered her identity card to him as security that the fare would be paid in Chiredzi. There was also another passenger who did not pay his fare because he was asleep when Marembo went about ask­ing the passengers to pay.

When the inspector came, the two passengers were found without tickets. Marembo was subsequently charged of gross neg­ligence, found guilty and dismissed from work.
His appeal at the workplace did not succeed and he sought recourse at the Labour Court.  He argued that this was not a case of gross negligence and there was no loss suffered as the passengers later paid.

On the payment of fares upon arrival, Marembo said it had been done before on authority. In response, Kukura Kurerwa said they operated on a cash basis and did not hold passengers’ property as collat­eral. Management alleged that the gross negligence was in the sense that up to the time the two passengers had not paid their fares, they were not bona fide passengers.

Labour Court president Mr Custom Kachambwa said a case of neg­ligence looked far fetched in the matter.
“The charge of gross negligence is not defined in the company’s relevant Code of Conduct. The conduct that is defined is negligence.”