Court rules retrenchees get vehicles for free

the company’s challenge for the workers to pay for the vehicles in United States dollars. The 23, who were being represented by Harare lawyers Mr Simon Mupindu and Ms Evelyn Mutsvangwa, got their Mazda pickup trucks and Mazda Familia last week in execution of a Supreme Court ruling that put to an end the long-drawn dispute.
Justice Paddington Garwe ruled in favour of the 23 and threw out an appeal by Unifreight in which they insisted that United States dollars should be paid for the vehicles in question.
Mr Mupindu yesterday confirmed that most of the retrenches had since collected their vehicles from Unifreight premises where they had been parked for years.
“My clients are now in possession of their vehicles that were parked at the company premises in fulfillment of the Supreme Court order.
“They have been collecting the vehicles since last week when the order was made,” he said.
Unifreight retrenched the 23 in 2008 and monetary packages were paid in Zimbabwean dollars, which were being used that time. As part of the package, the workers got permission to buy the houses they occupied as well as the vehicles they were using at book value.
A dispute arose concerning the valuation of the houses and the vehicles in question resulting in the company holding on to the property.
As time went on, the houses’ dispute was resolved leaving the vehicle valuation the only sticky issue.
The parties took the matter for arbitration where the arbitrator ruled in favour of the workers and ordered the company to release the vehicles to them at no cost.
The arbitrator considered that the deal was concluded during the Zimbabwean dollars era and that a number of zeros had been removed from the figures.
Unifreight contested the decision at the Labour Court where it was held that the arbitrator was correct and that the retrenches should get the vehicles for free. That prompted the company to approach the Supreme Court with an appeal that was recently dismissed.