Former Natpharm boss’ bid to overturn dismissal hits snag

Nyore Madzianike

Senior Reporter

FORMER National Pharmaceutical Company of Zimbabwe (NatPharm) executive Zealous Nyabadza has suffered a setback after the Labour Court struck off his application seeking reinstatement, after noting that the matter was incompetent and advising him to pursue an appeal at the Supreme Court.

Judge Justice Godfrey Musariri found that Nyabadza had approached the court under the wrong legal provision and that there was no patent or obvious error in the order he sought to alter.

Nyabadza had approached the Labour Court seeking an alteration of an order that had rendered him jobless.

Justice Musariri noted that what was apparent was Nyabadza’s dissatisfaction with the impugned order rather than any legal defect.

“The application for alteration of court order be and is hereby struck off as incompetent,” ruled Justice Musariri.

“The applicant was not the defaulting party. Evidently, the application has been brought under the wrong provision and must be dismissed as incompetent.

“Further and in any event, there is no patent or obvious error as alleged.”

Justice Musariri said Nyabadza’s remedy lay with the Supreme Court in terms of Section 92F of the Labour Act.

Nyabadza, who was dismissed from NatPharm following findings of misconduct, had approached the Labour Court seeking reinstatement to his former positions of information technology manager, acting operations manager and acting managing director, or substantial damages instead of reinstatement.

Court papers show that Nyabadza wanted to be reinstated without loss of salary and benefits, arguing that his fixed-term contracts had been irregularly terminated.

If reinstatement was deemed impossible, Nyabadza sought damages that included a claim of US$586 376 in respect of the information technology manager post.

He also demanded ownership of a company vehicle allocated to him under registration number AEK 1508, as well as an order compelling NatPharm to purchase two brand new vehicles similar to the one under that registration within 10 days, or to pay US$71 000 per vehicle.

Nyabadza sought interest on all awarded amounts at the prescribed rate from the date of termination to the date of final payment, payment at an inflation-adjusted rate of 258 percent per annum as gazetted by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as of December 2, 2022.

NatPharm opposed the application, maintaining that Nyabadza’s dismissal was lawful and that the relief he was seeking could not be entertained under the procedure he had chosen.