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Daniel Nemukuyu Senior Court Reporter
Government has appealed to the Supreme Court against a judgment compelling it to pay 18 college lecturers outstanding relocation expenses to the tune of $5,3 million.
The lecturers, from Bondolfi, Mkoba and Masvingo teachers’ colleges, got an arbitrary award after clashing with the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Dr Washington Mbizvo, in 2012.
They were unilaterally transferred in 2012 after participating in a six-day strike for better salaries and working conditions, but successfully challenged their transfers with Government being ordered to meet relocation expenses.
Government, represented by Dr Mbizvo, allegedly ignored the order.
The employer late last year tried to suspend the Labour Court order, but the bid failed as the same court ruled that Government was approaching it “with dirty hands”.
The court ruled that Government was seeking a stay of execution of the judgment from the same court whose orders it had ignored.
Last week, Mr Caleb Mucheche of Matsikidze and Mucheche took over the case and filed an appeal at the Supreme Court on behalf of Government.
In the notice of appeal, the permanent secretary argued that the court failed to appreciate that the transfer was an appropriate penalty for the striking lecturers.
“The Labour Court erred on a question of law by making a finding that the respondents’ right to be heard had been violated and failing to make a finding that the transfers were an appropriate penalty befitting the misconduct committed by the second to nineteenth respondents (lectures),” reads the notice.
Government argued that the transfers in question were not ordinary, hence no relocation expenses should be paid.
“The court erred on a question of law by holding that the appellant ought to have consulted the respondents and give them a notice period in terms of Section 5 (c) (iv) of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education HIV and AIDS at the Workplace Policy and Section 13(2) of the Public Service Commission Regulations whereas the transfers in the matter were not ordinary transfers but penal ones flowing from due process of law for misconduct,” the notice reads.
The money includes all the expenses the lecturers incurred for the more than 300 days they were unilaterally transferred.
The relocation expenses, that cover breakfast, lunch, dinner and supplementary allowances, were calculated in terms of the travelling and subsistence rates of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology.
Initially, Government was ordered to pay each lecturer a minimum of $10 500 but this did not happen and the figure has ballooned to $297 000, including interest, per lecturer.
After the industrial action, Dr Mbizvo conducted hearings for more than 300 lecturers who participated in the strike, resulting in some being fined while others were warned.
Government had argued that disciplinary order had already been enforced and different penalties were imposed because each party of the applicants was facing different charges and aggravating circumstances.
Labour Court senior president Ms Betty Chidziva ruled that civil servants were entitled to be consulted before transfer and should have been granted sufficient notice period.
She said in Section 5c (iv) of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education HIV and Aids at the Workplace Policy, it was held that the need to “foster the family will, for example, transfer of members, should be planned well in advance to prevent prolonged separation of families”.
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