Online Reporter
Conrad Mupesa
Mashonaland West Bureau
THE Labour Court has upheld an arbitral award reinstating former Karoi Town Council acting town secretary Mr Tongai Namisala, ruling that the local authority’s disciplinary process was fatally defective after it violated mandatory statutory timelines.
The court found that Karoi Town Council breached the strict 14-working-day timeframe required for concluding disciplinary proceedings under Statutory Instrument 15 of 2006, thereby losing jurisdiction.
Justice Motion Jaravani ruled that the council not only allowed the matter to drag on for months — eventually concluding in April 2025 — but also improperly suspended Mr Namisala twice without reinstating him between suspensions, a procedural error that invalidated the entire process.
At the time of the disputed disciplinary proceedings, Mr Namisala was serving as director of financial services while also acting as town secretary.
He had been arrested on allegations of extortion involving over US$53 000, which he allegedly demanded from an engineer contracted to design the town’s master plan.
Following the arrest, the council initiated disciplinary action.
Mr Namisala was first suspended in a letter dated 12 October 2024, delivered three days later, but the council cancelled this suspension on 18 October.
On the same day, it issued a second suspension, which was delivered five days later.
Before the second suspension took effect, his lawyers had protested the seizure of his service vehicle, arguing he had only been suspended from the acting position — not from his substantive post as director of finance, for which the vehicle was contractually allocated.
A disciplinary hearing was set for November 8, 2024, but it did not proceed because Mr Namisala was absent.
His lawyer successfully applied for postponement and waived the requirement for the matter to be concluded within the 14-day statutory window.
The hearing was postponed to 21 November, then to 10 December 2024.
When Mutindi Bumhira Legal Practitioners later took over the case, they objected to continuation of the proceedings, arguing that the process had exceeded statutory timelines and that the second suspension was invalid.
The disciplinary authority dismissed the objections, and the matter continued through several postponements until its conclusion in April 2025. It convicted Mr Namisala on some of the charges and dismissed him from employment.
He then took the matter for arbitration, where the arbitrator nullified the disciplinary proceedings and ordered his reinstatement.
The Labour Court has now confirmed that ruling, directing that the council either reinstate him or, if that is no longer possible, pay damages.
Karoi Mayor Alderman Kudakwashe Chigumo said the council must now decide how to proceed.
“What I know is that the court ordered reinstatement. If reinstatement is not tenable, council must pay damages in lieu of reinstatement. Figures will only be known once council decides whether to reinstate him or part ways,” he said.
