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Senior Reporter
THE trust managing the estate of the late Vice-President John Landa Nkomo has appealed at the Bulawayo High Court challenging the execution of a Mercedes Benz bus, which was attached by the Messenger of Court over $3,292 owed to 10 Astra Building Centre workers in salary arrears.
According to the notice of appeal filed through their lawyer Christopher Dube-Banda of Dube-Banda, Nzarayapenga and Partners, Estate Late John Landa Nkomo is challenging an execution order issued by Bulawayo magistrate Marylin Mutshina in September last year in favour of the workers.
Estate Late John Landa Nkomo, a trust set up to look after the late Vice President’s estate, is the appellant in the matter while the 10 workers were cited as respondents.
Astra Building Centre belongs to the family of the late VP who died in January 2013.
The writ of execution was served to the appellant in December last year by the Messenger of Court following a judgment against Astra Building Centre over the debt of $3,292, which the company owed to workers in salary arrears. This was pursuant to an arbitral award obtained by the workers in November 2013 for the payment by Astra Building Centre for the salary backlog.
Estate Late John Landa Nkomo in its grounds of appeal argued that the court a quo erred by holding that the late Vice-President Nkomo was the managing director of Astra Building Centre when there was no evidence to substantiate that assertion.
“There is no evidence before court that for all intents and purposes John Landa Nkomo was effectively a vehicle or instrumentality through which Astra Building Company carried out its operations. There is no evidence that the bus in question belongs to the company,” said Dube-Banda. He said the contention that relevant documentary evidence demonstrating that the vehicle belongs to Astra Building Centre was not correct.
“The best evidence placed before the court in the form of the vehicle registration book shows that the vehicle is registered in the name of the late Vice President.
“The court a quo erred by ignoring the corporate legal entity of Astra Building Centre by finding that the vehicle registered in the name of John Landa Nkomo belongs to such company.
Accordingly the appellant prays for an order setting aside the whole judgment of the court a quo and substituting it with the order that a Mercedes Benz, Jumbass Bus registration number ACE4671 be released from judicial attachment and be returned to the custody of the appellant,” said Dube-Banda.
The High Court is yet to set a date for the hearing of the matter.
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