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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A DRIVER at the affluent Victoria Falls primary school has been dismissed from work for gross negligence after he was ticketed by traffic police for speeding while carrying pupils.
Police fined Eric Chingwaru $10 for driving at 88km per hour in an 80km per hour zone, about 70km from Bulawayo in 2012.
School authorities fired Chingwaru for gross negligence.
The matter has spilled to the Labour Court after Chingwaru successfully challenged his dismissal with the National Employment Council (NEC).
Bulawayo Labour Judge president Mercy Moya-Matshanga, who is on circuit in Hwange, heard the matter on Thursday.
The school is seeking the Labour Court’s condonation for late notice of application for rescission of judgment by NEC which overturned its decision.
The Labour Court judge reserved judgment to a later date.
Particulars of the case are that on September 11, 2012, Chingwaru was driving pupils and staff from the school to Bulawayo for a swimming gala at Carmel Primary School.
“He said in his founding affidavit: “We left the school at 6.05AM and stopped for five minutes at Halfway. We arrived at Carmel Primary School at 12.36PM but earlier while we were about 70km from Bulawayo, there was a lot of traffic coming from the opposite direction and I slowed down.
“I concentrated on keeping my vehicle to the left and after the traffic jam, I increased speed but I was stopped by traffic cops who said I was driving at an excessive speed as I was travelling at 88km per hour on an 80km/hour stretch. I apologised and was fined $10 for the offence which I paid from my pocket,” said Chingwaru.
He said the school charged him with gross negligence in performing duties on December 14, 2012.
“On November 19 after coming from a Grade Four environmental trip, I was served with a suspension notice saying they wanted to institute investigations into allegations of misconduct for breaking the speed limit on a school trip until further notice,” said Chingwaru through a lawyer from Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
On December 18, there was a hearing where there were two board members and two workers’ committee members which resulted in Chingwaru’s dismissal.
The disciplinary hearing determination was that Chingwaru as a school driver was guilty of breaking a speed limit while driving the school bus and therefore putting lives of passengers at risk and the penalty was a dismissal.
Unhappy with the judgment, Chingwaru appealed against the matter at the NEC.
He argued that the school being the appellant has no institutional policy on speeding and relied on the Road Traffic Act which however, classifies the offence as a minor one.
“I didn’t dispute the fact that I was caught driving at 88km in an 80km/hour zone but one wonders why such a minor offence is taken as gross.
Also in terms of the NEC code there is no mention of speed,” said Chingwaru in his founding affidavit.
The NEC ruled in his favour but the school appealed to the Labour Court seeking a recession of judgement.
In its submissions, the affluent school represented by Shepherd Chamunorwa of Calderwood, Bryce Hendrie and Partners, argued that the NEC had erred in siding with Chingwaru since he had admitted to the case.
“The respondent was a driver and he is charged with gross negligence in that while carrying school children and staff, he drove at a speed in excess of the one permitted by law and was fined $10.
“The NEC appeals committee considered whether the offence was appropriate and found that it was not. In that regard it erred because the respondent had pleaded guilty, thus admitting to gross negligence.
The NEC should have considered whether the penalty of dismissal was warranted,” said the school.
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