Return top-of-the-range vehicle, High Court orders ex-NBA boss

Fidelis Munyoro

Chief Court Reporter

The High Court has ordered former National Biotechnology Authority (NBA) chief executive Mr Jonathan Mufandaedza to return a top-of-the-range vehicle and other items allocated to him during his employment and to pay the full cost of the civil court case, including the authority’s legal fees.

Mr Mufandaedza was fired over a range of allegations involving what the NBA considered as misuse of authority funds for personal reasons, although he was found not guilty last year when these matters of the civil level employment contract were elevated to 24 counts of criminal abuse of office and one count of fraud. But he stayed fired.

In this latest civil case, the authority had approached the High Court seeking to recover the vehicle and other property which, it argued, was in Mr Mufandaedza’s possession unlawfully, following the termination of his contract of employment in April 2019. After hearing arguments from both parties’ lawyers, Justice Webster Chinamora ruled in favour of the NBA.

Justice Chinamora dismissed Mr Mufandaedza’s defences to the application, saying they were clearly frivolous and simply meant to waste the court’s time. Mr Mufandaedza, said Justice Chinamora, only sought to flog a dead horse at the expense of the NBA and so had to fund this application. In this case, the judge hit hard on Mr Mufandaedza’s pocket by awarding costs of suit on an attorney and client scale.

“The respondent is ordered to return to the applicant the following property, namely: a vehicle, namely, Land Rover Discovery 6, registration number AEX 3353. All the property listed in Annexure “A” attached to this order.”

In the event Mr Mufandaedza fails to return the property, the Sheriff or his lawful agent would be authorised to remove the property from his custody or any person holding such property on his authority and surrender the property to the NBA.

Mr Mufandaedza was in March 2013, employed by NBA as chief executive officer on a fixed term contract of five years.

The contract provided him use of a company vehicle, a Land Rover Discovery 6 and other gadgets.

During the subsistence of the employment contract, ownership of the vehicle remained with the NBA, and at no point was it transferred to Mr Mufandaedza.

However, Mr Mufandaedza’s contract of employment was terminated following serious charges of misconduct amounting to abuse of office, including taking fuel in excess of his entitlement.

The alleged misconduct also included taking allowances for private trips to and from his children’s school in Masvingo, failing to account for foreign currency taken for foreign trips and other similar gross acts of misconduct.

After the termination of his contract, the NBA requested him to return the vehicle and other company property, but he refused.

It was on this basis that the NBA approached the High Court seeking the return of the vehicle plus other items.

If a former employee refuses to return a company’s property, the former employer is entitled to take legal action.

As the owner, like in the present case, the NBA could not be deprived of its property against its will. The authority was entitled to recover it without Mr Mufandaedza’s consent.

In order to succeed, the NBA had to merely to show it was the owner of the property and that the same was in the possession of the former employee at the time of commencement of the legal proceedings.

Mr Mufandaedza was last year acquitted of all 24 counts of criminal abuse of office and the single charge of fraud he was facing since his arrest in March 2021.

Mr Mufandaedza was accused of using the NBA funds for personal use, spending more than US$6 000 on a holiday in South Africa, and putting his gardener and housemaid on the NBA payroll among other charges, allegedly prejudicing the authority of thousands of United States dollars in unapproved expenditure.

He denied all charges and after a fully contested trial, he was found not guilty and acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Charges against Mr Mufandaedza covered a wide range of payments by the NBA, which he had allegedly authorised, with these payments largely benefiting himself.

In 2015, US$10 000 was allegedly paid out to him and three others over a biosafety report that was prepared by an NBA subordinate.

In December 2013, US$6 160 was allegedly paid for a holiday in South Africa although he was not entitled to holiday allowances. He also allegedly drew more than 28 000 litres of fuel which he was not entitled to.

Rents and rates were allegedly paid by the NBA, and a cleaner, gardener and two security guards on the NBA payroll were assigned to his leased property.

Other allegations include the purchase of cellphones, and hiring out of his buses to transport the NBA staff, as well as buying a Land Rover Discovery vehicle in 2018 without board approval.