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Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
ST FAITH’S High head and his deputy bounced back to assume control of the school after Mutare Civil Court dismissed an application in which the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland was bidding for an interdict and peace order against the pair.
Mutare magistrate, Mr Xavier Chipato on Monday dismissed the application by the church, and quashed a provisional order that the court had granted barring Messrs Arnold Makamba and Irvine Mudangwe from carrying out their official duties at the school, after the applicants failed to show up in court.
The applicants – Trustees of the Anglican Diocese of Manicaland and St Faith’s High School Development Committee (SDC) were represented by Mr Ashel Mutungura, of Mutungura and Partners.
The respondents, who sought to reclaim their positions at the school, were represented by Mr David Tandiri of Tandiri Law Chambers who was instructed by Mr Andrew Makoni, of Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni – both former students at the school.
“The applicants failed to turn up and their application was dismissed in default. The provisional order they had been granted was discharged. There is no case pending before the court, and whatever order they had been granted has fallen away. It means that the respondents are now free to visit and carry out their official duties at the school. We do not know why the applicants failed to show up,” said Mr Tandiri.
Mr Mutungura was not forthcoming when asked about the latest development.
“Who told you l was representing the applicants. Court processes are not publicised, you will catch up with what happens. No sane lawyers will tell you about their clients’ instructions,” he said.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Public Service Commission had taken an interest in the matter, in which the Anglican wanted the two transferred from the school over allegations of abuse of office and inciting riots that rocked the school recently.
The defendants, however, accused the church of overstepping its mandate to bar them from performing their duties arguing that it was not their employer and issues relating to their conditions of service – discipline, appointment, dismissal or transfer – were labour matters governed by the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01) as read with the Public Service Act (Chapter 16:04) and Public Services Regulations Statutory Instruments 1 of 2000.
They also denied instigating the riots, saying they were attending the Secretary’s Bell Merit Award in Rusape when the disturbances occurred.
“We have a right to be present at the school. We are substantive head and deputy head, respectively. If anything, it is the first applicant whose decisions are destabilising the school. If anyone must be reined in, it is the first applicant. It is the first applicant who must seriously examine himself to check if the decisions . . . are in the best interest of the school.”
Messrs Makamba and Mudangwe also accused the church of fraudulently citing the SDC as the second applicant in the matter.
SDC chairman, Dr Lovemore Chipunza, has since written a letter to the Clerk of Court, Law Society of Zimbabwe and the diocese, distancing the body from the matter.
The letter, which forms part of the two’s joint record, reads: “The SDC never made a resolution to support this application, nor was there an affidavit from it filed in support of the application. The St Faith’s High School SDC was fraudulently cited as the second respondent without its knowledge and consent. The SDC is not part of this application, and by way of this letter requests this court not to be misguided by whoever decided to cite it as a party to an application we are not in support of.”
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