Online Reporter
Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Writer
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of former Gateway Stream accommodation channel manager, Tanyaradzwa Freddy Govati, against his dismissal by Rainbow Tourism Group Limited.
The judgment upheld the decisions of the Labour Court and internal disciplinary processes that found him guilty of gross misconduct.
The matter arose from two incidents. In the first, Govati failed to complete a booking for Feedmix, a corporate client and left without a proper handover.
The incomplete booking, compounded by his submission of an expired tax clearance certificate, left the client’s delegates stranded.
In the second, he facilitated a booking for the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, a legacy debtor with outstanding payments, contrary to company policy.
Justice Samuel Kudya, delivering the unanimous judgment, rejected Govati’s claims of procedural unfairness and factual misalignment in his convictions. On the Feedmix matter, the court found that his failure to hand over the booking directly resulted in its non-completion.
The submission of the expired tax certificate further incapacitated the client from making payment.
On the Ministry issue, the court found that Govati deliberately ignored a standing instruction to refer large group traditional clients to key account managers.
His facilitation of the booking breached this policy and led to an incident where the Ministry’s delegates were initially denied check-in due to unresolved legacy debts.
The court upheld the penalty of dismissal, finding that Govati’s actions went to the root of his employment contract.
“The Court is satisfied that the appellant failed to establish that his conduct was trivial, inadvertent, or excusable,” stated Justice Kudya.
The court dismissed Govati’s appeal and ordered him to pay costs.
