High Court upholds US$12,820 unfair dismissal award against Dinson Colliery, clarifies NEC powers

The High Court has dismissed an appeal by Dinson Colliery (Private) Limited, confirming that a former employee is entitled to recover over US$12,800 awarded after he was found to have been unfairly dismissed.

In a judgment handed down on July 30, Justices Munamato Mutevedzi and Bongani Ndlovu upheld a Magistrates Court decision granting summary judgment in favour of former marketing officer Collina Muleya, whose total award amounts to US$12,820.62.

The amount comprises damages in lieu of reinstatement, outstanding wages, notice pay, leave pay, gratuity and underpaid wages.

The judges rejected Dinson Colliery’s argument that the designated agent of the National Employment Council for the Mining Industry lacked jurisdiction to determine Muleya’s unfair dismissal dispute because the Labour Amendment Act had allegedly abolished NECs.

“We stated earlier that contrary to the views of the appellant, the determination by the designated agent was valid. Once that conclusion is reached, it must follow that the appellant had no defence to the respondent’s claim.

Accordingly, the court a quo was within its rights to grant the application for summary judgment. There is no basis upon which we may interfere with that decision,” the judges ruled.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.

The High Court warned that interpreting the Labour Amendment Act as having abolished NECs would create widespread disruption in Zimbabwe’s labour dispute resolution system.

“It would mean a total obliteration of the employment councils’ system. Further, the ridiculousness would be apparent in that the interpretation would support a complete failure of a critical public system,” the judges said.

“By declaring all National Employment Councils ‘illegal’ or ‘defunct,’ overnight, the decisions of the Labour Court propelled the national collective bargaining and dispute resolution mechanisms into irreversible incapacitation.”

The court added that such an interpretation “would create havoc in employment places and deprive hundreds of employees of recourse in the event of labour disputes with their employers.”

The judges held that although the Labour Amendment Act repealed and replaced section 56 of the Labour Act, it did not abolish NECs but instead restructured them into mandatory statutory bodies.

They ruled that disputes already before NEC designated agents before the law came into force could still be lawfully concluded after the amendment because Parliament had not expressly intended to invalidate pending proceedings.

The court also acknowledged that workers have faced practical difficulties enforcing awards issued by NEC designated agents because there is no legislation allowing Magistrates Courts to register such awards directly.

“That state of helplessness resulted in the ingenuity of suing out summons to recover the awarded monies,” the judges said.

“Given that logjam, no one can blame a litigant for taking the course that the respondent followed in this case.

Muleya worked as a marketing officer for Dinson Colliery until his employment was terminated on January 31, 2022.

After challenging his dismissal through the National Employment Council for the Mining Industry, a designated agent ruled on August 16, 2023, that he had been unfairly dismissed and awarded him US$12,820.62.

Dinson unsuccessfully appealed to the Labour Court before taking the matter to the Supreme Court. However, the company withdrew that appeal in January 2025 with a tender of costs, leaving the NEC determination intact.

When the company still failed to pay, Muleya sued in the Magistrates’ Court to recover the money.

The court granted summary judgment in his favour, prompting Dinson Colliery’s unsuccessful appeal to the High Court.

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