Chidyausiku judgement challenged

Don Nyamande and Kingstone Donga former Zuva Petroleum employees whose case has triggered a flurry of job cuts have approached the Constitutional Court challenging the Supreme Court ruling that employers can terminate employment contracts by simply giving them three months' notice.

Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and four other judges handed down the judgment last Friday, which has seen companies dismissing workers en-massé.

The two submitted the Supreme Court acted beyond the jurisdiction granted to it in terms of Section 169 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe in basing its judgment on a matter not decided by the Labour Court.

Meanwhile, at least 1 000 workers from different companies were fired in one day yesterday with Zimasco reportedly showing 648 of its employees the exit door.

The mass job cuts are part of a scramble by companies to fire workers without benefits as they capitalize on last Friday's Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court, in a case involving Zuva Petroleum and two former managers, ruled that companies can give three months' notice to terminate workers' contracts even without benefits.

The ruling opened floodgates as several companies including Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of The Daily News, and Sakunda Logistics sent workers home.