Former MSU director case dismissed

A former director of the Graduate School of Business Leadership at Midlands State University (MSU), Mr. Alois Matongo, faced a legal setback in his attempt to claim US$160,000 in terminal benefits from the university. The Gweru provincial magistrate, Mr. Arnold Maburo, dismissed his case, citing that the Labour Court and the High Court had already dismissed it for lack of merit.

Mr. Matongo, who represented himself, sought an order from the magistrate court to compel MSU to pay his benefits following his dismissal over a decade ago. However, Mr. Maburo ruled that his court could not act as an appeal court to override decisions made by higher courts. He advised Mr. Matongo to appeal to the Supreme Court if he wished to continue pursuing the matter.

Mr. Matongo was dismissed in 2010 after an internal disciplinary hearing found him guilty of bringing the university into disrepute by authoring a document alleging corruption and misgovernance at MSU. This document was published by the Sunday News in 2009. Despite appealing to the university's appeals committee, his dismissal was upheld.

MSU, through its legal officer Mr. Shepherd Mafa, argued that the magistrate court lacked jurisdiction as the matter had already been adjudicated by superior courts. Mr. Mafa pointed out that any dissatisfaction with the Labour Court's decision should have been directed to the Supreme Court.

In 2016, Mr. Matongo was also interviewed during a forensic audit conducted by Deloitte, prompted by allegations of improper awarding of a pass mark for an MBA dissertation. As the director at the time, he was involved in the audit concerning this and other allegations.