ALEC KABICHI

versus

MINERALS MARKETING CORPORATION OF ZIMBABWE

HIGH COURT OF ZIMBABWE

CHAREWA J

HARARE, 28 November 2017 & 31 January 2018                          

Opposed Matter- Special Plea

Mr B Ngwenya, for the plaintiff

Mr M.G. Bumhira, for defendant

CHAREWA J: Plaintiff issued summons against the defendant claiming payment of 80% of the market value of a 3litre engine Chevrolet Trailblazer motor vehicle in lieu of an executive perk allegedly due to him consequent upon an employment relationship.

Defendant raised the special plea that this court had no jurisdiction as this claim was a labour issue.

I delivered an ex temporae judgment in which I upheld the special plea. The plaintiff having appealed my decision, hereunder are my written reasons for the judgment.

The facts

The plaintiff was employed by the defendant as an internal audit executive in 2008. He was subsequently retrenched in 2016. In terms of his contract of employment, he was entitled to purchase, after four years, the defendant’s vehicle allocated to him for his use, at a percentage of market value.

Accordingly, upon completion of the first four years of his employment, plaintiff purchased the vehicle allocated to him for his use, and was allocated a Toyota Fortuner Registration number ABF 6714 for use pending the purchase of a replacement vehicle. However, the replacement vehicle was never purchased such that the plaintiff continued to use the Toyota Fortuner until his retrenchment.

The Toyota Fortuner ought to have been sold to the plaintiff in May 2016 when it fell due for replacement, but defendant declined to sell it to him. Further, defendant did not provide