MORBIMAN INVESTMENTS (PVT) LTD

versus

HASHMON MATEMERA

HIGH COURT OF ZIMBABWE

DUBE J

HARARE, 31 May 2018 & 4 July 2018                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Trial

T. A Chamutsa, for the plaintiff

 A Muchandiona, for the defendant

            DUBE J: The plaintiff in the main claim issued summons claiming $17 224.00 from the defendant for transport services rendered to him. The defendant admits the plaintiff’s claim. The defendant counterclaims for maize lost during its transportation to a maize depot in the sum of

$32 128.00.What remains to be resolved is the counterclaim. In this counterclaim and for ease of reference, the plaintiff shall be referred to as the defendant and the defendant as the plaintiff.

          The brief background to the dispute is a follows. The defendant, represented by Innocent Chidakwa entered into a verbal contract with the plaintiff in terms of which the defendant agreed to transport the plaintiff’s maize from Dugan Farm in Karoi to the Karoi Grain Marketing Board Depot, the GMB. The plaintiff claims that in the course  of performing the contract, the defendant’s drivers, acting in the course and scope of their employment with the defendant  stole 82.380 tons of defendant’s maize valued at $32 128.00. The plaintiff claims the value of the stolen maize. The plaintiff has asked the court to set off the sum of $17 224.00 he owes to the defendant against the value of the maize he claims he lost, leaving a balance of $14 904.00.

The defendant defends the claim. It denies that it is liable to the plaintiff for theft of the maize.