AUGUSTINE M. TIRIVANGANA

v

THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

SUPREME COURT OF ZIMBABWE

GARWE JA, GOWORA JA & OMERJEE AJA

HARARE, MAY 29, 2012 & JUNE 17, 2013

Ms F Mahere, for the appellant

L Uriri, for the respondent

GOWORA JA: This is an appeal against the judgment of the Labour Court upholding an appeal against an arbitral award. The background to the appeal is as follows. The appellant was employed by the University of Zimbabwe (“the University”) as a full time lecturer in the department of Rural and Urban Planning. It is common cause that sometime in October 2008 the appellant stopped reporting for duty. In November 2008 he was removed from the pay sheet and his salary was stopped. In December of the same year a firm of legal practitioners purporting to act on his behalf addressed a letter to the respondent in which they challenged the latter’s intention to evict the appellant’s family from the accommodation afforded to the appellant by the respondent. Ultimately the appellant’s family was evicted.  An invitation was sent to the appellant to physically avail himself to the respondent’s offices by 6 February 2009. The appellant did not attend as requested.