Journalists and other workers from Zimbabwe's state-owned publisher Zimpapers face eviction from company-owned flats after the Supreme Court ruled that their strike was unlawful, writes Torby Muturikwa.
About 43 former Zimpapers employees were dismissed in 2004, but were
expecting a favourable decision from the Supreme Court that would have
earned them re-instatement. While the case was still pending, the
sacked employees stayed on in the flats.
Zimpapers are the publishers of six state papers including the flagship daily – The Herald.
Zimpapers’ lawyer, James Muzangaza, said the workers should start
vacating the flats since they had lost their case in the Supreme Court.
In his ruling, Justice Chidyausiku said after carefully reading the
draft order and the arguments of the workers, he was convinced that no
case had been made for the court to nullify their dismissal.
"The collective job action was initially lawful as due notices of the
strike had been given. The respondent (Zimpapers) applied for and was
granted a show cause order in terms of which cessation of the strike
action was ordered and thus rendered the continued collective job
action unlawful."
He said despite the ruling by the Labour Court that the strike was
illegal, the workers continued with the collective job action.