THE fate of the 20 Air Zimbabwe vehicles which were attached by the Deputy Sheriff last year to offset former marketing manager Stephen Nhuta’s retrenchment package amounting to $141 790,82, still hangs in the balance after the Supreme Court reserved judgment on the matter yesterday.
CHARLES LAITON
Air Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited had appealed against High Court judge Justice Joseph Martin Mafusire’s ruling in which he dismissed the airliner’s urgent application which sought to stop the auctioning of the vehicles.
The vehicles in question were attached in October last year after Nhuta registered his arbitrary award as a court order and sought its execution.
According to the notice of attachment, the vehicles comprised eight Mazda 3s and four Mercedes Benz belonging to the top management, a Toyota Hilux Vigo, three Mazda B2500s, two Mazda BT50 trucks, a Mazda 626 and a Mazda B1800.
However, in April this year, when the Deputy Sheriff attached the vehicles and notified Air Zimbabwe of the impending auction, the latter approached the High Court on an urgent basis seeking to stop the sale.
Justice Mafusire, however, ruled that Air Zimbabwe’s application, which was brought under a certificate of urgency, could not be heard on an urgent basis, a decision that was challenged by the airliner on appeal.
Air Zimbabwe’s lawyer Advocate Lewis Uriri told the court which comprised Supreme Court judges of appeal, Justices Vernanda Ziyambi, Paddington Garwe and Bharat Patel, that the airliner’s vehicles could not be auctioned in view of certain provisions of the Finance Act, which protected the attachment and/or execution of Air Zimbabwe’s (Pvt) Limited assets.
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But Nhuta’s lawyer advocate Thabani Mpofu dismissed Air Zimbabwe’s assertions arguing the High Court’s decision was arrived at by the judge after taking into consideration all the material facts.
Mpofu urged the court to dismiss the appeal.
