BULAWAYO High Court judge, Justice Martin Makonese, has ordered Agriculture minister Joseph Made to unconditionally reinstate an accountant fired by his ministry in 2014.
BY SILAS NKALA
Godfrey Maoneke, who was employed as an accountant at the ministry’s Midlands provincial offices, had been fired on allegations of financial impropriety. He, however, contested the decision at the Labour Court, where the government was ordered to reinstate him without loss of salary and benefits.
He then approached the High Court to have the order confirmed, and Justice Makonese last week ruled in his favour.
“The first respondent is, hereby, ordered to reinstate the applicant without loss of salary and benefits. The respondent shall pay the costs of this application on a legal practitioner-client scale,” the ruling read in part.
Maoneke was discharged sometime June 2014 for misconduct after he allegedly withdrew money from the ministry’s provincial account to pay field officers in Gokwe North district, but allegedly diverted it.
In his appeal, Maoneke submitted that following the alleged misconduct, a disciplinary hearing was held to determine his discharge from work.
He said the disciplinary committee erred by making a determination to discharge him well out of time. He said he was charged on July 3, 2012 and the hearing was held on June 26, 2014.
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“The decision to discharge the applicant should be reversed on grounds that the committee had no jurisdiction to determine the case due to lapse of the stipulated timeline as per Public Service Regulations of 2000,” Maoneke submitted.
“The respondent has not availed any shred of evidence why they sat on their laurels after recommendations to commence disciplinary proceedings within a reasonable time. The disciplinary committee erred by concluding that the money was taken for personal use when there is no evidence as it was always the case that the money would be delivered to the districts at all convenient times if they were not able to visit the head office.”
He said he had an arrangment with an officer at the Gokwe station to collect the money over the weekend.
Maoneke had withdrawn the money (amount not stated in the papers) on June 18, 2012 and took it to his home on a Friday and paid it back on June 22 on a pay day and it was assumed that he had taken the money for personal use.
