Harare City Council (HCC) has paid $3 000 at the last minute to save its vehicle from being attached by the Sheriff of the High Court for sale for failing to pay compensation to a woman who sustained injuries after falling into an unmarked drain.
BY EVERSON MUSHAVA
The vehicle had been attached after several efforts to get the $3 000 awarded to Sihle Ncube (50) by High Court judge, Justice Davison Foroma were unsuccessful.
Ncube sustained a broken leg and bruises on both legs and face when she fell into an unmarked drain in Mbare in July 2016.
The failure by council to honour Justice Foroma’s ruling forced the sherriff to attach a Foton truck last Monday and gave council 48 hours to honour the debt or risk having the vehicle sold to pay off the victim.
“Council has now paid the money to the sheriff for onward transmission to the victim. They showed proof of payment last Wednesday at the expiry of the 48-hour ultimatum,” Kenias Shonhai, Ncube’s lawyer from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, said yesterday.
According to court papers, HCC, mayor, Bernard Manyenyeni and town clerk Josephine Ncube were cited as first, second and third respondents in a judgment on December 6, 2017 awarding $3 000 to Ncube that council was failing to honour.
“Judgment be and is, hereby, entered in favour of the plaintiff against all defendants, jointly and severally, the one paying the other(s) to be absolved in the sum of $3 000, being damages for medical expenses, loss of future income, shock, pain and suffering and transport costs as settlement of the said sum in full,” the ruling by Justice Foroma read.
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Council was also ordered to pay interest.
Shonhai wrote to council requesting them to honour the judgment debt, but nothing was paid towards the compensation, resulting in the attachment of the vehicle last week.
Shonhai, whose organisation has launched an anti-impunity campaign to assist victims of human rights violations to ensure that they receive justice while perpetrators are made accountable, said it was clear council was treating Ncube with contempt.
