HARARE, Jul. 22 (NewsDay Live) – Former City of Harare executive assistant to the town clerk Mathew Marara has successfully challenged his dismissal after the Labour Court set aside the disciplinary proceedings that led to his firing, ruling that he was denied a fair hearing.
Justice Bianca Makwande ordered that the disciplinary proceedings be conducted afresh before a different hearing authority and directed the City of Harare to pay Marara’s legal costs.
Marara, represented by Ephraim Ndlovu and Tendekai Mukawu of Ndlovu and Dube Legal Practice, had cited the City of Harare and disciplinary hearing authority Chennai Wilson Gumiro as respondents in an application for review.
He sought the setting aside of Gumiro’s decision, which found him guilty of misconduct and resulted in his dismissal.
Marara joined the City of Harare in September 2012 as monitoring and evaluation manager before being appointed executive assistant to the town clerk in December 2019 following a restructuring exercise approved by the full council.
He argued that the post was later graded at Grade 2 after an independent job evaluation adopted by council in August 2023 and that he served in the position until October 2024, receiving the corresponding salary.
Following the election of a new council in 2024, disputes arose over his grading and conduct.
In June 2025, the acting town clerk advised Marara that the 2023 job evaluation exercise had allegedly been conducted without complying with statutory procedures. Days later, the city informed him that the exercise had been nullified and that he would revert to Grade 4.
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In October 2025, the city declared the executive assistant post redundant and proposed the mutual termination of his employment with a severance package.
Marara rejected the proposal, lodging a grievance through his lawyers and later filing a complaint with the Commission of Inquiry investigating the affairs of the City of Harare, alleging victimisation.
He was suspended without pay on Nov. 24, 2025, and later charged with four counts of misconduct under Statutory Instrument 15 of 2006 and a separate count of absenteeism.
The city alleged that Marara had misled councillors into believing Local Government Board approval was unnecessary before appointing senior staff graded at Grades 2 and 3 under the 2023 job evaluation exercise.
He was also accused of facilitating appointments, including his own, without the required approval, causing financial prejudice to the city, improperly referring the job evaluation report to the National Employment Council, and sending threatening text messages to the mayor.
Disciplinary hearings scheduled from December 2025 were repeatedly postponed after Marara submitted specialist medical certificates indicating he was unwell.
The disciplinary tribunal later ordered him to undergo an independent medical examination by doctors appointed by the employer, but he did not attend.
When the hearing resumed on March 9, 2026, Marara again failed to appear, while his lawyer advised that he remained ill and that she was appearing in the High Court.
The tribunal proceeded in their absence, heard evidence from two witnesses and, on March 11, found him guilty before dismissing him with effect from the date of his suspension.
On review, Marara argued that the tribunal committed a gross irregularity by proceeding in his absence despite his documented illness and by admitting evidence from retired former council employee Phakamile Mabhena.
Justice Makwande found that the tribunal had previously accepted Marara’s specialist medical certificates as valid grounds for postponement but failed to properly assess his explanation before proceeding with the hearing.
“The tribunal had before it an uninterrupted history of medical certificates from a specialist doctor, all of which it had previously accepted as sufficient justification for postponing proceedings,” Makwande said.
“Against that background, the mere non-attendance of both the applicant and his legal practitioner on a single hearing date did not, without more, justify proceeding to determine charges carrying the ultimate sanction of dismissal in their complete absence.”
The judge said there was no evidence that Marara had deliberately abused the process or waived his right to be heard.
“Where credible medical evidence of incapacity exists and has not been displaced by cogent evidence to the contrary, fairness ordinarily requires that reasonable accommodation be afforded before the proceedings are finally determined,” Makwande said.
She ruled that Marara had been denied a fair opportunity to present his defence, describing the denial as a gross irregularity that rendered the disciplinary proceedings invalid.
The court set aside the dismissal, ordered that a fresh disciplinary hearing be conducted before a different hearing authority and awarded costs against the City of Harare.
