A High Court judge has ordered the reinstatement of a prison officer after establishing that she was unfairly dismissed from service in 2019.
Rhoda Mawadze was the Rations officer-in-charge between August and December 2018 when some food items meant for prisoners went missing, reported ZimLive.
Mawadze was brought before a disciplinary committee chaired by Prisons Chief Superintendent Tawanda Chimika, which found her guilty of misappropriating inmates’ food stocks before recommending her dismissal.
She was unhappy with her dismissal and appealed through the High Court.
During the High Court hearing, it became clear that the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) accounting processes were in a bad state.
It was also established that responsibilities were haphazardly distributed among different members, making it wrong to blame a single individual for the mess.
Mawadze’s appeal was presided over by Justice Catherine Bachi-Muzawazi. The judge noted:
… there was a glaring revelation of shortfalls, loopholes and weaknesses in their bookkeeping, handover procedures, security, and unrestricted access to food stores were a clear illustration of maladministration or administration in-efficacy and inefficiency.
Justice Bachi-Muzawazi ruled that Mawadze was made a sacrificial lamb and ordered that she be reinstated without loss of salary from the time she was fired in 2019. Said the judge:
She (Mawadze) then became the target and victim of a report she had initiated.
Even the handover-takeover procedures were not observed from the time the applicant assumed the rations post to the time the offences were laid against her.
They should have taken the flaws that were highlighted in evidence as a learning curve and a chance to re-evaluate and improve the inefficiencies in the system instead of taking a defensive strategy of penalising the small fish who brought the whole inefficiencies and saga to light.
…The court found the administrative decision grossly irregular and accordingly, dismissed the point in limine and upheld the applicant’s claim in terms of the draft order sought.
Resultantly, it is ordered that the decision handed down by the first respondent on 12 May 2019 be and is hereby quashed and set aside.
The applicant be and is hereby immediately reinstated to her employment without loss of salary.
Prisons Chief Superintendent Tawanda Chimika, Commissioner General ZPCS Moses Chihobvu and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe were cited as respondents.