THREE TM Supermarkets managers in Bulawayo have filed a complaint at the Labour Court against the chain store’s lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu accusing him of threatening to terminate their contracts for challenging management in a labour dispute. BY SILAS NKALA
Itayi Nkomo, Thembinkosi Nyathi and Khumbula Tshili were awarded $2 390 each by an arbitrator, but TM challenged the arbitrator’s decision.
The managers on January 23 2013 got an order from Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese, who ordered TM to pay the money, but the company immediately filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court seeking to reverse the arbitration award.
On May 20, 2015, Bulawayo Labour Court judge president Mercy Moya Matshanga reserved judgment in the case.
The trio claimed in a letter dated May 21 2015 that after the hearing Mpofu threatened that their employer would terminate their contracts for pursuing the labour dispute.
“He told us that our relationship with the employer is bad and also asked us if we were aware that there is a law which permits the employer to terminate our contracts of employment if the relationship is bad,” read the letter addressed to the Labour Court registrar.
“He also told us that currently that law is being challenged in court and once the outcome is out we will not last this year (2015) at work.
“The employer is definitely going to terminate our contracts of employment with TM because of the above matter like what happened recently at Meikles Department Stores.”
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“He further warned us that if we continue with our case which is pending in court we risk being sacked after three months’ notice.
“We were shocked to hear this from the learned advocate that the company does not want us to approach the courts when our rights are being violated.”
The wrangle started in 2009 when TM Supermarkets withheld the managers’ money after they refused to report for duty on Unity Day.
