Fired director asks city to give him $750 000 in damages or reinstate him

In a letter addressed to Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni, former Harare City Council finance director Mr Justin Mandizha has given the city an ultimatum to pay him a whopping $750 000 in damages or reinstate him with immediate effect. Mandizha was reportedly fired for failing to steer the city out of debt and not doing enough to reduce ballooning salary arrears.

Mandizha is citing  unlawful termination of contract and argues that he was fired without proper assessment or evaluation of his contract of employment. He further states that the termination is contrary to Section 4a of the Labour Amendment Act No. 5. He said that he should be reinstated to his position without loss of salary and benefits from the date of the unlawful termination failure of which he should be paid $760 000 damages and other benefits.

The city’s Human Resources Committee met and decided to cut short Mr Mandizha’s performance-based contract. Councillors who attended the meeting that led to Mandizha’s dismissal say there was a consensus among councillors that Mr Mandizha had not met any of his set targets.