Nine Former Pioneer Coaches Workers Win High Court Damages Order Worth Over US$180,000

Nine former Pioneer Coaches (Pvt) Ltd workers have finally won an executable court order after registering a Labour Court award with the High Court. This means the Sheriff of the High Court can now seize the company’s assets if it fails to pay them.

The workers are represented by lawyer Moses Kavhumbura of Kavhumbura Law Chambers. They have been fighting the case since they were dismissed in 2020.

They obtained the order on 24 June 2026, after the High Court in Harare registered a Labour Court judgment that awarded them damages instead of reinstatement.

The nine workers are Joshua Chibuda, Stanley Mdege, Felias Mupindu, Denis Mafuwa, George Kanyera, Michael Kanovava, Isaac Nhemwa, Albert Mugogororo and Willie Saidi.

In a default judgment under case number HCH946/26, Justice Jacob Manzunzu ordered that Labour Court judgment LC/H/153/24, handed down by Justice Godfrey Musariri on 5 April 2024, be registered as a High Court order.

The court also ordered Pioneer Coaches to follow the certified payment calculations and pay the former workers within seven days.

The judgment says Joshua Chibuda should get US$20,914.62, Stanley Mdege US$21,421.40, Felias Mupindu US$19,836.04, Denis Mafuwa US$19,708.19, George Kanyera US$24,193.39, Michael Kanovava US$21,153.46, Isaac Nhemwa US$19,843.23, Albert Mugogororo US$20,915.05 and Willie Saidi US$16,736.42.

The company must also pay the legal costs on the attorney-client scale.

This ends a long legal fight that started after the workers were dismissed following disciplinary hearings they said were unfair and unlawful.

They challenged their dismissals at the Labour Court. In October 2022, the court cancelled the dismissals and told Pioneer Coaches to hold fresh disciplinary hearings within 30 days.

The transport company was given the choice to either take the workers back or pay damages, as agreed or set by the Labour Court.

But the workers went back to the Labour Court later, saying Pioneer Coaches had neither reinstated them nor paid damages. They also disputed the company’s claim that new hearings had been held.

Pioneer Coaches said it had invited the workers to new hearings, and they didn’t attend, so their dismissal was lawful.

In his ruling, Justice Musariri said the company relied on notices dated 10 November 2022 inviting the workers to hearings on 17 November 2022 in Harare.

The judge found the company had no proof the hearings actually took place – no minutes or termination letters.

So the court ordered that damages be worked out through the relevant National Employment Council.

The company appealed the Labour Court ruling at the Supreme Court. But the appeal was thrown out after Justices Chinembiri Bhunu, Samuel Kudya and Joseph Musakwa ruled the case had been abandoned and struck it off the roll.

Pioneer Coaches was also ordered to pay the costs of the appeal.

Even after the appeal was dismissed, the company allegedly didn’t pay. That forced the former workers to approach the High Court to register the Labour Court order so it could be enforced.

Now that the registration is done, the workers can legally instruct the Sheriff of the High Court to seize and sell the company’s assets if Pioneer Coaches doesn’t pay what the court ordered.

More: The Herald