Labour registrar shuts down employment council to cover corruption

Source: Labour registrar shuts down employment council to cover corruption – NewsDay Zimbabwe August 5, 2019

BY BLESSED MHLANGA

THE Registrar of Labour Grace Kanyayi has been taken to court after she unilaterally withdrew the certificate of registration for the National Employment Council (Nec) for Engineering and Iron and Steel Industry, to ostensibly cover up allegations of corruption raised against her.

On July 26, Kanyayi withdrew the registration certificate of the Nec, resulting in the collapse of service to members and a number of corruption cases pending in the courts.

The Nec was forced to approach the High Court on Friday through an urgent chamber application where its lawyers alleged that Kanyayi had revoked their certificate unjustly and illegally exposing nearly 15 000 workers to an uncertain future.

“The drastic purported deregistration and cancellation of the Nec was done by the Registrar of Labour (Kanyayi) in flagrant, wanton, brazen and clear breach of the law and violation of administrative justice guarded in terms of section 68 of the Constitution,” the lawyers’ submission read.

The lawyers alleged that Kanyayi was implicated in a forensic audit by the Nec where she illegally received money from former workers, who were fired by the applicant and her move was an attempt to save her skin.

“Kanyayi’s objectivity is tainted and clouded by the fact that she was fingered by a forensic audit report done by a Zimbabwean reputed firm of chartered accountants showing that Kanyayi wrongfully received some money from the applicant’s, purse, from the applicant’s former employees, who it appears she is now working in cahoots and connivance (to try) to protect such culprits pursuant to lawsuits instituted by the applicant to recover the looted public funds and other assets from its former secretary general,” the submission read.

In its papers, the Nec said Kanyayi’s action resulted in the suspension of medical aid services to workers, threatened the employment of 200 workers.

“The consequences of the patently unlawful deregistration of the applicant are too ghastly to contemplate as they lead to nearly 15 000 innocent employees, employed in the industry in which applicant creates collective bargaining agreements automatically, losing the legal right to collective bargaining and improvement of conditions of employment that include, but not limited to wages and salaries, owing to illegal actions of the respondent. Also nearly 6 000 innocent employees under applicant’s medical aid fund stand greatly prejudiced by automatically losing medical aid and livelihood as a result of the respondent’s wrongful, illegal, unjustified, self-serving, unjust and unfair decision to abruptly cancel applicants’ registration,” the submission reads.

The Nec wants the High Court to suspend the cancellation of its certificate and ensure that all its operations continue in the interim until a determination on the cancellation is heard and concluded.