Zimpapers Logo

Fidelis Munyoro

Chief Court Reporter

An additional damages award of US$180 000 was awarded last week by the High Court to a Harare woman fired from her employment after complaining about persistent sexual harassment by her boss and whose health has been seriously affected by the level of harassment in 2002 and 2003.

Ms Rita Marque Mbatha had sought the awarding of a record US$500 000 in additional compensation through a default judgment against former Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) chief executive officer Mr Farai Bwatikona Zizhou and the CZI itself as a follow up to the US$40 800 award by the Supreme Court in 2019 after Ms Mbatha was unceremoniously dismissed from employment after refusing to succumb to Mr Zizhou’s sexual advances.

The CZI was then given a 30-day ultimatum to pay more US$40 800 compensation plus costs to Ms Mbatha.

In the present case, Ms Mbatha had filed an additional US$500 000 lawsuit against CZI and Mr Zizhou, saying his actions severely impacted on her marriage and her personal health, but neither defendant defended the claim, resulting in Ms Mbatha approaching the court seeking a default judgment.

She claimed she suffered pervasive sexual references, lewd and inappropriate conduct including alleged explicitly comments and texts about her in the hands of Mr Zizhou when she was employed as his personal assistant. Mr Zizhou has since been fired from his employment over his conduct.

Justice Joseph Mafusire granted the application for the default judgment by Ms Mbatha, but reduced the award to US$180 000, or the equivalent in local currency convertible at the inter-market bank rate at the time of payment.

To bolster her claim for damages, Ms Mbatha also filed an affidavit of evidence that has suffered psychological damage.

Among her pile of papers was a brief medical report which detailed that as a result of the sexual harassment, Ms Mbatha suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

Justice Mafusire in his judgment noted that no amount of money seems adequate enough to compensate her loss but that the court should not be seen to be paying lip service to values espoused in the Constitution on human dignity and integrity, hence compensation should be tangible.

“In this case, that the sexual harassment happened and must be compensated for the harm it has caused is the one aspect,” said Justice Mafusire.

“But there are some other aspects of the case that have to be taken into account in arriving at the quantum. The sexual harassment was persistent. There has never been an apology. One thinks it would have been quite salutary and a measure of atonement for the injured brain.”

Justice Mafusire noted that at the arbitration of the case, Mr Zizhou sought to dismiss his reprehensible conduct as mere jokes. Mr Zizhou was callous and he engineered Ms Mbatha’s dismissal from employment.

In his ruling, the judge also looked at the power balance and socio-economic dynamics between Ms Mbatha and Mr Zizhou, which he said were skewed given the fact that the latter was chief executive officer and her boss.

“When litigation commenced, it was intentionally stalled. It is now almost two decades since the incident happened. It is only thanks to her tenacity that the case has remained alive in the legal system. Undoubtedly, a measure of punitive damages is warranted.”