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Fidelis Munyoro

The High Court has struck off the roll with costs an urgent application by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), seeking to prohibit employers including Government from compelling unvaccinated workers to stop reporting for duty.

The ZCTU, an umbrella body of 35 labour unions representing 189,000 people took Government and six companies to court for ordering workers to have the vaccine.

It emerged during the hearing that ZCTU application failed to meet the requirements of urgency, with Justice Emilia Muchawa, finding that the labour body failed to bring its application when the need to act timeously arose way back in July.

No reasonable explanation was given for the delay. To this end, Justice Muchawa threw out the ZCTU arguments and struck the matter of the roll of urgent matters.

“It is my finding that the applicant has not passed the test of justifying that its matter be allowed to jump the queue and be given preferential treatment ahead of other similar matters,” she said.

“The matter is accordingly struck off the roll of urgent matters with costs.”

ZCTU last month sued Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the Attorney General, ZIMNAT Insurance, the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), TelOne, Windmill, SEEDCO Zimbabwe and the Manicaland State University for allegedly barring unvaccinated workers from reporting for duty.

But the cited companies along with the Government challenged the suit arguing the ZCTU application was misplaced and successfully raised several objections to crush the labour body’s motion to have its case treated with urgency.