No to Dube’s $3m payout: PSMAS

HARARE – Premier Service Medical Aid Society says it will not pay its former group chief executive officer Dr Cuthbert Dube $3 million in backdated salaries awarded by an arbitrator, arguing that his contract had been terminated by the time of the arbitration process.

This comes as the public has expressed outrage over a ruling by arbitrator Mr Dumisani Nyoni ordering PSMAS to pay Dr Dube his salary of $230 000 a month backdated to January 2014, plus his full benefits.

In a judgment delivered last Thursday, Mr Nyoni ruled in favour of Dr Dube, awarding him $3 million and ordering his reinstatement.

In an appeal that seeks to suspend the arbitrator’s decision, PSMAS and PSMI — through their lawyer Mr James Chikobvu Muzangaza — said they should wait for determination of the dispute at the Labour Court.

In the case against PSMAS, Mr Muzangaza argued that the arbitrator erred in ordering that Dr Dube be paid his salary arrears at the rate of $138 000 a month, when there was no basis for such.

He argued that Mr Nyoni erred in finding that Dr Dube’s contract of employment subsisted as at the time of the arbitration proceedings, when all facts and circumstances as presented to him and as had been acknowledged by the parties at conciliation stage, showed without a doubt that the said contract had been terminated.

“Arbitrator erred in making an award that is tantamount to making a contract for the parties which neither he as arbitrator nor any court or tribunal can do,” argued Mr Muzangaza.

“Arbitrator erred and misdirected himself in taking into consideration, for purpose of this award, factual averments and legal submissions as made by respondent outside the agreed filing sequence.

“The sum of $92 000 applied in respect of the expired contract, and not in respect of the one that came into operation on 1st January 2014 and which was terminated in February 2014.”

With regards to PSMI, Mr Muzangaza argued that the arbitrator erred in making an order that is equivalent to the reinstatement of Dr Dube without making a provision for damages as an alternative in compliance with certain provisions of the Labour Act.

He argued that the matter for determination was supposed to be on the legality of Dr Dube’s termination of contract.

Mr Muzangaza attacked the arbitrator’s ruling, accusing him of reformatting the issues to suit his purposes, when he was not legally entitled to do so. The Herald