Centre News Hub
Harare-The Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Mine Workers Union (ZDAMWU) has appealed against a High court ruling declining them the right to institute corporate rescue against the struggling mining giant, Rio Zimbabwe Private Limited, which is failing to pay workers and service providers.
In 2025 ZDAMWWU together with two employees, who are Union members, Precious Mwanza and Owen Kapeta, instituted corporate rescue proceedings against the company, RioZim (Private) Limited before the High Court of Zimbabwe citing that the company was no longer viable and failing to meet its obligations to workers and stakeholders.
The applicants applied for corporate rescue citing that the Union was and is still owed statutory deductions by the company, therefore they are a creditor, and therefore have a vested interest in protecting the viability of the company.
Workers were owed salaries in excess of 8 months, a situation that was affecting the livelihood of the workers, the union members and the community the company operates in.
RioZim allegedly owed several strategic service providers like ZESA and also important bodies like MIPF and NSSA posing a threat to workers’ pensions, medical aid and funeral covers due to non-remittance of deductions by the company.
ZDAMWU said the application instituted by the applicants had very good merits.
In the matter which was set down before the High Court, the Judge as alleged by ZDAMWU did not deal with the merits of the corporate rescue application, but decided the matter on a technicality that the Union and its members, that is the applicants to the application for corporate rescue had no locus standi, that is the legal capacity to issue out an application of this nature.
“The Union and its members could and did not agree with the High Court judgment mainly because the judgment was not in the spirit of corporate rescue proceedings, which proceedings amongst other things seek to secure and balance the competing interests of creditors, shareholders and employees, envisages a shift away from having regard to creditors’ interests only and is predicated on the belief that to preserve a business, the experience and skills of employees might in the end prove to be a better option for creditors.” said ZDAMWU, Secretary General, Justice Chinhema.
Under Zimbabwean law corporate rescue proceedings seek to revive financially distressed companies in a friendly manner as opposed to liquidation as this enables creditors to secure a better recovery of their debts from debtors.
The union and its members have since appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the High Court reasoned that ZDAMWU is not a union that represents workers at RioZim, yet there is clear evidence to show that indeed ZDAMWU has members and it represents workers at RioZim. It further argues that ZDAMWU is a registered trade union for the mining industry while RioZim is a company operating in the Mining Industry.
ZDAMWU remained adamant that employees who applied for corporate rescue were owed salaries, and they are still owed, hence they were creditors, and creditors have locus standi to institute corporate rescue proceedings.
“The Union is owed Union dues, and therefore is a creditor as per provisions of the Insolvency act, and therefore has capacity to institute cooperate rescue proceedings to conclude that the Union is a “busy body “by the Honourable High Court, was in respect a misdirection. It is the mandate of Unions who have members at any establishments to protect the interests and rights of its members.” said ZDAMWU.
ZDAMWU said they shall continue to fight for the interests and rights of their members and debunk the narrative that unions are “busy bodies”, yet the Labour Act is very clear on trade union rights and privileges as they await the outcome of the appeal that has since been filed under case no. SC18/26.
