The three respondents were employed as Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers or child minders at Dzobo Primary School and received remuneration in the form of allowances. Their contracts of employment were terminated on 17 January 2014 upon the introduction of qualified ECD teachers from tertiary colleges. The respondents claimed payment of terminal benefits inclusive of underpayments. On 23 February 2015, an arbitrator (Mr R Charindeguta) granted an arbitration award ordering the appellant to pay each respondent US$6,819.90 as outstanding terminal benefits and underpayment of wages. The award was registered in the Magistrate Court on 1 July 2015. The appellant appealed against the registration, arguing that Dzobo Primary School was not a legal persona capable of being sued and that the actual employer was the School Development Committee (SDC).
1. The application for registration of the arbitration award be and is hereby dismissed. 2. Each party to pay its own costs.
An arbitral award made against a party without legal capacity is a nullity and cannot be registered by a court. Where a party has no legal personality or legal capacity to sue or be sued, there is effectively no party before the court, rendering all proceedings void. Legal capacity is a question of law that can be raised at any time and must be determined by the court. A primary school, as distinct from its School Development Committee, is not a legal persona capable of being sued. Courts cannot make competent orders against entities that lack legal personality - as stated by the court: 'you cannot put something on nothing and expect it to hold.'
The court observed sympathetically that the respondents were self-actors (litigants in person) who were not conversant with the niceties of the law. The court noted that the respondents had acted under a mistaken belief that because they had rendered services to the school, the school itself (rather than the School Development Committee) should pay them. This realization came too late in the proceedings. In light of these circumstances and the respondents' lack of legal sophistication, the court exercised its discretion not to award costs against them, ordering instead that each party bear its own costs.
This case is significant in Zimbabwean jurisprudence as it reinforces the fundamental principle that legal capacity (legal personality) is a prerequisite for a party to be properly before a court. The judgment emphasizes that proceedings against entities without legal capacity are void ab initio and cannot be validated, even through arbitration awards or court registration. It confirms that the issue of legal capacity can be raised at any stage of proceedings and must be determined by courts. The case serves as an important reminder that in the context of educational institutions, it is the School Development Committee (as provided by statute) that has legal capacity to sue and be sued, not the school itself. The judgment also demonstrates judicial discretion in costs orders where litigants in person act under mistaken legal beliefs.