The plaintiff was offered employment as a teller by Stanbic Bank on 19 March 2010, with employment to commence on 1 April 2010. When he reported for duty on 1 April 2010, he was presented with a document on the defendant's letterhead headed "TRACE" which stated "Sitwell Gumbo arrested". The document related to previous disciplinary proceedings at his former employer, Beverley Building Society, where he had been accused of fraud involving cheques. The plaintiff had been questioned by police and faced internal disciplinary proceedings but was acquitted of the charges. Based on this information from the defendant (a credit information bureau that maintains databases on creditworthiness of potential clients and employees for financial institutions), Stanbic Bank withdrew the employment offer on the same day. The defendant operates the Financial Clearing Bureau, which provides credit protection information to member financial institutions on a confidential basis. The plaintiff sued for defamation, claiming damages of US$31,548.
The application for absolution from the instance was granted. The plaintiff was ordered to pay the defendant's costs.
Where a credit information bureau has a contractual duty to provide information to member financial institutions about the creditworthiness and background of potential employees, and such information relates to legitimate concerns such as fraud allegations and police involvement (even where no conviction resulted), the communication is protected by qualified privilege. The privilege covers both the occasion and the communication itself. Once qualified privilege is established, the defendant need not prove the truth of the defamatory material. The defence of qualified privilege is only forfeited if the plaintiff proves that the publication was actuated by malice or improper motive. Where no evidence of malice is presented, absolution from the instance will be granted as the plaintiff has failed to establish a prima facie case upon which a court could reasonably find for the plaintiff.
The court observed that absolution from the instance is not a remedy that would be readily granted upon mere asking, and courts are mindful that at this stage they have not heard all the evidence. The court noted that whether the plaintiff understood his interaction with police as mere "questioning" or as an "arrest" was immaterial - what mattered was that there was an investigation involving fraudulent cheques in which his name was mentioned. The court also remarked that an organization such as the defendant "would be failing in its duty" if it failed to disclose such information to its members, emphasizing the public interest in credit bureaus providing complete and accurate information to financial institutions.
This case is significant in Zimbabwean law for clarifying the application of qualified privilege in the context of credit information bureaus and employment screening. It confirms that credit reference agencies providing information to member financial institutions operate within a privileged relationship where they have a duty to disclose relevant information about potential employees, including past allegations of misconduct and police involvement, even if those allegations did not result in conviction. The case reinforces that qualified privilege protects such communications unless malice or improper motive is proven. It also applies the established Gascoyne test for absolution from the instance, demonstrating that where privilege is established and no evidence of malice exists, a plaintiff's defamation claim will fail at the close of the plaintiff's case.