MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – Dismissed Masvingo City Engineer Tawanda Gozo was locked out of office last week barely a day after he returned to work armed with a reinstatement letter from his lawyers.
Gozo returned to work and council actually started clearing his office after he presented a letter of reinstatement from his lawyers Lovemore Madhuku Legal Practitioners.
The following day, his office was locked based on a letter from council lawyers Mawadze and Mujaya Legal Practitioners.
Council lawyers argued in a letter of August 14, 2024, addressed to Lovemore Madhuku Legal Practitioners that Gozo cannot be reinstated by his lawyers or the Local Government Board.
They insisted that he needed a court order for reinstatement.
“The provisions of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15) are very clear as far as the mandate of the Local Government Board is concerned in the circumstances of this matter. Its mandate is either to decline or confirm the discharge of a senior council official who would have been dismissed through a full disciplinary process and does not, in whatever way, have the power to reinstate a dismissed senior council official. Your client therefore remains dismissed from work.
“There is no court order to the effect that your client has been reinstated. Your letter of demand is also not a court order, and it is for that reason and all others stated above that our client shall not allow yours to access its premises for the purposes of reporting for duty,” reads part of the letter.
Gozo who was dismissed for alleged incompetency in 2021 made a surprise return to work last Wednesday morning. He found the office locked on Thursday morning.