High Court Blocks Union Award Registration

The High Court blocked registration of a 12-year-old US$95,322 arbitral award involving the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe and The Wattle Company Limited, NewZimbabwe.com reported. Justice Samuel Muzenda struck the application off, ruling that the amount could not simply be registered without accounting for Zimbabwe's major currency and monetary changes. The union sought to enforce an old dollar-denominated award, while the company opposed conversion after repeated currency reforms. The judgment exposes the prolonged exposure of workers whose compensation claims are trapped by legal uncertainty over applicable exchange rates. The core vulnerability is the absence of a clear statutory formula for converting legacy awards into current currency. Employees are therefore left locked in indefinite litigation.