Peter Ndlovu who was recently in court has won his battle for US$50k compensation claim.
WARRIORS legend and assistant coach Peter Ndlovu has won his US$50,000 compensation claim at the High Court against Twalumba Holdings who owned Northern Region Division One side, Highfield United.
Justice Mary Zimba-Dube ruled that Twalumba Holdings should pay Ndlovu the signing on fee they promised him after signed an agreement with them in January.
“The court is satisfied that the parties entered into a valid contract whose consequences the defendant must comply with, the plaintiff has shown on a balance of probabilities that he is entitled to the claim,” read part of the judgement.
“The fact that the plaintiff is now claiming money instead of the house is entirely his choice. The defendant (Twalumba) shall pay to the plaintiff the sum of US $55,000 with interest thereon at the prescribed rate from the date of summons to the date of full payment.
“All the financial terms of the contract were fulfilled by the defendant except the term relating to the purchase of the house, the defendant’s conduct in meeting all the other benefits shows that it intended to be bound by the contract.
Ndlovu had told the hearing that he signed a contract with Twalumba in January 2011 which entitled him to the signing on fee and a monthly salary of US$2,500.
“I signed a contract with Twalumba on January 8, 2011. I was to play for Highfield United. The Memorandum of Agreement specified that I was to get a signing on fee of $55,000 and a monthly salary of $2,500 per month,” he said in his testimony.
“The signing on fee was supposed to have been paid the moment I put my signature on the contract. However, I never received anything and to this day the amount is still outstanding.”
Ndlovu said he took time to bring the lawsuit because Twalumba was “like family” to him.
“The owner of Twalumba, Dr Sibanda, is like family and we both come from Binga. I took long because I did not want to sour our relations, besides there were bigger and better projects that we intended to embark on,” he said.
Twalumba countered that Ndlovu only played five friendly matches for them before he was loaned out to Black Mambas and never made any meaningful contribution to them.
Company’s owner Dr Nkululeko Sibanda, had denied Ndlovu was owed a signing-on fee.
“What we signed in January 2011 was just a Memorandum of Agreement and not the football contract. It is not recognised as a soccer contract. It is like a pre-nuptial before a marriage,” Sibanda told the court.
But the judge dismissed the submission as “nonsensical”.
“The defendant has chosen to renege on the term pertaining to the house because it is more onerous,” the court said.
“The court is not persuaded by the defendant’s stance that the memorandum of agreement (MOA) was just a prenuptial contract and the parties had agreed to sign a football contract at a later stage.”
“The submission is nonsensical and does not accord with this clause (5.7 of the MOA).”
New Zimbabwe
