A Banket District Hospital accountant who exposed a US$19,000 fraud committed by three subordinates has lost his bid to overturn a two-year demotion and transfer after the Labour Court ruled that he had negligently failed to supervise them.
Webester Zimbume, who discovered and reported the missing funds, argued that he was unfairly punished despite helping uncover the theft and having an unblemished disciplinary record spanning more than two decades.
But Labour Court judge Justice Bridget Chivizhe dismissed his appeal, ruling that exposing the fraud did not absolve him of responsibility for failing to carry out his own supervisory duties.
“The question is therefore not whether the appellant was responsible for the fraud. He was not. The question is whether he failed to exercise the supervision required of him,” the judge said.
Zimbume was employed as district accountant at Banket District Hospital in Zvimba, Mashonaland West, when three subordinates allegedly manipulated banking records between December 2024 and March 2025 to conceal unbanked hospital fees.
The employees, accounting assistant Luckson Dzeka and accounts clerks James Koroni and Marlon Kaguda were subsequently convicted of theft of trust property by the Banket Magistrates Court in October 2025.
The criminal court found that the State had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, with Zimbume’s testimony instrumental in establishing how the fraud was executed.
The scandal came to light on March 21, 2025, when Zimbume noticed declining revenue while reconciling accounts. Five days later, he reported the suspected fraud to the District Health Officer.
A physical cash count on April 4 confirmed that US$19,000 could not be accounted for.
Despite his role in exposing the scheme, Zimbume was separately charged with misconduct for failing to supervise his subordinates, conduct regular checks and ensure that banking and reconciliation procedures were followed.
During his disciplinary hearing, he admitted that he had failed to perform his duties properly in January and February 2025.
“Yes, I agree, but this is an eye-opener for me to be on high alert all the time,” he told the hearing.
He also conceded that he had not verified receipts against master receipt books and banking slips during the period, explaining that he had been “busy”.
The disciplinary authority found him guilty of improper, negligent, inefficient or incompetent performance of duties under the Health Services Regulations.
It demoted him to accounting assistant for two years and transferred him to Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital to work under closer supervision.
Zimbume appealed, arguing that the finding of misconduct lacked evidence, that he was being penalised for crimes committed by his subordinates and that another accountant facing similar charges at Gweru Provincial Hospital had received only a reprimand.
He also described the penalty as disproportionate, given his long service, clean disciplinary record and role in uncovering the fraud.
However, Chivizhe said the disciplinary proceedings concerned Zimbume’s own supervisory failures, not complicity in the theft.
“On his own account, in his letter of 26 March 2025, it involved receipts being ‘deliberately presented in a way to deceive’,” the judge said, adding that Zimbume’s own admissions were sufficient to support the misconduct finding.
The judge rejected the argument that he was being held responsible merely because he supervised the perpetrators, finding that the evidence showed he had failed to exercise reasonable diligence in performing his duties.
The court also dismissed his claim of unequal treatment, saying he had not provided sufficient details of the Gweru case to establish that the circumstances were materially similar.
“A bare assertion that another employee received a lesser penalty is insufficient to establish unequal treatment,” Chivizhe ruled.
On the punishment, the judge said the disciplinary authority had considered Zimbume’s mitigating circumstances, including his cooperation, remorse, long service and role in exposing the fraud.
The court noted that the regulations could have permitted dismissal for gross incompetence involving public funds of that magnitude, but the employer had instead imposed a time-limited demotion and transfer.
“The penalty reflects a measured balancing of the very mitigating factors the Appellant relies upon,” the judge said, rejecting the argument that it was so disproportionate as to induce a sense of shock.
The Labour Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the Health Service Commission’s December 29, 2025 decision upholding the punishment.
However, it made no order as to costs, noting that Zimbume had ultimately uncovered a concealed fraud and that his unsuccessful appeal was neither frivolous nor vexatious.
