By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE-
THE matter in which 236 former BP workers, who sued and won their case for unpaid pension benefits, will go for assessment next month before High Court deputy registrar Charles Kafunda.
This follows a decision by the court to give guidelines within which the pre-trial procedures should be completed.
Expendito Chipalo and 235 other former BP Zambia employees sued their former employers for their unpaid pension benefits in July 2002.
The former employees demanded payment of their pension benefits in accordance with the rules of their scheme and claimed damages in view of the imprudent manner in which BP Zambia managed the pension fund.
A panel of three Supreme Court judges comprising retired acting deputy chief justice Florence Mumba, Muyinda Wanki and Elizabeth Miyovwe ruled in favour of the former employees in a judgment delivered on February 26, 2014.
The former employees took their former employer to court in July 2002 and won their case in October 2010 when High Court Judge Gregory Phiri ordered BP Zambia to render a full account of the K720,000 that the company unlawfully withdrew from the BP final salary staff pension scheme which was managed by Zambia State Insurance Corporation.
Mr Justice Phiri also ordered that the former employees should be paid their transfer value from the date that the company withdrew the funds from ZSIC.
He also awarded penal interest of 25 per cent from date of retrenchment to the date of judgment, and eight per cent from the date of judgment to the date of final payment.
BP Zambia appealed against the judgment in October 2010 but the Supreme Court upheld the High Court judgment and awarded interest of 40 per cent from October 2010 to the date of payment.
The assessment was supposed to start on July 9, 2014 but was rescheduled following an application for an adjournment by BP lawyers.
But Fraser Associates, the lawyers representing the former workers objected to the application for adjournment, arguing that the records of the case had been before the court for 13 years from the time the litigation started in 2002.
The former workers’ lawyers further argued that from the time the Supreme Court delivered judgment in favour of the plaintiffs on February 26 this year, they had sent a formal demand to which they had not received any response.
The lawyers also told the court that the defendant had requested for soft copies of the spread sheets and that the request was duly honoured on April 4, 2014 but no response had been received.
The former workers’ lawyer further argued that the application to assess damages was served on the defendants on May 23 and yet they had not responded for more than six weeks.
According to court records obtained by the Times, the court has since ordered that the defendants should file their affidavit in opposition by July 23, 2014 and the plaintiffs should respond by July 30, 2014.
The court also ordered that assessment hearing be held on August 19, 27 and 28, 2014 and that no adjournments would be entertained.
Commenting on the decision of the court to assess damages in August 2014, Mr Chipalo, the lead plaintiff said his colleagues were happy that the court had decided not to entertain any further adjournments.
“My colleagues and I are anxious to bring this matter to closure. It is our prayer that the Judiciary will not allow litigation to go on perpetually,” Mr Chipalo said.
Mr Chipalo said many of the plaintiffs had been waiting for their benefits for as long as 20 years and that 83 of the beneficiaries had died since 2002, leaving their families stranded.