Zimbabwe’s flamboyant ‘Sir Wicknell’ Chivayo leaves chequered legacy
Flashy and flamboyant, controversial Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo dined with kings and rubbed shoulders with presidents.
He loved money and had lots of it — thanks mostly to lucrative government contracts.
Loved and despised in equal measure, “Sir Wicknell”, as he was often called — and called himself — died with his wife and several others in a helicopter crash on Wednesday.
They were reportedly travelling back to Harare after leaving his rural homestead in Gandami in the Chikomba district when the aircraft went down due to poor weather and visibility.
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in a statement on X on Thursday that he was “in deep shock and grief”, while in a separate post Kenya’s President William Ruto called Chivayo his friend and said he was saddened by his passing.
Chivayo, 43, had cultivated close ties with Mnangagwa and other African leaders, posting pictures of himself with them on social media, where he also displayed luxury cars, designer clothing and lavish gifts. He also shared pictures he took with Eswatini’s King Mswati and Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni.
In May, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, publicly stated that the president did not know Chivayo after photos emerged of the two men standing near each other at Mnangagwa’s private farm in Kwekwe. Magwenya said Ramaphosa did not know that Chivayo would be at the informal gathering.
Chivayo had a chequered career. Critics frequently cited him as an example of a small elite class that benefited from government-linked contracts under Zimbabwe’s long-ruling Zanu-PF party. He denied allegations of corruption.
Chivayo was jailed for several years after a 2005 conviction as part of a money-laundering case.
He was arrested in 2018 over the alleged misuse of a $5.6m (about R93m) advance payment tied to a solar power project, but a magistrate struck the case off the court roll in 2023, citing delays by prosecutors.
In 2024, he again drew scrutiny after Mnangagwa described his company as Starlink’s exclusive partner in Zimbabwe, prompting the telecommunications regulator to clarify that it was one of several approved resellers.
Investigations into the crash are ongoing. Police did not comment on its cause, but spokesperson Paul Nyathi said authorities were carrying out DNA tests because the bodies were severely damaged.
Earlier this year Chivayo posted photos of a R160m Cape Town mansion he had recently purchased in Clifton, Cape Town. The home borders Table Mountain and has panoramic views. He described the purchase as “money well spent”.
The founder of Intratrek, Zimbabwe’s leading engineering, procurement and construction company, he owned a fleet of luxury vehicles, including an exclusive 2024 Rolls-Royce sedan, and often spent extended periods in South Africa.
Chivayo had once filmed himself being driven by Ruto to a helipad in Kenya. He apparently would hang out with the president every time he was in the East African country.