Goodbye Wicknell: I pray Zimbabwe will NEVER have anyone like him again

Tendai Ruben Mbofana

Today marks the burial of tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo in Harare.

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He passed away last week in a helicopter crash near Marondera which also claimed the lives of his wife Lulu, an aide, and two pilots.

Predictably, the past seven days have seen Zimbabwe entirely consumed by the demise of this deeply controversial figure, who spent years systematically commanding the nation’s spotlight. 

While I do not and will never celebrate any human being’s death, there are harsh national truths that demand uncompromising scrutiny and expression.

Chivayo divided this nation, and he did so with destructive arrogance. 

He was aggressively flamboyant, obsessed with flaunting unearned opulence in the faces of millions trapped in grinding poverty. 

He draped himself in Gucci, wore Jacob & Co timepieces, drove a fleet of Rolls-Royces, flew in private Gulfstreams, and resided in a sprawling mansion. 

In a final, grotesque testament to his lifelong vanity, even his coffin is shaped like a Rolls-Royce. 

He bought influence by distributing luxury vehicles and cash to political loyalists, musicians, and millionaire self-styled ‘prophets.’

Yet the central question remains unanswered: where did this money actually come from?

Estimates suggest Chivayo squandered between US$24 million and US$30 million in the first nine months of 2026 alone—a pattern of reckless spending consistent with previous years. 

While state media and ruling party propaganda frantically package him as a ‘businessman’ and ‘philanthropist,’ not a single defender can name a single operational factory, farm, or legitimate enterprise he owned. 

Where are his company offices? 

What products did he produce? 

How many ordinary Zimbabweans did he employ? 

Above all, where are the audited financial statements proving these millions were legally earned?

The total absence of this basic information speaks for itself. 

Chivayo was no entrepreneur; he was a tenderpreneur, embedded in a web of public resource plunder and nefarious deals.

We have all heard the high-sounding names of his supposed entities: Intratrek Zimbabwe, IMC Communications, IMC Construction Kenya, and Trintas Energy. 

Yet beyond empty corporate shells, what actual work did they ever deliver? 

Intratrek was handed a US$172.8 million un-tendered contract for the Gwanda 100 MW solar project, siphoning US$5.6 million in public funds from the Zimbabwe Power Company for ‘pre-commencement works.’ 

By 2018, parliamentary inspections found nothing but overgrown bushes, structural skeletons, and a deserted clearing.

Then came the R800 million (about US$42 million) funneled into accounts linked to Chivayo by South Africa’s Ren-Form CC, directly after it received R1.1 billion from our Treasury for inflated election materials—a transaction flagged as highly suspicious by South African authorities. 

More recently, dark allegations linked him as a financial operative in a US$4 billion illicit arms pipeline supplying Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces through regional gold smuggling networks, tied to the October 1, 2026 arrest of Malawian general Paul Valentino Phiri.

Unverified or proven, one reality is undeniable: as long as his wealth cannot be traced to legitimate commerce, Chivayo was not an asset, but a catastrophic liability to Zimbabwe.

The US$5.6 million squandered in Gwanda could have fully stocked our stripped public hospitals with life-saving medicines. 

The US$42 million siphoned through election procurement could have fundamentally transformed cancer care across Zimbabwe. 

A top-tier radiation therapy system, such as a Varian TrueBeam or Elekta Versa HD, costs between US$3 million and US$6 million, fully installed. 

That US$42 million alone could have purchased at least seven state-of-the-art cancer machines.

Consider the human cost of that trade-off. 

In Zimbabwe, WHO GLOBOCAN data estimates between 11,000 and 16,000 citizens die of cancer every single year. 

In just the past two months, I have attended four funerals in my own community of people stolen by this disease. 

Seven functional radiation machines would have saved thousands of mothers, fathers, and children. 

Instead, that taxpayer money was converted into luxury cars, gold watches, and ostentatious handouts for the elite.

Calling this ‘philanthropy’ is a sick joke. 

Real philanthropy elevates the poor; it does not rob the public purse to enrich wealthy sycophants. 

Real philanthropy equips classrooms and builds laboratories; it does not plunder national assets for personal vanity while children learn without textbooks. 

Real philanthropy saves lives; it does not abandon cancer patients to perish in under-equipped wards.

As Chivayo is buried today—torn to pieces and without a head—this nation faces a moment of reckoning. 

We must look at ourselves and ask: is my existence adding value to my fellow citizens, or am I actively destroying lives?

Those who gathered to cheer his wealth, those who pocketed his handouts, and those who degraded themselves on social media begging for his attention must look in the mirror today. 

Did your enablement and greed fuel the collective suffering of Zimbabwe? 

I do not celebrate the death of Wicknell Chivayo, but I pray with every fiber of my being that this country never produces another like him. 

Zimbabwe has endured years of a nightmare. 

It is time to wake up.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com