The businessman known as “Sir Wicknell” built a public persona around extravagant gifts and presidential friendships. His death brings renewed attention to a career marked by ambition, political access and disputed state contracts.
HARARE — Wicknell Chivayo, the Zimbabwean businessman whose luxury-car giveaways and friendships with African presidents made him a celebrity far beyond the boardroom, has died alongside his wife, Lucy Muteke, in a helicopter crash east of Harare.
Family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo confirmed the couple’s deaths to state broadcaster ZBC News, according to reports published on Wednesday evening. Their confirmation followed official statements that an aircraft had crashed in Marondera Rural and that nobody had survived.
Police said six people were aboard when the aircraft went down at about 5 p.m. on September 30. Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana subsequently confirmed there were no survivors. The cause of the crash had not been established in the initial reports.
Chivayo was 43, according to the Associated Press. Authorities were still working to identify the remains after a fire at the crash site.
For years, the self-styled “Sir Wicknell” had made himself unusually visible: a businessman who announced gifts with the enthusiasm of a showman and displayed his access to political leaders for an audience well beyond Zimbabwe.
A fortune with an audience
Chivayo’s public reputation rested as much on what he gave away as on what his companies did.
Musicians, religious leaders and other prominent figures received expensive vehicles and cash gifts. The announcements became recurring public events, drawing gratitude from recipients and questions from critics about his wealth and political influence.
His generosity also intersected with his support for President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU-PF party. As the Mail & Guardian reported in a profile published before his death, philanthropy and proximity to power had become closely connected features of his public life.
The photographs helped sustain that image. Meetings with presidents in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania supplied a steady stream of material for his social media accounts—and a steady source of debate over what such access meant.
The project that followed him
Behind the spectacle stood Intratrek Zimbabwe and the long-delayed Gwanda solar project.
The proposed power plant became one of the most closely scrutinised ventures associated with Chivayo, passing through cancellation, litigation and renewed negotiations.
In September, Zimbabwe Power Company issued Intratrek a formal Notice to Proceed. The revised project cost was reported at just under US$132 million, down from the original US$172 million, with the reduction attributed to falling solar-panel prices.
The company was given 24 months to complete the plant. Reporting on the revival also noted Chivayo’s position that his acquittal in proceedings connected to the project had vindicated him.
The restart offered a fresh opportunity to deliver a project that had spent years generating controversy. His death came only weeks after that opportunity was formally reopened.
Presidential friendships—and scrutiny
Chivayo’s relationship with Mnangagwa illustrated the shifts in his standing.
In 2018, the president publicly dismissed him as a “fly-by-night briefcase businessman”. By February 2025, Mnangagwa was describing him as a philanthropist. The reversal became a striking reference point in reporting on Chivayo’s relationship with Zimbabwe’s political establishment.
In Kenya, his repeated appearances with President William Ruto brought him another audience.
Earlier in September, Chivayo said a nearly three-hour meeting at State House had helped advance his proposed US$200 million investment in Kenyan infrastructure. That was his account of the discussions, rather than confirmation that the investment had been completed.
Other claims met official resistance. Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir rejected reports linking Chivayo’s company to the expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, saying it had not participated in the bidding process.
Together, those episodes captured the difficulty of assessing his business ambitions: highly publicised meetings and announcements did not always establish the status of the deals behind them.
An investigation still to come
The circumstances of Wednesday’s flight remain unresolved. Initial reporting did not establish a verified departure point, destination or explanation for the crash. Those questions await investigators.
For the families of those aboard, the immediate loss extends beyond the most famous passenger.
For Zimbabwe, Chivayo leaves a complicated public record: conspicuous generosity, powerful friendships and a major energy project still awaiting delivery. His gifts made headlines quickly. The business legacy behind them will take longer to assess.
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