From serving time in a Zimbabwean prison to building a fortune, landing multimillion-dollar deals and moving in the circles of presidents, Wicknell Chivayo’s extraordinary rise was marked by wealth, controversy and questions about his access to power.
There are businessmen who spend years trying to get a meeting with a president.
Then there was Wicknell Chivayo.
The Zimbabwean businessman somehow went from serving time in prison to being photographed beside some of Africa’s most powerful leaders, moving around State Houses, discussing multimillion-dollar investments and displaying a lifestyle that looked almost impossible to reconcile with where his story began.
And now that story has ended suddenly.
Chivayo died in a helicopter crash in Zimbabwe on September 30, 2026, alongside his wife and other passengers. Authorities said there were no survivors and investigations into the crash were underway.
But before his death, one question kept following him:
How did Wicknell Chivayo become so close to power?
The question became particularly interesting in Kenya.
Chivayo had developed a highly visible relationship with President William Ruto. He appeared with Ruto on several occasions and, just weeks before his death, spoke publicly about a proposed US$200 million investment in Kenya.
Then came a remarkable video.
Ruto was seen personally driving Chivayo towards a helicopter at the President’s private residence in Kilgoris.
After Chivayo’s death, Ruto described him as a “dear friend.”
For an ordinary businessman, that would already be unusual access.
But Chivayo’s story was never ordinary.
His story began in a prison
Long before the luxury cars, private jets and presidential photographs, Chivayo had a very different life.
He was convicted of fraud in Zimbabwe and served a prison sentence at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.
That chapter could easily have ended his ambitions.
Instead, it became part of the unlikely backstory of a man who would later build a multimillion-dollar business empire.
After leaving prison, Chivayo moved into business and eventually became associated with Intratrek Zimbabwe.
His breakthrough came through government contracts.
One of the biggest was the controversial Gwanda Solar Project, valued at approximately US$172.8 million.
The project was supposed to produce 100 megawatts of solar power.
Instead, it became one of the biggest legal battles attached to Chivayo’s name.
Money had been released for the project. The project itself became delayed. Allegations of fraud and questions surrounding payments followed.
But this is where the story gets complicated.
Chivayo was accused.
He was investigated.
But the allegations did not end with a criminal conviction in the Gwanda case.
The legal battle eventually turned in his favour, with Zimbabwe’s courts ruling on the contractual dispute and an award of roughly US$22 million being reported in his favour.
So the same businessman whose name had been dragged through allegations surrounding a government project ultimately emerged from the dispute with a major legal victory.
And Chivayo kept moving.
Then the money became impossible to ignore
At some point, Chivayo stopped looking like an ordinary businessman.
His social media pages became a window into an extraordinary lifestyle.
Luxury Rolls-Royces.
Bentleys.
Private aircraft.
Expensive homes.
Cash.
Huge donations.
And cars given away to celebrities, musicians, religious figures and other personalities.
He did not exactly hide his wealth.
He displayed it.
That became part of the Wicknell Chivayo brand.
And there was another unusual element.
He did not simply show people what he owned.
He showed people who he knew.
Presidents.
Ministers.
Businessmen.
Celebrities.
Church leaders.
Powerful people appeared repeatedly in his photographs.
That visibility became almost as important as the businesses themselves.
Then came the election-money controversy
In 2025, Chivayo’s name was pulled into another major controversy involving Zimbabwe’s election materials.
Investigations in South Africa examined transactions involving Ren-Form, a South African printing company that supplied election materials to Zimbabwe.
Financial intelligence information cited in reporting indicated that large sums of money connected to the election-materials business had moved into accounts linked to Chivayo.
Investigators raised questions about the transactions and the amounts involved.
One reported figure was more than R800 million transferred to accounts connected to him.
The allegations were serious.
But there is an important distinction.
They remained allegations and investigative findings rather than a criminal conviction against Chivayo.
Chivayo denied wrongdoing and dismissed the claims as an attempt to damage his reputation.
Zimbabwe’s Anti-Corruption Commission also closed its investigation into him in relation to the particular election-materials matter, while separate scrutiny in South Africa continued to attract attention.
That distinction matters because Chivayo’s public story repeatedly followed the same pattern:
controversy → investigation → denial → legal or official development → and then Chivayo was back in business.
The US$437 million cancer-treatment controversy
Then came another eye-catching figure.
US$437 million.
That was the reported value attached to a proposed medical equipment and cancer-treatment deal involving a company linked to Chivayo.
Critics questioned the procurement process and the enormous amount involved.
Once again, Chivayo’s name was at the centre of controversy.
And once again, allegations are not the same thing as a conviction.
No court established that Chivayo had committed a crime in relation to the deal.
Yet the episode added another chapter to a growing public debate about how he was able to move between private business, government-linked contracts and political circles.
The strangest relationship may have been with Zimbabwe’s president
Chivayo’s relationship with President Emmerson Mnangagwa is perhaps one of the most fascinating parts of his story.
At one point, Mnangagwa publicly dismissed Chivayo as a “fly-by-night briefcase businessman.”
Years later, the tone was dramatically different.
Chivayo was being publicly described as a philanthropist.
He was giving away vehicles.
Making multimillion-dollar pledges.
Supporting sporting organisations.
And appearing comfortably within Zimbabwe’s political establishment.
That transformation naturally attracted attention.
How does someone go from being publicly criticised by a president to becoming a businessman welcomed around the same political establishment?
Chivayo never appeared particularly interested in keeping a low profile.
Quite the opposite.
He documented his relationships.
He documented his gifts.
He documented his meetings.
He documented his wealth.
And, perhaps most importantly, he documented his proximity to power.
He wasn’t only interested in business
Chivayo’s influence also extended into politics and sport.
During the 2025 Zimbabwe Football Association presidential election, he publicly pledged US$10 million and dozens of vehicles if his preferred candidate won.
The promise itself became controversial, with questions raised about whether such financial involvement could amount to undue influence.
His preferred candidate won.
But questions remained about whether the promised money was actually delivered.
Again, the controversy did not appear to stop Chivayo’s rise.
If anything, his public profile continued to grow.
Then he crossed borders
Zimbabwe was not enough.
Chivayo began appearing in business and political circles across the region.
Tanzania.
Malawi.
Kenya.
And each appearance generated the same fascination:
Who is this man?
In Tanzania, he met President Samia Suluhu Hassan and announced major investment ambitions.
In Malawi, he was linked to discussions around business opportunities.
And in Kenya, his relationship with Ruto became especially visible.
This is what made Chivayo’s story so unusual.
It was not simply that he was wealthy.
Africa has plenty of wealthy businessmen.
It was the combination of money, political access, philanthropy, social-media visibility and controversy.
He appeared to understand something many businessmen never master:
Being close to power is itself a form of power.
But was he simply a businessman who knew how to network?
That is where the facts end and the debate begins.
Supporters saw a wealthy entrepreneur who had survived a difficult past, built businesses, invested across Africa and used his money to help other people.
Critics saw a businessman whose extraordinary access to political leaders deserved greater scrutiny.
Both sides point to different parts of the same story.
His supporters can point to court victories and his philanthropic activities.
Critics can point to the repeated controversies surrounding government contracts, election-related transactions and his unusually close relationships with political figures.
What cannot reasonably be disputed is that Chivayo built an extraordinary network.
And he made sure the world knew about it.
The final photograph
Then, suddenly, there was no next meeting.
No new luxury car.
No new presidential photograph.
No new multimillion-dollar announcement.
On September 30, 2026, the helicopter carrying Chivayo crashed in Zimbabwe.
He was dead.
The man who had spent years putting himself in front of cameras alongside presidents suddenly became the subject of news reports himself.
And the questions surrounding his life became even more intriguing.
How did a former prisoner become a multimillionaire?
How did a businessman repeatedly surrounded by controversy continue gaining access to political power?
How did he build relationships with presidents across several African countries?
And what exactly was behind the extraordinary business network he had built?
There is no evidence to turn those questions into accusations.
But there is certainly enough documented history to make them worth asking.
Wicknell Chivayo’s life was not a simple rags-to-riches story.
It was a journey through prison, business, government contracts, courtrooms, philanthropy, politics and presidential circles.
And perhaps that is why, even after his death, the most interesting part of the Chivayo story is not how much money he had.
It is how close he managed to get to the people who had the power.
