Chivayo’s ex-wife takes control of his wealth

HARARE-(MaraviPost)-In life, Wicknell Chivayo controlled his fortune with a social media post and a phone call.

In death, that fortune is now in the hands of two women – including the ex-wife he was fighting in court.

Sonja Madzikanda has been appointed co-executrix of Chivayo’s estate, alongside his sister Esther Chivayo.

The appointment places Madzikanda, who had a US$25 million matrimonial claim pending before the Supreme Court at the time of Chivayo’s death, in joint control of the administration of an estate believed to be worth millions of dollars.

Madzikanda and Esther Chivayo are now expected to oversee the inventory, settlement of debts, and eventual distribution of the estate. 6ead

It is a dramatic twist in a saga that has gripped Zimbabwe since September 30, when Chivayo died in a helicopter crash in Marondera together with his wife Lucy Muteke and three others. 6ead

The appointment ends weeks of legal limbo. The family registered the estate with the Master of the High Court about three weeks after his death, but no executor had been appointed, leaving assets and liabilities yet to be formally established.

Madzikanda’s claim had been removed from the court roll after his death, pending the appointment of someone to represent the estate.

Now she is not just a claimant – she is one of the administrators.

Madzikanda had sought a once-off US$25 million payment, US$40,000 in monthly spousal support, a US$1 million annual budget for lifestyle expenses, and ownership of properties in Harare and Johannesburg, together with a fleet of seven luxury vehicles.

She maintained that the couple entered a valid customary union in 2017, with lobola payments completed. Chivayo’s lawyers had disputed that characterisation. With his death, the status of that claim remains uncertain, but the estate will now have to confront it head-on.

The man they called Sir Wicknell

Chivayo, 43, was Zimbabwe’s most talked-about businessman – loved, hated, envied and investigated in equal measure.

He called himself “Sir Wicknell” and built his fame not in boardrooms but on social media, where he posed beside Rolls-Royces, private jets, piles of cash and African presidents, and announced cars and money he gave to people he considered deserving.

His generosity was on an industrial scale. Reports placed the total at over 300 luxury vehicles and roughly US$47 million in cash handed out before his death. One Zimbabwean media investigation estimated he spent more than US$9.3 million on luxury vehicles and gifts over a single 12-month period.

Musicians were among his most frequent beneficiaries. He gave Jah Prayzah a Mercedes-Benz worth about US$180,000, then later a Range Rover Autobiography plus US$150,000 cash. He gave Tocky Vibes a Mercedes-Benz GLE350d valued at US$90,000. He handed Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars to Mathias Mhere, Diana Samkange and Andy Muridzo. He gave ZANU-PF councillor Sandra Ndebele a Mercedes-Benz GLE400d worth US$155,000 as a reward for promoting the party’s cause.

Football took a large share. He promised the Warriors US$2 million if they won the Africa Cup of Nations and gave them US$250,000 anyway after they were knocked out. He backed Highlanders with a reported US$1 million sponsorship package for the 2026 season, alongside a luxury team bus.

Churches, bishops, lawyers, journalists, soldiers, police officers and even his children’s school friends received cars, cash and iPhones. In March 2024, he flew on the president’s helicopter to deliver a US$1 million donation to the Zion Christian Church.

To admirers, he was a boy from Chivhu who dropped out of school at 15 after his father died, made it, and refused to pull the ladder up. To critics, he was the clearest example of wealth built on closeness to the ruling ZANU-PF party – patronage turned into theatre, where public money returned to the public as a gift with a face attached.

The contracts behind the cash

Chivayo denied wrongdoing throughout his career and defended his wealth and his giving. But the questions never went away.

His company Intratrek Zimbabwe won the controversial US$172 million Gwanda Solar Project in 2015. The project was delayed for years. In 2018 he was charged with fraud and money laundering over an advance payment. Those charges were eventually thrown out, but the plant was still not built at the time of his death. Just three weeks before he died, on September 10, the government issued Intratrek a notice to proceed under a restated agreement, at a revised cost reported below US$132 million, with 24 months to complete it.

He also faced allegations of acting as an agent for Ren-Form, a South African printing company that supplied the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the 2023 elections. He was cleared by anti-corruption authorities.

His death has also left a trail of debts. Three Harare luxury-car dealerships are reportedly owed a combined US$5.1 million for vehicles supplied before his death – US$2.4 million at Faramatsi Motors, US$1.4 million at Exquisite Cars and US$1.3 million at Enterprise Car Sales. Those dealers will now have to claim from the estate Madzikanda and Esther Chivayo administer.

Death, burial and unanswered questions

Chivayo, Muteke, two pilots – Captain Calvin Tafirei Soda and Captain Courage Matavirwa – and aide Saneliswe Magagula were killed when their Bell 430 helicopter crashed at Kudenga Farm near Marondera on September 30. Police said there were no survivors. The group had been returning to Harare from Chivayo’s rural homestead in Gandami, Chikomba, when deteriorating weather and poor visibility brought the aircraft down.

The couple were buried side by side on October 8 at Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare, in a funeral that drew thousands of mourners. There was no viewing of the bodies. Family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo said the remains were badly burnt and dismembered, and that even heads were severed during the accident.

That gruesome detail, the speed of the burial, and Chivayo’s powerful enemies and friends, fuelled wild speculation online – including claims he faked his death. Authorities have said forensic examinations and DNA identification were underway.

Now, 30 days after his death, the government is expected to release its primary findings on the crash. That report is likely to determine whether the crash was a tragic accident caused by weather – as initially suggested – or whether something else was at play.

For Madzikanda and Esther Chivayo, the findings will matter as much as the inventory. If foul play is suggested, the estate battle could become even more explosive. If it was an accident, the focus will shift to the money: who is owed what, who gets what, and whether the US$25 million claim will swallow a large part of what remains.

Chivayo’s custom-built Rolls-Royce Phantom, worth an estimated US$550,000, arrived in Harare on October 23 – 15 days after he was buried. His casket had borne a Rolls-Royce-inspired grille marked “WMC 777”.

The car arrived. The man did not. Now his ex-wife will help decide what happens to everything he left behind.