Businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife, Lucy “Lulu” Muteke, have died in a helicopter crash in Marondera Rural, Mashonaland East, that left no survivors among the six people on board.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police said the aircraft came down at about 5pm on Wednesday, 30 September. Police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said it had six occupants.
Government spokesman Nick Mangwana, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, confirmed the crash in a statement on X. He said the helicopter was carrying “one high-profile businessman, three other passengers, and two pilots”, adding: “Current information indicates that there were no survivors in this crash.”
The government initially withheld the names of the dead pending identification and notification of relatives. Family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo later confirmed to ZBC News that Chivayo and Muteke were among the victims, saying the family was at a loss for words.
What is still not known
As of Thursday morning, authorities had not named the other four people who died, and had not disclosed the helicopter’s registration, its operator, where it took off from or where it was going.
No cause has been given. Early accounts of how many people were on board differed, but police and the latest government information both put the figure at six. Police and aviation authorities are expected to release further details and investigate what brought the aircraft down.
Ruto mourns “my friend”
Kenyan President William Ruto, with whom Chivayo had built close ties, was among the first leaders to respond.
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic passing of my friend, Wicknell Chivayo, together with his wife, Lucy Muteke, and the other lives lost in the helicopter crash in Zimbabwe,” Ruto said. He added that he would remember Chivayo “for his friendship, his energy and his deep conviction in the possibilities of our continent”, and sent condolences to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the people of Zimbabwe.
From Union Avenue to State House
Chivayo was born in Chivhu in 1980. His father died in a car accident when he was about ten. He attended Churchill Boys High School before working as a wages clerk and then trading foreign currency at the Union Avenue flea market in Harare.
In 2004 he was convicted of theft by false pretences over a foreign-currency transaction and served a sentence at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. In 2011 he was arrested on fraud and money-laundering charges and acquitted on all counts.
He went on to build Intratrek Zimbabwe, which in 2015 won a contract worth about US$172 million to build a 100-megawatt solar plant in Gwanda for the Zimbabwe Power Company. Intratrek received a US$5 million advance, but the plant was never built, and the project led to years of arrests and court cases. He was acquitted in 2024 when the court ruled the state had failed to establish a prima facie case. In March 2025 the government said it was reviewing the contract with a view to reviving the project.
In 2024, leaked audio recordings linked Chivayo to a US$100 million contract to supply election materials to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ahead of the 2023 elections. In December 2025 the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission said it had found no evidence directly implicating him, and Chivayo said he had been vindicated.
Cars, cash and controversy
Chivayo was best known to most Zimbabweans for his very public generosity. He gave luxury vehicles and cash to musicians, broadcasters, churches, football clubs and administrators, traditional leaders, security services and Zanu PF supporters, often announcing the gifts on social media.
Some recipients said no. Last month Advocate Lewis Uriri declined gifts worth US$350,000, saying accepting them could suggest he owed Chivayo something. In July, Thomas Mapfumo accepted a US$1 million offer from Chivayo to perform two concerts.
He was an open supporter of Zanu PF and of President Mnangagwa, and regularly posted photographs of himself with African heads of state, private jets and luxury cars. He said his giving was driven by his Christian faith and by the hardship he had known. Critics questioned where his wealth came from and how close he was to political power. He consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In recent years he expanded beyond Zimbabwe, notably into Kenya, where his IMC Construction Kenya was named in June as a joint-venture partner in a Chinese-led consortium on the proposed US$2.9 billion expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Chivayo married Lucy Muteke in 2025. He was previously married to Sonja Madzikanda, with whom he had two children.
All In Zimbabwe will update this story as police and aviation authorities release more information.
