HARARE – Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has described the death of businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife Lucy Muteke as a devastating loss, saying the businessman had shared plans for Zimbabwe, its people and Africa with him only a day before his death. Chivayo, 43, and Muteke were killed on Wednesday when their Bell 430 […]

HARARE – Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has described the death of businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife Lucy Muteke as a devastating loss, saying the businessman had shared plans for Zimbabwe, its people and Africa with him only a day before his death.

Chivayo, 43, and Muteke were killed on Wednesday when their Bell 430 helicopter crashed at Kudenga Farm in the Marondera area, east of Harare.

The tragedy also claimed the lives of two pilots and a security aide. Zimbabwean police have now formally identified five people who were aboard the helicopter, correcting earlier reports that six people had been on board.

In a condolence message issued on Thursday, Mnangagwa said the sudden deaths had left him and the country “numbed and in deep shock and grief”.

But one detail in the President’s message stands out.

Mnangagwa said he had met Chivayo just a day before the fatal crash and that the businessman had shared some of his plans for the future.

“He had numerous plans for us and Africa,” Mnangagwa said, according to reports on his condolence message.

The reference gives the death a particularly personal dimension, coming from a President who had maintained a close relationship with the businessman and frequently appeared alongside him.

A final meeting one day before the crash

According to Mnangagwa’s account, his last meeting with Chivayo took place on Tuesday, just one day before the helicopter came down.

The President said Chivayo had been discussing plans that extended beyond his personal business interests to Zimbabwe and the wider African continent.

Mnangagwa described the Chivayo family as philanthropic and said their generosity had touched people across different sections of Zimbabwean society, including politics, religion, public service, culture and sport.

The President also described Chivayo as “consummately philanthropic”, highlighting the businessman’s highly visible charitable activities.

That aspect of Chivayo’s life had become central to his public image.

He regularly announced donations of money, vehicles and other assistance through social media, while simultaneously documenting his meetings with presidents and other prominent figures.

What happened to the helicopter?

The investigation into the crash is now underway.

This is where the latest development becomes important.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) has recovered the helicopter’s intact black box from the crash site.

The device could provide investigators with information about the aircraft’s final moments, although authorities have not yet said what information has been retrieved from it or when a preliminary accident report will be completed.

CAAZ Director-General George Mashababe said preliminary observations showed that the helicopter hit the ground, causing fuel to spill.

The spilled fuel then ignited, setting fire to the surrounding grass.

But investigators have not established what caused the helicopter to hit the ground in the first place.

That distinction is important.

The fire is not being presented as the cause of the crash. It is part of what happened after the impact.

As of the latest official information available, the cause of the crash remains undetermined.

Forensic and aviation investigators at the scene

Zimbabwean authorities have deployed forensic experts and aviation investigators to the crash site.

The wreckage has been examined as investigators work to reconstruct what happened before the helicopter struck the ground.

The recovery of the black box provides investigators with another potentially important source of evidence.

Officials have not yet attributed the crash to mechanical failure, pilot error, weather, fuel or any other specific factor.

Until the investigation produces such findings, claims circulating on social media about what caused the crash remain unverified.

Who was Wicknell Chivayo?

For many Zimbabweans and people across the region, Chivayo was much more than a businessman.

He had built an unusually public profile around wealth, philanthropy, business and his relationships with political leaders.

His social-media accounts regularly featured photographs and videos of him with African presidents and other prominent figures.

He was photographed with Mnangagwa and had publicly documented relationships with leaders including Kenya’s William Ruto, Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema and Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan.

His relationship with Ruto became particularly visible after Chivayo shared a video showing the Kenyan President driving him to his helicopter.

That image became part of the larger Chivayo phenomenon: a businessman whose proximity to political power was itself a major part of his public identity.

The businessman behind the social-media celebrity

Chivayo was associated with Intratrek Zimbabwe, an engineering and energy company that became involved in major infrastructure projects.

The Gwanda Solar Project was among the most significant.

The project brought both business opportunity and controversy, with legal disputes and criminal allegations surrounding payments and the project’s implementation.

Chivayo and Intratrek were eventually acquitted of fraud charges connected to the project after the magistrate found that the prosecution had been delayed unreasonably.

The Gwanda project remained unfinished for years, however, before Intratrek was given another opportunity to proceed under revised arrangements in 2026.

That complicated business history formed part of the background to a businessman who became increasingly prominent in Zimbabwe’s economic and political circles.

The man who made his lifestyle part of the story

Chivayo’s wealth was impossible to separate from his public persona.

He openly displayed luxury vehicles, watches, private aircraft, expensive clothing and large cash gifts.

He also became known for giving vehicles and substantial sums of money to musicians, church figures, sports personalities and other Zimbabweans.

Those gifts generated enormous social-media attention.

For supporters, they represented generosity and philanthropy.

For critics, his extraordinary wealth and proximity to political power raised questions about business influence and access to government contracts.

Chivayo consistently presented himself as a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist and rejected accusations of wrongdoing.

His death has therefore reopened interest in not only his wealth and business career, but also the unusual network of relationships he built across Africa.

The presidents who knew him

Perhaps no part of Chivayo’s public life was more recognisable than his photographs with presidents.

He cultivated relationships with political leaders and made many of those encounters public.

That is why reactions to his death have extended well beyond Zimbabwe.

Kenyan President William Ruto described Chivayo as a dear friend and expressed sadness at his death.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan also issued a condolence message, describing him as a young and visionary entrepreneur who had touched many lives.

The reactions illustrate the unusual reach of Chivayo’s personal network.

He was a Zimbabwean businessman, but his public profile had become distinctly regional.

What we know — and what we do not

At this stage, several facts are established.

Wicknell Chivayo, his wife Lucy Muteke, two pilots and a security aide died when their Bell 430 helicopter crashed in the Marondera area on Wednesday.

The helicopter caught fire after impact.

Investigators have recovered the black box.

Forensic and aviation experts are examining the crash.

And the Civil Aviation Authority says the actual cause of the crash has not yet been established.

What remains unanswered is what happened in the moments before the helicopter hit the ground.

That is likely to be the central question for investigators as they examine the aircraft, the black box, the flight path and other available evidence.

For now, speculation about the cause should remain exactly that — speculation.

A life interrupted

The timing of Mnangagwa’s recollection adds another layer to the tragedy.

According to the President, Chivayo was still discussing future plans for Zimbabwe and Africa on Tuesday.

By Wednesday evening, he was dead.

For a businessman who had built much of his public identity around ambition, wealth, generosity and an unusually close relationship with political leaders, his death has brought those plans to an abrupt end.

The question now is not only what happened to the helicopter, but what will become of the projects, businesses and initiatives Chivayo left behind.

As investigators work to establish the cause of the crash, Zimbabwe is left mourning a businessman whose life had become a public spectacle — and whose final journey has now become the subject of a major aviation investigation.

Zambian Eye will continue to follow the investigation as authorities release further findings.