UNANSWERED LETTERS, UNACCOUNTED BILLIONS AND THE STATE CAPTURE EXPOSED BY THE WICKNELL CHIVAYO AFFAIRS- WE DEMAND ANSWERS WITHIN 21 DAYS
By Anadi Njanjile Sululu
Former MP – Silobela Constituency
Founding Member, E-Movement
Interim Spokesperson, United Opposition
In February 2025, as a leader of the E-Movement, I formally wrote to the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, with copies duly filed to the President of the Republic, the Attorney General, and the Parliament of Zimbabwe. (Public Accounts Committee).
We wrote not as politicians seeking relevance, but as citizens pained by the visible suffering of our people while a few individuals became obscenely rich as the nation sank.
Corruption had reached shocking levels, the rule of law was tainted, and a clear pattern had emerged: those accumulating unexplained wealth were invariably linked to high-profile political protection.
That pattern holds to this day.
Regrettably, the heads of institutions sworn to defend our constitutional democracy chose deafening silence over constitutional duty.
No acknowledgement. No investigation.
No response until the man at the centre of our complaint, Wicknell Chivayo, died recently in the tragic helicopter crash near Marondera.
This silence has compelled me to write this inquiry.
WHO WAS WICKNELL CHIVAYO AND WHY WAS HE UNTOUCHABLE?
My concern with Mr. Chivayo did not begin yesterday.
In 2012, a friend, Bobchi, first brought his extravagant lifestyle to my attention the global shopping sprees, luxury hotels, private jets.
I asked a simple question then that remains unanswered today: “Where is he getting all this money from?”.
What followed was even more disturbing. A man with no verifiable large-scale operating company (with no functional factories nor export revenues) suddenly became the country’s most visible “philanthropist”.
Yet his philanthropy targeted the already rich: celebrities, influencers, and the politically connected.
This raised a fundamental question: Since when does genuine philanthropy ignore the poor and reward the privileged?
I took a stand among my peers and argued that his enterprise model did not add up.
To demonstrate conviction, I wrote directly to His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, asking him to clarify his relationship with Mr. Chivayo.
The President never responded. Attempts to engage him through official channels failed.
The incumbent Presidency remains inaccessible even by the most basic modern communication.
In July 2026, I sought an audience with the President to advise on CAB3 and to seek clarity in person on the Chivayo matter, since written letters had yielded nothing. On 8th July, in central Harare, I was targeted and harassed by six unknown men in what I believe was an attempted abduction and assassination.
I suspect they were linked to the ruling party. That is a story for another day, but it illustrates the cost of asking questions in today’s Zimbabwe.
A NATION IN RUINS WHILE PUBLIC FUNDS WERE DIVERTED
Zimbabwe is on the brink of becoming a banana republic not for lack of resources, but for lack of accountability.
While public money that should have built our national treasury was diverted, hospitals collapsed a reality brutally exposed when after Chivhayo’s helicopter crashed no emergency, quick medical response came to the sight in time, even the nearby Marondera hospital rescue teams.
While a few lived lavishly, our roads have become death traps, riddled with potholes and ranked among the worst in the region.
Our education system is crumbling as teachers earn poverty wages.
Our infrastructure has dilapidated and clean water has become a luxury.
This is not underdevelopment. This is plunder.
It is organised theft disguised as governance.
It is the betrayal of our people by those sworn to serve them.
Mr. Chivayo was routinely seen in the company of President Mnangagwa and other SADC Heads of State, posting selfies from high-level meetings on social media.
We must ask:
1.How does a private individual access Heads of State across the region without the facilitation and consent of his own President?
2.Was he conducting official government business outside constitutional channels, bypassing mandated Ministers?
3.How did such vast sums of physical US dollars allegedly enter and move within Zimbabwe via private jets without detection by the Reserve Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit [FIU], ZIMRA, Central Intelligence and the Zimbabwe Republic Police?
These are not rhetorical questions. They are serious governance questions.
They go to the heart of accountability. They demand answers not silence.
And they define whether we remain a constitutional democracy or a looting and corrupt regime.
Reports are now circulating in regional and social media alleging large financial losses linked to Mr. Chivayo involving regional leaders that includes allegations concerning an alleged $2.9 billion energy deal in Zambia.
And in Kenya unconfirmed reports indicate that billions of US dollars in cash linked to Kenyan sovereign funds were funneled through illicit channels and stashed at Chivhayo’s Borrowdale residence.
We have not independently verified these claims, and we do not present them as fact. But their widespread circulation demands immediate, transparent official clarification from the Zimbabwean government.
Silence will only fuel speculation and further damage Zimbabwe’s regional standing.
The President himself, in previous media engagements, referred to Mr. Chivayo as a close associate and defended the awarding of government tenders on account of proximity.
On the Denny J Show, a Zimbabwe hot podcast, talk show Mr. Chivayo stated that Government was his sole client. If that is true, then Government must account: How much was paid? For what was delivered? The Gwanda Solar Project and other uncompleted, uncontested tenders must be fully audited and made public.
OUR FIRM DEMANDS
On behalf of the E-Movement, the United Opposition, and suffering Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora, we demand the following:
1.A Presidential Address to the Nation within 21 days on the full extent of Government dealings with Wicknell Chivayo and his associated companies, including total amounts paid from Treasury and losses incurred. .
2.Immediate written responses from ZACC, Parliament and the Ministry of Finance to our letters of February 2025, as required by the Constitution.
3.A Public Forensic Audit of all ZESA, ZEC and other government contracts awarded to Mr. Chivayo’s entities.
4.A Statement from the Financial Intelligence Unit, RBZ and ZRP on how large volumes of cash were allegedly moved and held without triggering anti-money laundering protocols.
Failure to respond within 21 days will leave us with no option but to conclude that the President and the responsible Ministers have lost constitutional legitimacy and moral authority to manage public resources.
In that event, we will call for their resignation via courts and demonstrate to demand a government that serves the people, not a few zviganandas linked to power.
Zimbabweans have come to understand that gifting cars and cash to the rich was not philanthropy, but a smokescreen to sanitize illicit accumulation.
You no longer need a telescope to see that wealth without a traceable productive enterprise is a red flag for money laundering.
The E-Movement was born to fight corruption.
Our institutions must now choose: Constitution or State Capture.
Zimbabwe must benefit from its God-given resources, ALL of us, not just a connected elite.
