JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – “A prophet is not without honour except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home,” the Holy Bible says in the book of Mark.
He may not be a prophet but Wicknell Chivayo, the riches-peddling Zimbabwean businessman, must sometimes feel he ranks amongst the prophets.
Chivayo this week posted pictures of himself meeting Zambian leader Edgar Lungu, and revealed how he has completed 26 renewable energy projects in the southern African country.
The 36-year-old has been prosecuted in Zimbabwe over delays on a 100-megawatt solar project, before a High Court ruling this week laid the blame on the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) and ordered Chivayo’s Intratrek company to be allowed to complete the US$200 million project.
The criminal charges have also been quashed.
Describing Lungu as a “kind-hearted” man, Chivayo said he was “equally at home both in Lusaka and Harare”.
“As the regional coordinator for a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, I will tirelessly pursue my passion to generate more renewable energy for Africa. In this beautiful country next door, we have implemented and successfully completed 26 fully-funded turnkey EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) projects,” Chivayo said in a Facebook post.
Chivayo said he was not an “unusually intelligent person with extraordinary gifts” but a “regular person who made a daily list of critical tasks that needed to get done and did them even when I didn’t feel like it.”
He advised his followers: “Be positive, be smart, be pro-active and learn to try new things,” he said. “The world is not ruled only by us prayer warriors but also by the mental warriors. Thinking is the highest paying job in every field.”
Chivayo, who has no shortage of critics in Zimbabwe, made worse by the deepening energy crisis as the country struggles with its power generation, claimed “when you make it big, they will hate you, spread lies and then also recruit others to hate you.”
But as he so often appears to have done over many years of legal troubles, he counselled: “Many great ideas have been lost because people who had them could not stand being laughed at. Just ignore them, keep going and don’t look back.”
