HARARE – Wicknell Chivayo’s spending spree shows no signs of abetting after the controversial businessman donated US$100,000 cash, a home solar system and a US$40,000 Toyota Hilux D4D to the Roman Catholic Church’s St Gerard’s Parish in Greystone Park, Harare.
The 40-year-old, who shot to fame after his company was awarded a US$173 million tender to build a solar power plant in Gwanda, said his donation was “thank you” to the church for standing with him when his mother died.
Chivayo attends the Johanne Masowe eChishanu apostolic sect.
“This is my small way of saying thank you to the church for all the endless support they gave us as a family during and after my mother’s funeral,” Chivayo told The Herald. “Losing a parent is the most painful thing on this planet and they made the burden lighter for us. When the head priest drives around using the vehicle for God’s work and duties, may he remember us in his prayers as we are nothing without the Lord’s blessings.”
St Gerard’s Parish Priest, Father Mark Chikuni, said they would use the donated money to construct a prayer and meeting room for members of his late mother’s Sacred Heart Guild in her honour.
“Also being contemplated is the completion of projects at the church’s International Shrine to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Charlotte Brooke, Harare, using part of the funds. We pray that one day you will visit this sacred shrine and see how your mother has been immortalised,” Fr Chikuni wrote to Chivayo.
Chivayo said he grew up in the church and was at one time an altar server. He joined Johanne Masowe eChishanu when he turned 30.
In April, Chivayo bought his church leader, Lawrence Lavious Katsiru and his wife, Violet, two new off-road Toyota vehicles, a 2023 Hilux GR Sport and 2023 Fortuner VX, respectively, worth US$162,000. He said they were “Easter gifts.”
Chivayo followed that up by splashing on six luxury cars reportedly worth US$3.5 million, all imported in just over a month. The fleet includes four Rolls Royce vehicles bought in London and a 2023 Mercedes Benz Maybach and a 2023 Range Rover imported from South Africa.
The businessman’s spending habits, all posted on social media, have set tongues wagging and reportedly triggered enquiries from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and the Reserve Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit.
Chivayo refuses to disclose the source of his newfound wealth after years of costly litigation battling allegations of fraud over the Gwanda solar project which stalled after power utility, ZESA, had already paid him US$5.6 million. He was acquitted after two trials and ordered by a court to complete the project. ZESA refuses to pay and has appealed to the Supreme Court.
Speculation that he has won a new government tender is rife, with internet claims linking him to a recent government order of 32 helicopters from Russia at a cost of US$320 million.
His associates also claim new success in winning tenders in regional countries after allegedly introducing the Chinese company, CHiNT Electric. CHiNT was one of the companies backing Chivayo’s solar project in Gwanda.
Chivayo told ZimLive: “You sound bothered that I have money. Do you know anyone who is missing money? Of course you don’t. So don’t bother me.”
