The only figures anyone could ever check on Wicknell Chivayo were the ones he gave away: US$1 million to Zimbabwe’s football association in December 2015, US$250,000 to Highlanders FC hours before his death. His own fortune was a number he announced rather than filed.
He styled himself Sir Wicknell. He was reported at his death to be 43, an age not every account agrees on.
2015
Intratrek Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, which he founded and ran as managing director, was awarded the Gwanda Solar Project, put at roughly US$172 million. According to TheCityCeleb’s account of the contract, the company received a US$5 million advance payment and carried out no substantive construction. The tender did for his name what no advertisement could: it attached him permanently to the question of how state money moves in Zimbabwe.
December 2015
ZIFA accepted a US$1 million sponsorship from him, payable in instalments, at a time when Briefly reported the association was carrying debts of around US$6 million. Wealthy men sponsor football clubs all over the continent. Rather fewer of them bankroll the governing body.
2017
He married Sonja Madzikanda in a small ceremony; AllAfrica reported that a bride price of US$50,000 was paid. Two children followed, both reportedly under ten when he died.
February 2024
He told H-Metro he had become a centi-millionaire, with more than US$100 million to his name, and that within nine years, perhaps sooner, he would be a billionaire. In the same period he described a portfolio of projects worth over half a billion dollars across Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa, a figure he reported himself and nobody else confirmed. Briefly’s reporting is blunt on the point: no independently verified net-worth figure for him has ever been made public, and his precise worth at death remains unknown.
He spoke about money the way other men speak about their golf handicap, and with about as much documentation.
Later in 2024
He was acquitted of the criminal charges connected to the Gwanda contract. He was known, in the words of the public record of his career, for government tenders, a close association with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF, and a run of proceedings over fraud and money-laundering allegations. The acquittal closed the biggest of them.
The marriage closed too, after seven years. He had brought charges against Madzikanda and her mother and then withdrew all of them, saying, per Briefly, that he forgave her because she is the mother of his children. At the end of December she told her followers that if he had moved on and found love, everyone should clap and say well done.
2025
He married Lucy Muteke, known as Lulu.
June 2026
His company IMC Construction Kenya took a stake in the proposed US$2.9 billion expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as joint-venture partner of a Chinese consortium, according to TheCityCeleb, which is the only outlet to have reported it. By then his Kenyan connections ran above the commercial level. He had recently been received at State House in Nairobi and at President William Ruto’s private residence in Kilgoris.
Wednesday 30 September 2026
Highlanders FC announced his US$250,000 contribution that day, the club putting his support over two years at more than US$2 million. Hours later a helicopter came down at Kudenga Farm near Marondera. Police identified the victims as Chivayo, Lucy Muteke, pilot Calvin Tafirei Soda, co-pilot Courage Mutavirwa and security aide Saneliswe Magagula. There were no survivors. Forensic experts and aviation authorities completed preliminary work at the site, with DNA identification required because of the state of the remains; the cause remains under formal investigation.
Within the day, a post from the X account @_fels1 put his fortune at US$1 billion and travelled across East and Southern Africa, prompting arguments about the accuracy of the figure. It came from a social-media account, not a filing or a probate inventory. Nothing has since substantiated it.
Friday 2 October 2026
At the family’s Gletwin mansion in Harare, his uncle and spokesperson Herbert Chivayo told mourners that there would be no viewing of the bodies, and explained why in terms the room did not need repeating. The decision settled the funeral’s shape. It also framed everything said next, because what followed was about the estate.
With President Mnangagwa among the mourners, Herbert ruled out any claim on the fortune by the wider family and drew a line between the children and everyone else. He quoted his nephew directly: “When he was alive he would say, ‘Dad, if I die ensure that my children get most of my wealth so that they will grow up to remember me.'” He then asked the President to intervene if anyone ever went after the wealth. No will, probate filing or court record has been produced. The inheritance story rests on a spokesperson’s recollection of what the dead man used to say.
That same day Sonja Madzikanda arrived at the house with her mother, Tabitha, her first public appearance since the crash. The Zambian Observer reported that the two children were receiving counselling.
From Nairobi, Ruto said of him: “Wicknell was a dear friend whose warmth touched many people. I will remember him for his friendship, his energy and his deep conviction in the possibilities of our continent.” The Kenyan president’s tribute went out while Harare was still establishing who had been aboard.
Saturday 3 October 2026
His football team, Avelion FC, arrived at the family home, in kit, to pay respects. Of all the money he spent in public, the football was the part that came back to the door.
Thursday 8 October 2026
The burial was set for Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare, husband and wife together, Lucy Muteke’s relatives having given their approval for joint arrangements. Two families agreed on the plot in under a week, which is faster than most families agree on anything.
Eleven years earlier he had a US$172 million contract and a US$5 million advance. He died with a number he had declared himself, a bigger one the internet declared for him, and no audited figure anywhere between the two.
The children have a sentence, said aloud in front of a president.
Cover photograph via Iharare.
