Tendai Ruben Mbofana
When a nation’s head of state stands before a massive gathering of citizens and offers explicit political absolution to unexplained, ostentatious wealth, the very foundations of public accountability tremble.
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Earlier today at the Gwanzura Shrine, surrounded by leaders and congregants of the Johane Masowe apostolic movement, President Emmerson Mnangagwa turned to controversial tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo.
He then delivered a blessing that should chill every hardworking Zimbabwean: “Tinokutenda, Muchinda Sir Wicknell Chivhayo. Ugoramba uchipiwawo kuti ungoramba uchipa.”
Thank you, Sir Wicknell Chivhayo. May you continue to receive so that you can continue to give.
With those few words, the highest office in the land effectively converted deep-seated public concern over corrupt state procurement into a state-sanctioned mandate for perpetual, unaccountable spending.
Mr. President, this is not philanthropy to be praised; it is a financial spectacle that demands immediate, rigorous investigation.
The urge to gloss over Chivayo’s fortune as mere private generosity ignores a long, well-documented trail of severe public accusations, legal trials, and criminal convictions regarding financial misconduct in Zimbabwe and across its borders.
In 2004, Chivayo was convicted of high-value fraud involving illegal currency conversion and served a three-year sentence inside Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.
Years later, his firm Intratrek Zimbabwe was awarded a US200 million contract for the Gwanda Solar Power Project, receiving over US5 million in state advances from the Zimbabwe Power Company.
Despite no meaningful solar infrastructure being delivered to alleviate the nation’s severe energy crises, Chivayo managed to navigate prolonged fraud charges to secure court acquittals.
More recently, leaked audio recordings and financial intelligence disclosures linked him to an inflated US$100 million election supply arrangement for the 2023 general elections alongside South African printing firm Ren-Form.
Invoices revealed staggering markups—including a server charged at R23 million against a retail value of R90,000.
Crucially, disclosures from South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) flagged the transaction, revealing that after the Zimbabwean Ministry of Finance paid Ren-Form over R1 billion, more than R800 million was transferred into business bank accounts controlled by Chivayo.
While the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission closed its local probe citing a lack of direct contractual paperwork, anti-corruption watchdogs continue to point out his extraordinary “state capture” footprint.
Despite his controversial track record, he enjoys unhindered access to the presidency, accompanies official state delegations, and routinely secures lucrative state-backed exclusivity deals like IMC Communications’ agency arrangement with Starlink.
In any functional democracy governed by the rule of law, such a track record—paired with a sudden, extravagant splash of millions of dollars—would instantly trigger the attention of revenue collectors and financial intelligence units.
For years, ordinary Zimbabweans have watched in bewilderment as Chivayo parades fleets of luxury vehicles, hands out stacks of US dollar bills, and distributes high-end assets to political influencers, musicians, and religious figures.
This is not benevolence; it is the grotesque weaponization of unverified wealth designed to buy patronage, silence critique, and manipulate public perception.
To frame this vulgar display as charitable giving is an insult to the millions of Zimbabweans currently drowning in severe socio-economic distress.
True philanthropy builds enduring public institutions, stocks empty hospital pharmacies, equips dilapidated schools, and drills boreholes for communities suffering under persistent municipal failures.
Handing out high-end Mercedes-Benzes and Range Rovers to a chosen elite while rural clinics lack basic painkillers and major cities go months without clean running water is not giving—it is political grandstanding.
It highlights a predatory system where public resources are siphoned into private hands, only to be tossed back to the public as feudal acts of generosity.
By publicly thanking Chivayo and praying for his coffers to remain full so he can continue his spending spree, the presidency sends a catastrophic message to the state’s oversight institutions.
How can anti-corruption bodies carry out their constitutional mandates to issue Unexplained Wealth Orders or audit state procurement deals when the President himself has publicly endorsed the beneficiary?
Such remarks effectively insulate politically connected actors from scrutiny, signaling to the public that allegiance and flamboyant displays of loyalty guarantee total immunity from the law.
The state’s primary duty is not to cheerlead the private benevolence of state contractors, but to ensure that public funds are managed with transparency, equity, and integrity.
Every dollar that disappears into bloated, under-delivered, or dubious state tenders is a dollar stolen from the public healthcare system, from civil service salaries, and from foundational infrastructure that could uplift millions out of poverty.
Mr. President, Zimbabweans do not need a culture of elite hand-outs, nor do they need state-approved oligarchs playing benefactor to the masses.
They need justice, transparency, and institutional integrity.
Instead of encouraging Wicknell Chivayo to continue his streak of unscrutinized spending, the state must compel him to account for every single cent.
The presidency must choose between protecting the integrity of the republic or endorsing the very excesses that are bankrupting it.
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to contact him on +263715667700 or mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com