Investigators probe crash that killed Wicknell Chivayo

Zimbabwe’s aviation authority has opened an investigation into the helicopter crash that killed businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife, Lucy Muteke, saying preliminary findings show fuel spilled when the aircraft hit the ground and a fire followed.

“Preliminary findings show that fuel spilled on impact, followed by a fire that burnt the grass at the crash site,” George Mashababe, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, said on Thursday. He said investigators had not yet established what caused the crash.

The helicopter went down at Kudenga Farm in the Marondera rural area, about 72 kilometers east of Harare, at about 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday. It had taken off from the Chivayo family home in Gandami, about 144 kilometers from the capital.

Herbert Chivayo, a spokesperson for the family, confirmed the deaths to the state broadcaster ZBC. “When it crashed, it burst into flames,” he said. He said there were five people on board: two pilots, Chivayo’s security aide, his wife and Chivayo himself.

Police have given a different count. Police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the aircraft had six occupants and that all of them died. The government said the dead included “one high-profile businessman, three other passengers, and two pilots,” and that police would confirm the victims’ identities in due course.

Black box recovered

The aviation authority has recovered the helicopter’s black box, which was reportedly found intact. It is expected to be central to the investigation.

Formal identification of the victims has not yet been completed. Herbert Chivayo said the severity of the crash had made it difficult to identify the remains and that the family was waiting for forensic experts to finish their work before the bodies could be removed from the site.

The aviation authority has not disclosed the helicopter’s flight path, its maintenance record or the weather conditions at the time of the crash.

A polarizing figure

Chivayo was one of the best-known members of a new class of conspicuously wealthy Zimbabwean businessmen with close ties to the ruling ZANU-PF party. His lifestyle stood in sharp contrast to the economic hardship faced by most Zimbabweans.

He was famous for his displays of wealth on social media and for his giveaways of luxury cars and cash. Weeks before his death, he gave a Rolls-Royce, a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and a Maybach to a Zimbabwean preacher and his wife. He also gave another church $2 million in cash, along with buses and cars, at a ceremony where he was filmed showing off bundles of banknotes.

His fortune rested largely on state contracts. In 2015, his company Intratrek Zimbabwe won a contract worth more than $170 million to build a 100-megawatt solar plant in the southwestern town of Gwanda. The plant was never built. The state power utility tried to cancel the deal over the delays, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the contract was still valid, and the government ordered last month that the project go ahead. His death leaves the future of that project and his other energy contracts uncertain.

Chivayo served three years in prison about two decades ago after a criminal conviction. In later years, he moved in powerful circles both at home and abroad, cultivating close ties with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and appearing alongside the leaders of Eswatini, Kenya and Uganda.

Kenyan President William Ruto mourned him as a “dear friend” after the crash. In Zimbabwe, his death has drawn intense attention online, where some critics have questioned how quickly officials confirmed details of the crash before the investigation was complete.