By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
Sir Wicknell was the businessman Zimbabweans loved to argue about — and the philanthropist they could never ignore.
Wicknell Chivayo, the flamboyant tycoon whose generosity reached from football pitches to churches, from war veterans to struggling musicians, died on Wednesday night in a helicopter crash in rural Marondera alongside his wife Lucy Muteke and four others.
They were flying home from Gandami in rural Chikomba, where they had been building modern family and community structures — brick by brick, in the soil of the countryside he never stopped investing in.
He died doing what he loved most: building.
“Numbed and in deep shock”
The news broke late Wednesday and by Thursday morning, Zimbabwe was a country in collective disbelief.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who had met Chivayo at Cabinet only a day earlier, led a wave of national mourning with a statement of unusual intimacy.
“The sudden and unexpected tragic passing on of Mr and Mrs Chivayo, two crew members and a security aide in a helicopter crash yesterday afternoon left our Nation, my family, and me personally numbed and in deep shock and grief,” the President said.
“We are all shattered by this unexpected, sudden demise of so young a family and officers for whom so much promise held.”
Mnangagwa described Chivayo as “consummately philanthropic” — a man whose charity “ran into millions of dollars” and “touched so many lives.”
“He embodied the Second Republic’s ethos of indigenous enterprise tempered with a human face, an admirable legacy which is sure to inspire a generation.”
Perhaps the most personal note came when the President revealed that Chivayo had shared his grand plans for the nation with him just two days earlier.
“He shared with me some of these grand plans only this last Tuesday after our Cabinet meeting, just a day before his tragic end.”
A friend across the border
In Kenya, President William Ruto mourned a man he called a dear friend.
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic passing of my friend, Wicknell Chivayo, together with his wife, Lucy Muteke, and the other lives lost in the helicopter crash in Zimbabwe,” Ruto said.
“Their sudden departure is a painful loss to their families, friends and all who knew them.”
He remembered Chivayo for “his friendship, his energy and his deep conviction in the possibilities of our continent.”
A musician’s grief — and a postponed wedding
For musician Jah Prayzah and his wife Rufaro, the loss cut deeper than any public statement could capture.
Sir Wicknell was the artist’s most prominent benefactor — and, by all accounts, a brother.
“Hatina mashoko akakwana panguva yakadai,” the couple wrote in a joint statement.
“The sudden loss of our dear brother Sir Wicknell Chivayo, his wife Lucy, and all those who lost their lives in this tragic accident has left us deeply heartbroken.”
They described him as “more than a friend” — “family, a brother, and someone who walked closely with us through many chapters of life.”
Then came an announcement that underlined the depth of the loss: their wedding, scheduled for 3 October, has been postponed.
“Pane nguva yekuti zvimwe zvinhu zvese zvinofanira kumbomira,” they wrote. “There are times when everything else must pause. Out of love, respect and the need to grieve with family, our wedding which was scheduled for 3 October has been postponed.”
The football club that lost its anchor
In the world of sport, Scottland FC — the club Chivayo sponsored — was left reeling.
A close friend and businessman, Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya, wrote of a man who “believed in our dreams, stood by us through every triumph and challenge, and became an invaluable part of the Scottland FC family.”
“The void left by this sudden demise is huge, not only for Scottland FC, but for everyone whose lives were touched by his generosity.”
The measure of a man
Sir Wicknell was a polarising figure. His wealth was loud, his spending louder, and his name rarely appeared in the news without controversy trailing behind it.
But on Thursday, that argument fell silent.
What remained was the record of what he gave: schools, churches, clinics, football kits, groceries, cars, cash for war veterans, support for artists, and — as the President noted — a vision for rural development that he was actively building when he died.
He was, in the words of the President, a man who believed in “the less privileged ones and our war veterans, whose social condition he diligently worked to ameliorate.”
A family’s loss
Behind the public mourning, there is a family in ruins.
A wife. A husband. Four others whose names will be added to the roll of the departed. Children, parents, siblings and colleagues whose lives changed forever on a Wednesday night in Marondera.
President Mnangagwa’s closing words were directed to them.
“We mourn with and stand by them in this hour of deep, inconsolable grief and pain,” he said.
“As they go through the motions of this consuming tragedy, may the bereaved families find solace and comfort in the great and distinguished work and service which the dear departed rendered to our Nation.”
What remains
In Gandami, in rural Chikomba, there are structures Chivayo was building when he died — family homes, community buildings, the beginnings of something he believed would outlast him.
He did not get to finish them.
But perhaps that is the point. The man who gave away millions, who believed in Zimbabwe’s potential and put his money where his faith was, left behind a country still arguing about him — and a great many people who will never forget him.
Sir Wicknell, as many called him, is gone.
The building continues.
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