When the late legendary music icon Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi performed live in July 2017 in Chisipite, Harare, at the marriage ceremony of Wicknell Chivayo and his now estranged wife Sonja Madzikanda, I understand he played one particular song that should have served as a stark warning to this egoistic and pompous charlatan.
Tuku’s epic song Kubvongodza Muto makes reference to a fictional, grab-all zealot called Chimusoro who is often all over the show, selfishly seizing and appropriating anything and everything in his wake for himself.
The dog’s lyrics go like this:
Kukambira kambira wanyanya x2
Icho nechicho ndechangu
Ako nekako ndekangu
Uyu neuyo ndewangu
Chimusoro, wanyanya Chimusoro…….x2
Trending ex-convict and top ED acolyte, Wicknell Chivayo, who has set social media ablaze over his leaked audios is certainly Oliver Mtukudzi’s Chimusoro.
He has been all over the show grabbing all sorts of multi-million dollar contracts in controversial circumstances, most of which he does not deliver at all.
From a solar project which died a stillbirth to provision of election material, from controversially being appointed Starlink’s local partner by Mnangagwa himself to being a purveyor of trinkets and trappings to an assortment of artistes, ex-convict Wicknell is in it all.
Today, I take an analytic peek at Wicknell’s leaked audios that have gone viral and in which he makes startling exposures, though he is now disowning them, obviously after noting their full import, now that they are in the public domain.
Apparently stung by the implications of what he said in the voice notes, Chivayo yesterday issued a long statement denying that the audios were his, implicating and attributing their generation to Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe, erstwhile friends who he said had used sophisticated technology to imitate his voice.
In the statement, he denied a lot of things, including the controversial ZEC contract that has been in the public domain for over a month now while he kept quiet. The matter is before the courts. .
The problem is that Wicknell’s denial came a tardy too late, more than 48 hours after the audios had gone viral and had sent the country into a frenzy ‘.
A denial of such a serious matter should be prompt. That delay has exposed him.
And there is every reason to believe that his denial statement has been legally and politically contrived after realising the huge import and implications of what he said in the voice notes, particularly on Mnangagwa and on the integrity of CIO boss Isaac Moyo and ZEC chairperson Priscilla Chigumba..
Chivayo suspiciously kept quiet for days while everyone talked about his voice notes, including even chief government spokesman Nick Mangwana who insinuatingly likened Chivayo to Icarus , a character in Greek mythology who got over excited by his newly found flying capability and started flying close to the sun, forgetting that the wax that held his artificial wings together could melt and send him fumbling down from the fly..
Chivayo kept quiet for days while everyone talked, only to spring up and start crying foul day after an emergency Politburo meeting!
The serious revelations, made, particularly in the audio message dedicated to Mpofu and Chimombe, who he now accuses of masterminding the creation of the voice notes, include the explicit confirmation by Chivayo himself that he has firmly captured the State; that he has Mnangagwa in his pocket; that the President gives him direct and express instructions; that ED now calls him his son and that he is the recipient of several running and pending government contracts that have not and will not even be put to tender.
Today, I analyse and look at the import of what Chivayo said, in his own words, in the audios.
Generally speaking, the general import of the message in the audios is that Chivayo is Mnangagwa’s business front who now has his own reserved space in the cockpit of the State; in fact, a space far more special and more venerable than that of ED’s two VPs.
After listening intently to the audios, I now fully agree with those that are saying if the reason for the 2017 coup was that there were criminals around the President, why are the tanks not being rolled out when the evidence is out there that there are now even more hard core criminals surrounding the current President?
Anyway, herewith my own brief analysis of Chivayo’s leaked audios:
1. Ndakachibata Kuti Dzvi — I have fully captured the State
Chivayo says he has everything under his firm clutch and control. For emphasis, he echoes the same message three times in one line, just to showcase that he is in total control and in charge of things.
Judging by his own words in one of the voice notes, Chivayo could well be Zimbabwe’s de facto Prime Minister: “Ndakachibata kuti dzvi, kuti dzvi, kwete zvekufungira…” (I have everything firmly in my grasp, everything entirely under my control. Never doubt that.)
From the rest of the clip, we can deduce that Wicknell is just ED’s errand boy. The principal-agent theory states that when the agent (Chivayo) says he is in charge, he in fact means he is in control on behalf of his principal, in this case Mnangagwa, who he later informs us that he calls him over the phone even from abroad “to give me instructions on what to do.”
This is the clearest evidence yet that whatever we see Chivayo doing, he will be doing it on behalf of ED.
In short, it is Mnangagwa and not Chivayo, who has captured the State.
2. Tiri Vana VeMukuru—We are the President’s boys (fronts)
If anyone had any doubt that Wicknell is just a front, they only need to look at how he openly tells Mpofu and |Chimombe that he gets paid upfront on whatever contract he is awarded because “ tiri vana veMukuru” (Remember we are the President’s boys/fronts).
Chivayo only uses the plural term as a sign of respect to his colleagues but it is clear he is only talking about himself that he is the President’s emissary in all these contracts.
3. The President directly tells me what to do
Whatever he does, Chivayo will be working on the express instructions of the President: He says the last time at the airport, he accompanied Mnangagwa on the red carpet up to the door of the waiting plane where ED told him what he must do while he was away. This, he says, shows that he is right inside the thick of things.
Speaking in Shona, Chivayo said: “Ndakamuperekedza tichifamba pa red carpet kusvika padoor rendege ndikanzi osara uchidai, uchidai uchidai. Saka ndiri mukatikati.”
The import of this statement is that Wicknell operates on the President’s express instructions.
He is just a surrogate. The real principal is Mnangagwa himself and it is him who gives direction and the express command.
4. I receive advance payments
Dear reader, we have heard the government through Transport Minister Felix Mhona and others telling us that it was not government policy to give advance payments to contractors without them satisfactorily delivering to meet their side of the contract
In the case of road contractors, Mhona specifically said government will not pay road contractors until and unless they have delivered to the quality and standards expected by the government.
But it appears there is a different rule for Chivayo, who cites Mnangagwa as the sole reason why he is paid upfront: Nekuti tiri vana vemukuru (remember, we are the President’s fronts).
For Chivayo, it is the parentage of Mnangagwa’s that makes the difference.
5. I receive direct calls from the President when he’s on trips abroad
Just as a sign of the proximity between ED and his proxy and just so that, dear reader, you can see that the President cannot easily wash himself off Wicknell’s shenanigans, Chivayo says Mnangagwa shouted from the plane that he would call him from Italy about whatever he wanted done in his absence.
This line is just but a restatement of their cosy relationship, typical of any principal-agent nexus.
6. I am ahead of the VPs
That at the airport, ED communes last with Chivayo and not his two VPs before his departure for trips abroad speaks to Wicknell’s now elevated status in both government and party.
And on this he cannot even claim it is a creation by Mpofu and Chimombe. We have all seen the pictures at the airport, at the ZITF where he introduced was introduced to visiting Kenya President William Ruto and on the various trips abroad, including recently to Uganda, where ED deployed him instead of his deputies.
The optics that show that he is the last to be spoken to and that he gets the President’s last ear and attention before international departures could mean that in ED’s absence, our Wicknell could even be the de facto acting President.
7. The elections contract made me richer 20 times over
The highly inflated elections contract in which Chivayo was part of an élite network of middle persons in the purchasing of electoral kits and other voting material in the August 2023 elections made Wicknell super-rich.
As he says himself in one of the leaked audios, he is now 20 times richer than he was before the elections.
It has been reported that the US$40 million election contract, for which he fell out with Mpofu and Chimombe, was inflated by 235 percent.
In another leaked audio, Chivayo makes it clear how US1 million from the elections contract that came from Ren-form CC of South Africa would now be disbursed.
Chivayo says Mabvuku MP Scott Sakupwanya would get US$350 000 as his share, Chivayo himself, Mpofu and Chimombe would get US$150 000 each while CIO director-general Isaac Moyo and ZEC chairperson Priscilla Makanyara Chigumba would each get US$100 000.
It’s just a whole network of corruption that interestingly sucks in the head of the country’s spy agency and the head of the country’s purportedly independent electoral commission.
In a normal country, heads are supposed to roll.
But then this is Zimbabwe, a banana republic.
8. A contestant who orders the boxers’ fighting equipment
Just to reinforce that Mnangagwa is Chivayo’s principal, the US$40million contract was approved not by ZEC or the national procurement board but by the Office of the President and Cabinet, which means by Mnangagwa himself.
For me, the under-reported scandal in this whole sordid saga is that ZEC is supposed to be an independent Commission that must run polls autonomously .
That Mnangagwa, who was a candidate in the election, was allowed to meddle in the critical matter of choosing who would supply the voting materials for an election in which he was a contestant ought to be a very big issue.
Involvement in the procurement of voting material in an election in which he was a candidate was a privilege only accorded to Mnangagwa and not to any other Presidential candidate.
It was akin to allowing only one boxing contestant before a key contest to be involved in the procurement of gloves and other boxing equipment for the tournament.
In a normal country, this is a serious issue that sits at the heart of the integrity of an election.
But then this is Zimbabwe, a banana republic.
9. I will get upcoming contracts in the police, immigration and potentially in grain imports
Chivayo is even privy to upcoming government contracts in the various Ministries and other government departments .
What is telling even before the tenders have been floated, is that he is certain that it is him who will be awarded those huge contracts at the immigration department and in the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
He is certain because he is fronting ED’s interests in these government projects.
And of course, even for those coming government contracts, he will be paid in advance because “tiri vana vemukuru.”(Remember we are the President’s boys)
10. You talk too much
In typical hush money lingo, Chivayo accuses Mpofu and Chimombe of “talking too much.”
This is ironic, considering that it is Chivayo himself who talks too much, not only on the various social media platforms where he brags about his contracts and flaunts his wealth, cars and shoes, but also even in these various voice notes that have now gone viral,
It is Chivayo himself who talks too much.
Thankfully, because of the loudmouth, we now know the extent of Mnangagwa’s capture of the State, including even in the running of the last election.
Conclusion
All the key tenets of the leaked audios unpacked above show that Wicknell is not his own man. He is a Mnangagwa front.
The various dubious contracts, both running and pending, were and will be awarded to Wicknell with Mnangagwa’s’s knowledge and at his direct behest.
After all, some of these contracts, specifically the election materials contract and the Starlink partnership contract recently awarded to Chivayo’s IMC, were expressly but controversially awarded by Mnangagwa’s office, not by ZEC or POTRZ respectively, as should have happened.
In short, Wicknelli is just a surrogate.
When he says| Ndakachibata kuti dzvi, he in fact means Mnangagwa has fully captured the State,
only he has done so through these criminal minions that he has allowed to flood the space around him.
But the pertinent question remains: If Mugabe was ousted because of the criminals around him, what is it that should happen now that we have gone worse by having a criminal President and equally criminal minions around him?
Just why are the military tanks not being rolled out?
Luke Tamborinyoka is a citizen from Domboshava. He is a journalist and a political scientist by profession. You can interact with him on his facebook page or via the X handle @luke_tambo.
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