HARARE, Zimbabwe- Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife were returning from a visit to family and community construction projects in rural Chikomba when their helicopter crashed, according to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In a condolence statement issued on Thursday, Mnangagwa said the couple had travelled to Gandami, where they were developing facilities intended to serve their family and the surrounding community.
The account offers details of the couple’s activities before the fatal crash in rural Marondera on Wednesday, September 30.
“Tellingly, the Chivayos lost their lives on their way back from Gandami in rural Chikomba where they were putting up modern family and community structures,” Mnangagwa said.
A visit to projects in rural Chikomba
The president described the developments as aligned with Zimbabwe’s policy of encouraging investment and development in rural areas.
His statement did not identify the individual buildings under construction, their cost or when they were expected to be completed. It also did not specify how long the couple had spent at the site before beginning their return journey.
Mnangagwa mourned the couple alongside two crew members and a security aide. He did not give details of the helicopter’s flight path or explain the cause of the crash.
Plans shared with Mnangagwa the previous day
The Gandami visit came a day after Chivayo discussed further plans with Mnangagwa following a Cabinet meeting.
The president said the businessman had outlined initiatives intended to benefit disadvantaged Zimbabweans and war veterans.
“I am personally aware of numerous plans he had for our Nation and our people, principally the less privileged ones and our war veterans, whose social condition he diligently worked to ameliorate,” Mnangagwa said.
“He shared with me some of these grand plans only this last Tuesday after our Cabinet meeting, just a day before his tragic end.”
The statement did not disclose the budgets or implementation schedules for those proposals.
Family’s charitable work remembered
Mnangagwa said the Chivayo family had supported people across politics, religion, public service, culture and sport through donations he put at millions of dollars.
He described Chivayo as a businessman whose ambitions extended beyond his family to Zimbabwe and the wider African continent.
The president said the sudden deaths had left him and his family in deep shock, and extended condolences to all the bereaved families.
“We mourn with and stand by them in this hour of deep, inconsolable grief and pain,” he said.
