- Three Zimbabwean luxury car dealerships reportedly supplied vehicles to Wicknell Chivayo on credit, with the total outstanding amount reaching approximately US$5.1 million (KSh 662 million)
- Chivayo's estate faces a web of financial questions, from disputed property deals to a private jet that left Zimbabwe weeks after his death
- A Harare mansion linked to Chivayo may never have been fully transferred to him, potentially giving the original seller grounds to reclaim it
The estate of the late Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo is shaping up to be one of the most complicated in recent memory, with reports of millions owed to luxury car dealerships surfacing just weeks after his passing.
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Chivayo and his wife, Lucy Muteke, died on September 30 when a helicopter crashed near Marondera.
His family is now in the early stages of appointing an executor to manage his estate, a process that could take considerable time given the scale and complexity of the assets and liabilities reportedly involved.
Car dealers counting the cost
According to a report by ZimLive, three dealerships supplied Chivayo with vehicles under credit arrangements that allowed him to collect cars and settle the bill later, typically within three months.
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Payments were reportedly tied to government disbursements, which formed a substantial part of his income.
Faramatsi Motors reportedly had the largest outstanding balance at around US$2.4 million. Exquisite Cars was allegedly owed US$1.4 million, while Enterprise Car Sales had a reported outstanding balance of approximately US$1.3 million, bringing the combined figure to roughly US$5.1 million (over KSh 662 million).
Not everyone accepts the figures at face value. Victor Vikela, owner of Exquisite Cars, said the reported amount was greatly exaggerated and confirmed he had written off whatever Chivayo owed his business.
Faramatsi Motors owner Matsika declined to comment on individual client transactions, and Enterprise Car Sales owner Madzibaba Tendai Chipanga could not be reached for comment.
South African dealers are also reportedly seeking to recover outstanding payments, with some vehicles said to be stranded at the Beitbridge border post because customs duties remain unsettled.
Property claims and a moving jet
Beyond the car debts, Chivayo's high-value property holdings are attracting scrutiny.
He was reportedly in the process of purchasing a property in England valued at US$12 million, completing the deal just days before his death.
He had also publicly spoken about owning properties in Dubai, Eswatini, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Adding to the intrigue, his Gulfstream G550 private jet, which he valued at US$34 million, reportedly departed Zimbabwe on October 18 and landed in Basel, Switzerland, with the reasons for the journey not immediately clear.
A Harare mansion in the Gletwyn suburb, sitting on roughly 11.5 hectares across four plots, may present the thorniest question of all.
Chivayo agreed to buy the property from former police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri in 2017 for US$2.555 million.
The deal reportedly stalled over a tax dispute after Zimbabwe's revenue authority valued the property at US$7 million for capital gains purposes, generating a potential tax liability of US$1.4 million.
The transfer to Chivayo's WMC Family Trust was never completed, and a legal expert cited by ZimLive suggested Chihuri could seek to reclaim the property by arguing the partial payment should be treated as rent rather than a purchase deposit.
Chivayo also held government contracts worth nearly US$1 billion through companies including IMC Communications, Intratrek and TTM Global Medical Exports, and the future of those businesses remains uncertain.
Source: TUKO.co.ke