Wicknell Chivayo shared grand plans with me a day before helicopter crash — Mnangagwa

President Emmerson Mnangagwa says the nation has been left numb and in deep shock following the death of Wicknell Chivayo, his wife, two crew members and a security aide in a helicopter crash in rural Marondera on Wednesday afternoon.

In a condolence message issued on Thursday, 1 October 2026, the President said he, his family and the entire nation were shattered by the sudden and unexpected loss of a young family and officers for whom so much promise was held.

The Presidency confirmed that Chivayo and his wife Lucy Muteke died alongside two crew members and a security aide when their aircraft came down yesterday afternoon.

The group was on its way back from Gandami in rural Chikomba, where the Chivayos were constructing modern family and community structures.

President Mnangagwa said the project was in line with Government policy on rural development through investment, industrialisation, development and transformation, and that Chivayo’s vision dovetailed with the country’s broad national goals.

The President described the Chivayo family as consummately philanthropic, whose generosity had touched countless lives across Zimbabwe.

“The Chivayo Family touched so many lives in our Nation through its countless acts of charity and generosity which ran into millions of dollars, and which motivated and transformed countless lives,” President Mnangagwa said.

“Its generous hand cut across sectors and reached many individuals: in politics, religion, public service, culture, sport and many different professions.”

The President said the late Chivayo had a grand vision not only for his family, but for Zimbabwe, the Southern African sub-region and the African continent, and had, in his own way, deepened the country’s programme of engagement and re-engagement, raising the Zimbabwean flag high.

“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,” he said.

President Mnangagwa revealed that he was personally aware of Chivayo’s plans for the less privileged and for war veterans, whose social conditions he had worked diligently to ameliorate.

He said Chivayo had shared some of those grand plans with him only on Tuesday after the Cabinet meeting, just a day before his death.

“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, all in line with our policy on rural development,” the President said.

President Mnangagwa extended his deepest, heartfelt condolences to the Chivayo family and to the families of all those lost in the crash.

“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, and for which they will continue to be remembered and emulated.

“May their dear souls be rested eternally.” *_-Pindula_*