T lady Auxillia Mnangagwa is said to have ordered controversial business- man Wicknell Chivhayo to be shut out of State House after a recording of him al- legedly boasting that President Emmer- son Mnangagwa is in his pockets.
Chivhayo is facing a Zimbabwe Anti-Cor- ruption Commission (Zacc) investigation af- ter a public fallout with his business part- ners Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu re- vealed that he could have benefited from an allegedly corrupt Zimbabwe Electoral Com- mission (Zec) tender worth US$40 million.
In the recording he could be heard saying he can land any lucrative government ten- der because of his proximity to Mnangagwa and other top officials.
Officials close to the first lady said she re- acted angrily to Chivayo’s revelations and the two exchanged harsh words.
The sources said Chivayo was initially arrogant, but is now sending emissaries to Auxilia pleading for forgiveness.
“He has sent emissaries to the first lady asking for forgiveness because she had or- dered that he be banned from visiting the State House,” the official said.
“The issue is that three weeks ago, as soon as it emerged that he was going about using the president's name, Amai (Auxilia) demanded that he must stay away from her husband as he was was tarnishing the im- age of the president.
“But Chivhayo lashed back at her saying she had no authority to stop him.
“He told her in no certain terms that she had no authority to do so. He said Mnangag- wa was a national and not a family presi- dent.”
Chivayo, who is said to be out of the coun- try, is said to have sent an emissary with a written apology.
“Upon realising that he was about to lose everything he had worked for, he sent an em- issary, one Madziababa Tyrage,” the official said.
“He penned an apology letter to the first lady.”
Chivhayo is heard on audios, which were sent in January this year to a closed What- sApp group he opened with his now estranged business partners, claiming to have made sev- eral payments to senior government officials to land a supply contract with Zec.
The businessman tried to deny that the voice notes were his.
He, however, apologised to Mnangagwa,
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo
his wife, Central Intelligence Organisation director-general Isaac Moyo, chief cabinet secretary Martin Rushwaya and Zec chair- person Justice Priscilla Chigumba for the “adverse impression” created by the leaks, which he blamed on Chimombe and Mpofu.
State House sources said the business- man had ‘corruptly captured’ Mnangag- wa’s security details such that he was being briefed wherever the president was going and allowed unrestricted access.
“He had corruptly captured the State House staff,” the source said.
“He wanted to have a picture of him with the president every time.
“Even when not necessary, he did so in a bid to convince his handlers that he had the president in his pockets.”
Chivhayo’s mobile phone was not going through yesterday despite repeated efforts. Messages sent to his WhatsApp number were also not delivered.
Chivayo, whose garage boasts of dozen Rolls Royce cars, has given away more than 100 vehicles to Zanu PF-leaning public fig- ures in less than a year.
According to some of the beneficiaries of his philanthropy, he demanded them to re- cord videos or be pictured with their vehi- cles as a way of showing the world that he had done “something for them”.
Mpofu and Chimombe, who are demand- ing US$10 million in lost earnings from Chivayo, have released damaging informa- tion on him, revealing the inner workings of their collapsed partnership.
In particular, the information which in- cludes confidential documents appears to
show that Chivayo’s friend Scott Sakup- wanya won contracts of up to US$40 mil- lion with Zec in the run-up to the August 2023 general elections.
These were for the provision of tents, electronic devices, biometric hardware and software, ink, and training among others.
Through Sakupwanya’s Better Brands company, the men signed a contract with South African firm Ren Form which would do all the work and supply the materials at inflated prices.
Along the way, Chivayo allegedly told his partners that because the Better Brands bank account in South Africa was fairly new, the bank would flag any big payments going into it and then he suggested that they use the account of his company, In- tratrek, instead.
Ren Form CCC, according to documents, subsequently paid Chivayo through the In- tratrek account.
He transferred US$200,000 to Chimombe and a similar amount to Mpofu in various transactions before the payments stopped.
Chimombe and Mpofu claim, in let- ters written by their lawyers, that Chivayo fraudulently altered their agreement with Ren Form, leaving himself as the sole par- ty to the contract.
Both Zec and Ren Form CCC on Friday issued statements denying any connection with Chivayo, Mpofu and Chimombe, but did not say anything about Better Brands.
Zacc last week said it had gathered enough information to prosecute the trio
