THE late flamboyant business tycoon Wicknell Chivayo, who died in a horrific helicopter crash with his wife Lucy Muteke, her personal assistant and two pilots near Marondera on Wednesday last week, did not fully pay former police commissioner Augustine Chihuri for his Hollywood-stnsion in the affluent Gletwyn suburb bordering Chishawasha Hills in the northeastern environs of Harare's wealthy residential areas, The NewsHawks can exclusively reveal.
Details gathered after an enquiry about the issue show that Chivayo only paid Chihuri US$1.4 million in May 2024 for the lavish mansion valued at US$2.5 million at the time.
A well-informed source who was involved in the transaction said:
"The fact and truth of the matter is that Chivayo had not fully paid for the property at the time of his tragic death last week.
The house in Gletwyn was valued at US$7 ut Chivayo only paid US$1.4 million and the balance was to be settled through 'services', which are very difficult to quantify and value in monetary terms, particularly when the buyer is now deceased.
What this means is that Chihuri will have to decide what happens next because he wasn't fully paid."
In Zimbabwe, delivery and occupancy of a purchased house are legally and physically complete only after the successful registration of a new Title Deed at the Deeds Registry Office and the subsequent physical handover of the property.
Under Zimbabwean law (Deeds Registries Act), simply signing an Agreement of Sale and moving into the house does not make one the rightful legal owner.
True ownership and full delivery require a two-part handover process, which includes payment of the full price, depending on terms and conditions, and conveyancing process.
The conveyancer has to conduct a search at the Deeds Registry to ensure the title is clean, unencumbered by outstanding mortgages, and valid under current regulations like Statutory Instrument 76 (SI 76).
There is need for a rates clearance certificate, settlement of Zimra's capital gains tax, payment of transfer fees and stamp duty, and lodging and registration before occupancy.
Sources said the outstanding US$1.1 million balance was supposed to be paid through "political services" rendered to Chihuri by Chivayo.
"The deal over the house was not fully cash-based and had problem at two levels from the start.
First, payment was not in full. The US$1.1 million balance to paid in 'services' brought a challenge of valuation of the services rendered which are not even written down.
How do you put a monetary value to 'political services' when one of the parties to the deal is no longer alive?
Secondly, there was a serious problem of valuation of the property.
While Chihuri sold the house for US$2.5 million, Zimbabwe valued it at US$7 million. That's a huge discrepancy of US$4.5 million.
So there was no agrement there.
This has far-reaching implications on the deal and what happens to the mansion given that Chivayo, the supposed new owner, is now deceased.
In the end, Chihuri still holds the keys to Chivayo's mansion."
The political services agreed between Chivayo and Chihuri
entailed resolving political tensions between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the former police boss that intensified before, during and after the November 2017 coup which brought the incumbent to power.
Chihuri supported Mugabe, hence opposed the coup. He tried to use the police to foil it, but failed.
After the putsch, Chihuri escaped to Malawi as Mugabe's political allies scattered.
The Zimbabwean state seized the mansion during investigations into Chihuri's wealth in 2020.
Government under Mnangagwa initiated legal action to confiscate an estimated US$32 million in assets and multiple properties linked to Chihuri, accusing him of building a criminal syndicate and siphoning public funds during his 25 years leading the police force.
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