By Crime and Courts Reporter-The South African government is investigating controversial Zimbabwean businessman and convicted fraudster Wicknell Chivayo following explosive revelations that Zimbabwe’s finance ministry paid over R1.1 billion to a South African company contracted to supply election materials—of which more than R800 million was immediately funneled into Chivayo-linked companies.
The revelations, detailed in a confidential forensic analysis by South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), have prompted urgent interest from South Africa’s law enforcement agencies, including the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the South African Police Service (SAPS), who are now moving towards possible arrest and prosecution.
The financial trail leads directly to Ren-Form CC, a Johannesburg-based commercial printing company handpicked to supply materials to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for the August 2023 general elections—bypassing public tender procedures.
According to documents seen by ZimLive, the FIC’s investigation, which analyzed Ren-Form’s bank transactions from April 2023 to May 2024, uncovered that once the Zimbabwean treasury deposited over R1.1 billion into the company’saccounts, more than R800 million was rapidly siphoned off to companies controlled by Chivayo—primarily Intratrek Holdings and Dolintel Trading Enterprise.
Chivayo’s murky dealings are not new. In 2017, he was convicted of fraud and served time in prison over a failed multimillion-dollar Zimbabwe Power Company contract.
Despite his criminal record, Chivayo has managed to reinvent himself as a politically connected tenderpreneur, frequently flaunting his close relationship with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other senior Zanu PF officials.
His growing influence within Zimbabwe’s power corridors has raised eyebrows, especially as his name continues to surface in multimillion-dollar contracts involving public funds. Chivayo has often been seen accompanying Mnangagwa on state functions and claims to enjoy the president’s full protection.
The Ren-Form contract would have remained shrouded in secrecy had it not been for a dramatic fallout between Chivayo and his business associates, Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu.
Audio clips and WhatsApp messages leaked to the media captured the trio squabbling over how to split “commission” payments from the Ren-Form deal. In the recordings, Chivayo brags about paying off senior government officials to secure the contract.
Although Chivayo has denied the voice recordings are his and apologized to Mnangagwa, former CIO director-general Isaac Moyo, cabinet secretary Martin Rushwaya, and ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba, the damage was already done.
His apology, notably, did not include a denial that payments were made—only regret for giving the impression that state institutions were complicit.
The leaked materials suggest that Ren-Form grossly inflated prices on a wide range of election materials—from ballot papers, biometric voter registration (BVR) kits, and servers to basic items like tents and non-flushing toilets—with the excess profits channeled as kickbacks to Chivayo and his partners.
In one instance, a central server valued at R90,000 online was billed at R23 million.
Non-flushing toilets were invoiced at R68,700 each—nearly seven times their retail cost. BVR kits, initially quoted at US$5,000, ballooned to US$16,000 by the time the invoice reached Zimbabwe’s treasury.
For comparison, the United Nations Development Programme paid just US$3,600 per unit for similar kits during the 2021 Honduran elections.
The FIC noted that once the payments landed in Chivayo-controlled accounts, money was swiftly transferred to multiple third parties.
These included a R156 million payment made directly by the Zimbabwean government to Edenbreeze, another Chivayo company, allegedly for “architectural and technical services.”
The FIC flagged Chivayo’s accounts for suspicious activities, citing the frequent movement of large, round-figure sums inconsistent with the account holder’s stated business profile.
He reportedly splurged more than R36 million from a personal account on luxury car purchases and made significant payments to law firms, car dealerships, travel agents, and obscure South African companies.
Among the entities receiving major payouts from Chivayo’s companies were:
- Asibambeki Platinum Group: R351 million
- Kumba Group: R28.8 million
- Indo Logistics: R9.4 million
- Daytona (luxury car dealer): R5.4 million
- Flight Centre SA: R1.6 million
- NN Truck and Trailer: R5.6 million
- Strauss Scher Inc (law firm): R4 million
- Christian by Hadassah (Zim makeup brand): R1 million
Although Chivayo denies any wrongdoing and insists the payments were legitimate business transactions, South African authorities appear unconvinced.
The FIC’s findings have not only been handed over to SARS and SAPS but also shared with Zimbabwe’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which is yet to take meaningful action.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission initially pledged to probe the election contract scandal but has since gone quiet, fueling speculation of political interference.
Chimombe and Mpofu—who accused Chivayo of betrayal—have since been arrested in Zimbabwe on unrelated corruption charges and denied bail, a move critics say was meant to silence them.
Ren-Form, for its part, has denied wrongdoing, but must now explain how it retained only R300 million of the R1.1 billion it received, suggesting that over R800 million was systematically extracted through inflated pricing.
As pressure mounts in South Africa, and with fresh evidence implicating both Zimbabwean state officials and politically exposed persons, Wicknell Chivayo may finally face the long arm of the law—not in Harare, but in Johannesburg.
ZimLive/ZimEye