The stench of corruption surrounding Zimbabwe\u2019s controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo just got harder to ignore. South African financial regulators are now circling, launching investigations into Ren-Form, a Johannesburg-based printing company accused of laundering money through dodgy election deals linked to Chivayo \u2014 a man whose rise to obscene wealth has always followed the shadow of political power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the heart of the scandal is Chivayo\u2019s close relationship with Zimbabwe\u2019s First Family. His access to power is not by chance \u2014 it is by design. His public bromance with President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s sons, Collins and Emmerson Junior, has turned him into an untouchable figure within Zimbabwe\u2019s corrupt ruling elite. He is not just a businessman. He is a gatekeeper. A runner. A front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, investigative reports by The Sentry<\/em> and Open Secrets<\/em>, published by South Africa\u2019s Daily Maverick<\/em>, exposed how Ren-Form partnered with Chivayo to supply election materials to Zimbabwe \u2014 at wildly inflated prices. According to the report, Ren-Form invoiced ZEC an outrageous R23 million for a server that usually costs R90,000. They also charged R68,700 per portable toilet \u2014 the same toilets you can pick up on the market for just R10,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the story doesn\u2019t end with overpriced servers and toilets. Zimbabwe\u2019s NewsHawks<\/em> later dropped another bombshell \u2014 audio recordings of Chivayo casually discussing how the looted millions from this deal would be shared among Zimbabwean officials. He refers to them using initials and code names, a clear sign that these are not small fish. These are big players \u2014 protected, powerful, and part of the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ren-Form\u2019s response? Their sales director, Jean-Pierre du Sart, told journalists: \u201cChivayo is our agent over there. There\u2019s nothing wrong with that.\u201d<\/em> But there is everything wrong with that when the so-called \u201cagent\u201d is not just a businessman \u2014 but a politically connected tenderpreneur with known ties to the Mnangagwa dynasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, South African authorities are investigating Ren-Form for possible money laundering offences, while Zimbabwe\u2019s Anti-Corruption Commission claims to have launched its own probe. Few Zimbabweans have faith in ZACC\u2019s willingness or ability to go after someone so deeply embedded in the First Family\u2019s inner circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wicknell Chivayo has built his empire on proximity to power. He flaunts cars, watches, and wads of cash on social media, while ordinary Zimbabweans suffocate under poverty, unemployment, and collapsing services. Every dollar he splashes is a reminder of a rigged system where political loyalty is rewarded with state contracts, and elections are just another business opportunity for those close to the throne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The million-dollar question now is \u2014 will the South African investigations finally break the wall of protection around Chivayo? Or will this be yet another scandal swept under Zimbabwe\u2019s already overcrowded rug of corruption?<\/p>\n\n\n\n One thing is clear. As long as the Mnangagwa family keeps feeding and protecting characters like Wicknell Chivayo, Zimbabwe\u2019s elections will remain for sale \u2014 and democracy will remain nothing but a smokescreen for looting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The stench of corruption surrounding Zimbabwe\u2019s controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo just got harder to ignore….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":422,"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions\/422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tsitsindoro.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}