Wicknell Chivayo’s cousin and business partner, Joachim “G6” Chivayo, stunned mourners at a funeral service at Chivayo’s Gletwyn home on Thursday, 8 October, when he claimed Wicknell had squandered US$5 million meant for the Gwanda Solar Project.
The power plant has still not been built.
Joachim said that after Wicknell’s company, Intratrek, won the contract to build the 100MW Gwanda solar plant, the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) paid it US$5 million to prepare the site for construction.
The project never got off the ground. In court, ZPC said no work had been done, while Chivayo argued that he could not carry out the work because of Zimbabwe’s sovereign risk. He denied squandering the money.
Joachim told mourners that Wicknell had promised him US$1 million of the US$5 million but never paid him, and spent the rest.
He said that soon after receiving the money, Wicknell flew to Dubai, where he spent US$90,000 on shoes, before going on to the United States for more shopping.
According to Joachim, Wicknell returned home about two weeks later and told him to his face that all the money was gone.
Responding to Joachim’s speech, lawyer Fadzayi Mahere, who often clashed with Chivayo on social media, wrote:
“Kune vachiine confusion yekuti US$5 million yekuGwanda Solar Project yakabhadharwa nehurumende ichishandisa mari dzedu yakafambasei, zvinzwirei mega kubva kune vanga varipo.” (For those still confused about what happened to the US$5 million for the Gwanda Solar Project, which the government paid using our money, hear it for yourselves from someone who was there.)
“Isu tikazvitaura kuti akarova mari yemagetsi yekuGwanda, munoti hatina Ubuntu. Zvino brother yacho zvayataura kuti mari yemagetsi yakaenda kubhutsu nekumaholiday kunaanaDubai, muchaitasei?” (When we said he had pocketed the Gwanda power project money, you said we lacked Ubuntu. Now that his own brother says the money went on shoes and holidays in places like Dubai, what are you going to do about it?)
Leave a Reply Cancel reply