South African Police Say No Active Investigation Into Wicknell Chivayo

South African police have said they are not conducting an active investigation into Wicknell Chivayo.

In a statement, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), also known as the Hawks, clarified that Chivayo is not under investigation.

The statement follows comments from South Africa’s presidency, which, without naming him, suggested that Chivayo was under police investigation. The presidency was seeking to dismiss suggestions that Chivayo is known to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The remarks came after Ramaphosa’s trip to Zimbabwe in May for a meeting with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, during which Chivayo flew in the same helicopter as the two leaders as a guest of Mnangagwa.

Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale told News24 on Friday: “The DPCI has no such case [on Chivayo] in our system.”

The DPCI is a unit of the South African Police Service established to prevent, combat and investigate national priority crimes. Its focus includes serious organised crime, serious commercial crime and serious corruption.

Meanwhile, News24 has issued an apology to Chivayo after his legal team, led by Advocate Dali Mpofu and Eric Mabuza, threatened a lawsuit.

The publication said it had “erroneously reported that Wicknell Chivayo was currently under investigation by the FIC and Hawks in connection with money laundering.”

Chivayo’s lawyers said the matter wrongly linked to fraud allegations was a civil divorce dispute involving Chivayo and his estranged wife. They insisted it “is not a criminal matter” and “does not constitute or involve any commission or allegation of fraud.”

They said assets such as the private jet, ZAS-ACT, which his estranged wife sought to preserve through a non-dissipation order, belong not to Chivayo personally but to Intratrek Holdings, a company in which he is a shareholder and director.

The lawyers said the Pretoria High Court order obtained by his estranged wife earlier this year was a rule “nisi” — an interim order granted through an ex parte application, meaning Chivayo was not heard at that initial stage. The High Court has since heard the matter and reserved judgment.

Chivayo’s legal team has welcomed the Hawks’ confirmation and News24’s correction, saying both vindicated him. However, they added that they would “assess the broader legal implications of these developments” and reserved his right to pursue anyone who had falsely claimed he was under investigation.

They added: “Under the South African constitution, as indeed under the constitution of Zimbabwe and many other constitutional democracies, every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law.

“Unfortunately, in the court of public opinion, our client had already been vilified and adjudged as guilty of an offence he never committed, and, in fact, of an offence which was not even under investigation.

“It is also important to place on record that no court within the Republic of South Africa has pronounced any criminal conviction against our client. Various statements attributed to certain political organisations and certain politicians fell substantially short of the accuracy of the facts.

“These statements which were broadly circulated predominantly on social media platforms were nothing more than conjecture and rhetoric, without any legal basis. The confirmation by the Hawks therefore settles that issue in very clear terms.”

More: ZimLive