Zimbabwe gave a huge pile of cash to a South African printing company for election stuff last year. The company pocketed some money but sent most of it straight to a rich man named Wicknell Chivayo. He faces claims that he pays off big shots to win deals. Money trackers in South Africa found this happening between April 2023 and May 2024. They told Zimbabwe banks, South African tax people, and police to check what happened fast.
Nobody noticed anything strange until Chivayo fought with his friends, Mike and Moses, about sharing their secret payments. They helped the printing company called Ren-Form win the contract without any competition. Secret recordings showed Chivayo may have paid many top officials from the profit. He later said that it was not his voice on the tapes and told the president he felt sorry for making everyone look bad.
The company charged crazy prices for everything from ballot papers to toilets. They asked for R23 million for a computer server worth just R90,000. They wanted R68,700 each for portable toilets that normally cost R10,000. Voter registration machines first cost US$5,000 each but somehow jumped to US$16,000 when the final bill came. The United Nations paid only US$3,600 for similar machines in Honduras.
Money watchers say Zimbabwe sent R1.1 billion total to Ren-Form bank accounts. The finance office also paid R156 million directly to another Chivayo company for technical services. Bank workers kept raising red flags because cash moved around super fast after payments arrived. More than R800 million went straight to Chivayo businesses named Intratrek and Dolintel.
Chivayo spent R36 million on cars alone. One mystery company called Asibambeki received R351 million. He paid law firms, car sellers, travel agents, truck dealers, and makeup brands. The money group says these payments looked fishy because they used round numbers, bought fancy things, and seemed odd for normal business. Chivayo hangs out with President Mnangagwa often but claims he did nothing wrong. The printing company denied cheating at first but must explain why they kept only R300 million from the R1.1 billion they received.
Nobody noticed anything strange until Chivayo fought with his friends, Mike and Moses, about sharing their secret payments. They helped the printing company called Ren-Form win the contract without any competition. Secret recordings showed Chivayo may have paid many top officials from the profit. He later said that it was not his voice on the tapes and told the president he felt sorry for making everyone look bad.
The company charged crazy prices for everything from ballot papers to toilets. They asked for R23 million for a computer server worth just R90,000. They wanted R68,700 each for portable toilets that normally cost R10,000. Voter registration machines first cost US$5,000 each but somehow jumped to US$16,000 when the final bill came. The United Nations paid only US$3,600 for similar machines in Honduras.
Money watchers say Zimbabwe sent R1.1 billion total to Ren-Form bank accounts. The finance office also paid R156 million directly to another Chivayo company for technical services. Bank workers kept raising red flags because cash moved around super fast after payments arrived. More than R800 million went straight to Chivayo businesses named Intratrek and Dolintel.
Chivayo spent R36 million on cars alone. One mystery company called Asibambeki received R351 million. He paid law firms, car sellers, travel agents, truck dealers, and makeup brands. The money group says these payments looked fishy because they used round numbers, bought fancy things, and seemed odd for normal business. Chivayo hangs out with President Mnangagwa often but claims he did nothing wrong. The printing company denied cheating at first but must explain why they kept only R300 million from the R1.1 billion they received.
