Businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife were among the six victims, a family spokesperson has said
A helicopter carrying six people, including a close ally of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, crashed in the country’s east on Wednesday, leaving no survivors, officials have said.
The aircraft came down at about 5 PM local time near Waddilove Mission in Marondera district, east of the capital, Harare, Zimbabwean police said in a statement later the same day.
According to government spokesman Nick Mangwana, the helicopter was carrying a high-profile businessman, three other passengers and two pilots. “Current information indicates that there were no survivors in this crash,” Mangwana wrote on X, adding that police “will confirm the names of the victims in due course.”
State-owned newspaper The Herald identified businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife, Lucy Muteke, among the dead, citing a family spokesperson.
Chivayo founded Intratrek Zimbabwe, an energy and infrastructure company awarded the contract to develop the country’s 100-megawatt Gwanda solar project. He was a prominent supporter of Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU-PF party. He visited the president at his rural home on New Year’s Day this year and joined him during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at Mnangagwa’s private farm in May.
READ MORE: Five killed in helicopter crash on Africa’s highest mountain (VIDEO)
Kenyan President William Ruto also confirmed the couple’s deaths in a condolence message on X on Thursday, describing Chivayo as “a dear friend whose warmth touched many people.”
“I will remember him for his friendship, his energy and his deep conviction in the possibilities of our continent,” Ruto said. He extended condolences to the victims’ families, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the people of Zimbabwe.
The crash is the latest in a series of aviation accidents in the southern African nation. On April 23, 2021, an Air Force helicopter struck a house during a training flight in Arcturus, about 30 kilometers east of Harare, killing three crew members and a child on the ground. Another child and her mother suffered burns.
A helicopter scheduled to transport Mnangagwa crashed at Masvingo Airport on September 15, 2024, after experiencing what officials described as a technical fault. The president was not aboard, and no fatalities were reported.
Read more How the British Crown profited directly from human traffickingOther southern African countries have also recorded such accidents, some involving senior officials. A helicopter crash near Danielskuil in neighboring South Africa’s Northern Cape killed all three aboard in October 2025. Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima and eight others died in a military plane crash in the country’s mountainous north in June 2024. Zambia’s Vice President Mutale Nalumango and all other passengers and crew escaped injury in a military helicopter takeoff accident at Nakonde on July 9 this year.
The cause of Wednesday’s crash has yet to be established. Zimbabwe’s Air Force has previously complained of an aging fleet, saying Western sanctions had hampered purchases of replacement aircraft, Reuters reported after the fatal 2021 crash.
Hence then, the article about close ally of zimbabwean president killed in helicopter crash was published today ( ) and is available on Russia Today ( News ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Close ally of Zimbabwean president killed in helicopter crash )
Also on site :
- Investors thought they were buying pre-IPO OpenAI and SpaceX shares. Their cash went to strip clubs, Bloomingdale’s, and shopping on Amazon, SEC alleges
- Jack White Poses With Nearly ‘Unrecognizable’ Al Pacino, 86, After ‘The Godfather’ Actor Attends His Show
- 1974 Rock Song, Covered by Eddie Vedder, John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen, Is Still an Inspirational Classic 52 Years Later