Harare – The Zimbabwean government has disbursed an eye-watering USD 627 million to controversial businessman Wicknell Chivayo through a classified road rehabilitation contract — a deal critics are calling one of the most opaque and bloated in recent memory.
According to a leaked internal memorandum from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Chivayo’s company, IMC Communications (Pvt) Ltd, was granted the funds under the Presidential Infrastructure Rehabilitation Initiative. The document orders an initial tranche of $600 million to be released within five working days into a Nostro account controlled by IMC — with the remaining sum to follow..
The contract, which is marked as a “Presidential Special Mandate” not subject to standard audit protocols, is reportedly for road works in Matabeleland North, Mashonaland Central, and the Midlands. But visual evidence from IMC’s own media team has sparked outrage: footage shows workers laying what appear to be narrow strips of asphalt barely suitable for pedestrians, let alone vehicles.
Amid rising scrutiny, Wicknell Chivayo responded not with accountability but with vitriol. In a comment posted publicly and now circulating widely, Chivayo targeted ZimEye which has been vocal in demanding transparency around the deal. Chivayo wrote:
“I’ve never seen such a toxic and heartless idiot like Simba Chikanza.”
The outburst is being viewed as a deflection from growing questions about how a company with no known civil engineering track record was awarded a contract of such scale — and why the funds were released with apparent urgency and without competitive tendering.
Economists and civil society actors are calling for an urgent investigation, warning that the deal could signal a new chapter of elite enrichment at the expense of the public.
“While hospitals go without medicine and roads in rural areas remain death traps, $627 million is being handed out under secrecy clauses for roads no one can drive on,” said one governance watchdog in Harare.
As Chivayo continues to flaunt his luxury lifestyle online, many Zimbabweans are left asking: Is this development, or daylight robbery under a presidential stamp?