ZANU PF has issued a stern warning to ex-convict and tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo after he claimed that President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the State are firmly in his pockets.
In a leaked audio, someone widely believed to be Chivayo is heard boasting that he has captured Mnangagwa and is using his relationship with the President to enrich himself. He said:
I am holding this thing in my hand. When (Mnangagwa) went to Italy, I walked him to his aeroplane where he proceeded to bid farewell and called me his son.
I am inside the President’s circle. Take advantage of that, do not eat from where I would have worked or from what caused problems for us in the past.
In an interview with NewsDay on Tuesday, ZANU PF director for information Farai Marapira said the ruling party will soon clip Chivayo’s wings. He said:
As ZANU PF, we take notice of any snide insinuations made against our first secretary and president. We take seriously any and all attempts to reduce his standing and goodwill.
Our president is incapable of being captured and his history is too illustrious to be reduced by any supposed tomfoolery or overzealousness. We definitely will not allow that.
We will not tolerate it nor stand by (and watch).
Marapira had earlier posted on his X (formerly Twitter) page, warning Chivayo that he will “fall” although he did not identify the businessman by name. He wrote:
There are some things that are played with and dithered with. Not our leader and president. There is one guaranteed thing about people on high horses … They fall off … Pride comes before a great fall.
In the audio, Chivayo boasts that he gets government contracts with advance payments because “I’m a trusted son to the President”. He said:
Sometimes I ignore the moment I say ‘good morning’ you go straight to convene a meeting discussing the amount you would get in these deals.
But if you get US$100 000. It keeps you going. How many times have I gotten these payments? Imagine this is the first one. Next week I’m getting another one which is US$5,2 million. Then we start other projects with the police, immigration, and so forth.
Don’t be greedy. I told you, bring new work. Chinhu ndakachibata kuti dzvii (I have captured the whole system). When he was going to Italy, I got to the airport and he held my hand and said ‘my son walk me to the plane’.
We talked. After greeting all the two Vice Presidents, he gave me assignments to do when he was away and shouted at me ‘I will call you when I get to Italy’.
So, I’m saying take advantage of that. Don’t try and eat what I have done myself or what caused us problems in the past. How can you cry about school fees? Yesterday alone, I bought a watch for US$2,2 million.
So; how can you cry about school fees? We once had a fallout with the President. But if he has accepted us, let’s get whatever is there and keep going.
The level is now different. From election time, I’m ten times higher than I was then if not twenty.
