A final order of Toyota Fortuners was moving through Harare’s car trade on 30 September when Wicknell Chivayo was killed in a helicopter crash. Dealers now face uncertainty over payments for vehicles already handed over, as well as a sudden end to one of their biggest sources of business.
The instruction had become familiar to thousands of people watching Wicknell Chivayo’s social-media posts: “Go and see Victor.” It meant that a recipient should go to a Harare dealership and collect a vehicle that Chivayo said had been paid for. By the end of September, the phrase had become shorthand for a remarkable system of publicised gifts, bulk vehicle orders and showroom handovers.
Then, on 30 September, 15 Toyota Fortuners were collected for members of the Johane Masowe church. That same day, Chivayo, his wife Lucy Muteke and four other people died when a helicopter crashed near Marondera, about 70 kilometres east of Harare. The vehicles had left the dealers’ hands. Questions over the money due for them, and for other cars supplied in earlier orders, were left behind.
A dealer said the 15 Toyota GD-6 Fortuners were collected on the day of the crash for distribution to church members from Mashonaland Central. Some of the recipients learnt of Chivayo’s death while the vehicles were being distributed. The moment brought the celebration around the gift to an abrupt stop and left suppliers unsure whether every part of the transaction had been settled.
The cars were part of a public pledge announced on 25 September. Chivayo said 15 church members from Domboshava, Chiweshe and Mrewa would each receive a brand-new 2026 Toyota Fortuner 2.4 GD-6, alongside US$5,000 in cash. He wrote: “Your 15 BRAND-NEW 2026 TOYOTA FORTUNERS 2.4 GD6 have arrived,” and added: “Each one of you will also receive US$5,000 cash as a token of appreciation for your commitment and service to our Church.”
The announced vehicle package was valued at about US$1.2 million. Chivayo directed the recipients to collect the cars on the following Wednesday. The date fell on 30 September, the day he died. The handover was therefore not simply a future promise: the vehicles had been sourced and were being put into recipients’ hands as the fatal news emerged.
The story of the 15 Fortuners also exposes how wide the supply chain had become. Much of Chivayo’s vehicle business ran through Exquisite Car Sales in Harare, with distribution handled by Victor Matiyenga, a figure known to many recipients through the instruction to visit him. Other vehicles came from dealers, particularly along Robert Mugabe Road in Eastlea and in Braeside. For a large order, suppliers sometimes combined their stock to meet the request.
The demand was substantial. One dealer described orders that could include 100 Toyota Aquas or 50 Fortuners at a time. The vehicles were often selected for low mileage, with some said to have travelled fewer than 20,000 kilometres. Toyota GD-6 Fortuners were among the most sought-after models, with dealers putting their value at about US$70,000 each. Land Cruisers, Mercedes-Benz vehicles and Toyota Aquas were also part of the trade.
For the dealers, the arrangement had been attractive because payments were usually made within about 2 months. Chivayo’s repeat orders meant that a showroom could plan around a major customer and turn over stock quickly. When a single buyer wanted more vehicles than one dealer held, businesses could buy from one another and assemble a fleet. That helped fulfil the order, but it also spread the financial exposure across several firms.
Now, dealers are trying to reconcile which vehicles were paid for, which balances remain, and which suppliers are waiting on another dealer to settle. The amounts at issue across several businesses have been described as running into millions of US dollars. The uncertainty is not limited to cars already collected: promises announced publicly but not yet fulfilled could also leave recipients waiting while suppliers assess what has been ordered and what has been paid.
The risk is particularly sharp for a vehicle that has already left a forecourt. A dealer may have released it after receiving a payment commitment or expecting settlement under the usual arrangement, while the vehicle has since been handed to its intended recipient. In bulk deals, one showroom may have obtained stock from another to satisfy the order. If a balance remains outstanding at any point in that chain, businesses must work out who is owed what.
Chivayo’s death also halted a stream of announced gifts that reached far beyond church members. He had given or pledged cars and cash to musicians, religious leaders, lawyers and other public figures. Estimates of his public gift-giving put the total value of vehicles and cash at about US$47 million, with more than 300 vehicles reported. For dealers, that generosity was also a steady flow of purchases. The recipients saw the cars; the suppliers dealt with procurement, delivery and payment.
Among the last public announcements attributed to Chivayo, made on the morning of 30 September, were gifts for two lawyers. Wilson Tatenda Manase was named for a 2026 Lexus GX 550 and US$250,000. Advocate Eddie Mubaiwa was named for a 2026 Range Rover Sport Autobiography and US$50,000. Chivayo had described Manase as a legal mentor and close associate. The announcement made shortly before the crash extended the same public pattern of pairing a high-value vehicle with cash.
Uriri stated: “The decision is nevertheless firm: we will not accept the vehicle or either of the cash gifts.” He said the couple wanted to protect professional independence and public confidence in the legal profession. The announcement and refusal drew attention because the package was exceptionally large and because Chivayo had presented the offer publicly. His later gifts to Manase and Mubaiwa were separate announcements; the sequence does not establish why he chose those particular recipients.
The vehicle handouts formed only one part of Chivayo’s public profile. He was the head of Intratrek Zimbabwe, a company involved in the long-delayed 100-megawatt Gwanda solar project, a major state-linked energy contract that became the subject of years of disputes. He was also known for cultivating ties with influential figures and for displaying luxury purchases and charitable gifts on social media. The cars made that image visible: recipients stood beside new vehicles, while viewers followed the next announcement and the next collection instruction.
The helicopter crashed at about 17:00 near Kudenga Farm, roughly 40 minutes after take-off from Gandami in Chikomba district, where Chivayo and Muteke had been building a rural home. All six people on board died. The Civil Aviation Authority said the cause had not yet been established, and investigators recovered the aircraft’s black box. The crash investigation is separate from the commercial questions now facing suppliers, but it has left the businesses without the customer whose orders drove the transactions.
Dealers who once treated Chivayo as a dependable buyer now have to reconstruct the trail one vehicle at a time. They must match orders with invoices, check transfers against cars released, and establish which suppliers contributed stock to a particular delivery. The routine payment window of about 2 months offers little comfort when the person who made the orders can no longer confirm the accounts or arrange settlement.
For the 15 Johane Masowe recipients, the Fortuners represented a gift promised only days earlier and delivered on the day of the crash. For the dealers, the same fleet was part of a much larger business relationship that had tied together showrooms, pooled stock and delayed payment. “Go and see Victor” had once been the beginning of a celebratory handover. In the final days of Chivayo’s life, it became the marker of a vehicle trade suddenly left to settle its books without him.