Harare. It’s not the first time Wicknell Chivayo has met Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan, and it likely won’t be the last. But each new photo raises the same question: what exactly is Chivayo’s role in the region’s corridors of power?
Businessman Wicknell Chivayo has again drawn public attention after sharing images of a meeting with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at State House in Dar es Salaam, describing the visit in characteristically effusive terms as a courtesy call.
Chivayo’s Pattern of Meetings With Regional Leaders
It’s the latest in a pattern of similar meetings between the two dating back to at least April 2026. Chivayo, a close ally of President Mnangagwa, has cultivated public relationships with several regional heads of state, including Kenya’s William Ruto and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, alongside his ties to Tanzania’s leader. His business interests have followed a similar regional expansion, including a reported multi-billion-dollar energy infrastructure partnership across Kenya and Tanzania and a stake, through his company IMC Construction Kenya, in the proposed expansion of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Why Chivayo’s Business History Matters
Chivayo’s business profile in Zimbabwe rests heavily on state-linked contracts, most notably the long-delayed Gwanda Solar Project, and his history includes a fraud-related conviction from the mid 2000s. That combination, high-level access abroad paired with unresolved questions about project delivery at home, is precisely why each new State House photo reignites scrutiny rather than fading into routine business news.
Our Angle
This is a business and political story wearing an entertainment headline. We’re looking into what, specifically, is being discussed in these meetings, whether any of Chivayo’s Zimbabwean contract history has come up in his conversations with regional leaders, and what his expanding footprint says about the relationship between political access and business opportunity in the region.
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