By Staff Reporter
HARARE — Flamboyant businessman Wicknell Chivayo has cleverly navigated a Zimpapers policy that blocked him from gifting vehicles to two Capitalk FM employees, announcing an elaborate workaround in which a car dealer will sell the workers the vehicles.
Chivayo on May 5, visited the station CapitalK FM for an interview he later described as enjoyable and warmly received.
According to Chivayo, he was so impressed by the professionalism and hospitality shown by staff that he offered US$1,000 each to 30 employees in the station’s radio division as a token of appreciation.
The cash, he said, was handed to the station’s general manager Comfort Mbofana for distribution after receiving approval.
Chivayo further revealed that he offered to buy radio presenter Pathisani Sibanda — popularly known as DJ Phatty — a brand-new 2025 Toyota Fortuner GD6, while a female colleague would receive a Toyota Aqua.
According to Chivayo, Mbofana approved the arrangement immediately and even personally accompanied him to his vehicle to collect the money.
But what initially appeared to be another extravagant act of generosity soon spiralled into an internal storm.
A Zimpapers policy introduced in 2024 barred staff members from receiving gifts worth more than US$100, with any such gifts required to be formally declared.
Ironically, the policy itself is reportedly rooted in Chivayo’s previous generosity.
Last year, the businessman gifted Sibanda a Toyota Aqua following another radio appearance, but at the time the presenter was still working as an independent contractor, leaving the company with little room to intervene.
Sibanda officially became a full-time employee in January this year, meaning the policy now fully applies to him.
As debate intensified online, Chivayo responded with a lengthy statement on X in which he defended his actions and questioned why appreciation for hardworking Zimbabweans had become controversial.
He said he was “profoundly surprised” by the backlash, arguing that workers committed to informing, educating and entertaining the nation deserved gratitude rather than “unnecessary red tape and excessive bureaucracy.”
Then came the twist that sent social media into overdrive.
Rather than gifting the vehicles directly, Chivayo announced that a dealer he identified as “Madzibaba Chipaga of Enterprise Car Sales” would instead sell Sibanda the Fortuner for just US$100 and the female employee the Toyota Aqua for US$50.
“No law restricts me from selling my property or assets at any price of my choice,” Chivayo quoted the dealer as saying.
The arrangement effectively allows the employees to technically purchase the vehicles themselves, while achieving virtually the same outcome as an outright gift — a move supporters hailed as both clever and generous.
Critics accused Chivayo of exploiting a loophole, but admirers argued the businessman was merely finding a lawful way to reward media workers who often go unrecognised despite their public role.
In another remark dripping with trademark Chivayo sarcasm, the businessman said his lawyer Sikhumbuzo Mpofu would collect the remaining US$27,000 from the transaction.
He added that Mpofu “probably needs it more than I do” to fuel the Range Rover Autobiography Chivayo recently gifted him.
