News / National
Wicknell pledged to supply mercenaries with weapons - report
10 Apr 2016 at 08:01hrs | Views
CONTROVERSIAL businessman Wicknell Chivayo promised to help Simon Mann hijack a plane that was supposed to extradite the convicted mercenary to Equatorial Guinea by supplying a gun.
Mann makes the allegation and several others in the book "Cry Havoc".
Mann, who was arrested in Harare in March 2009 while enroute to Equatorial Guinea where he had plans to overthrow President Obiang Nguema's government, claims that Chivayo also boasted of having access to an assortment of weapons.
Mann and Chivayo were in the same prison cell at Chikurubi Maximum prison.
Chivayo was serving time for fraud involving over two million rands.
Mann claims that the fraudster turned businessman told him that his uncle was in charge of security at Harare International Airport.
"Months ago back in Chik (Chikurubi) Wicknell had promised: if he learns that I am being flown to EG (Equatorial Guinea) he will slip a 9mm onto the aircraft, in among the hand towels in the aft hand.
"He has the guns. He has the contacts. He knows all the security men airside at Harare International. His uncle is their boss," writes Mann on pages 297 and 298 of the book.
Mann also appears to suggest that even during the time he was incarcerated, Chivayo had influence in some local newsrooms.
He reveals that Chivayo had pledged to help him with the implementation of Operation Hurricane, a move that would have seen the publication of a tell all piece on the planned Equatorial Guinea coup in an unnamed newspaper.
"I've written a paper called Hurricane. It's a true account of the coup plot. Wicknell and I plan to place it in a Zim newspaper, by way of a pro-Mann propaganda.
"I have told Wicknell that Operation Hurricane must not go ahead without the nod from my sister Sarah back in London," reads a passage on page 250 of "Cry Havoc".
On page 247, Mann reveals how Chivayo was uncomfortable sharing the prison cell with an inmate who "had gone homosexual."
"I still need loads of fodya (cigarettes) to pay the staff – my butler, Agrippa. I share him with Wicknell who insists on calling him our butler.
"Agrippa is a wonder… He has gone homosexual but that bothers Wicknell more than it does me. That is why he is on our section. To keep him away from the boys," writes Mann.
Interestingly, Chivayo claims that he is too busy to marry.
Mann makes the allegation and several others in the book "Cry Havoc".
Mann, who was arrested in Harare in March 2009 while enroute to Equatorial Guinea where he had plans to overthrow President Obiang Nguema's government, claims that Chivayo also boasted of having access to an assortment of weapons.
Mann and Chivayo were in the same prison cell at Chikurubi Maximum prison.
Chivayo was serving time for fraud involving over two million rands.
Mann claims that the fraudster turned businessman told him that his uncle was in charge of security at Harare International Airport.
"Months ago back in Chik (Chikurubi) Wicknell had promised: if he learns that I am being flown to EG (Equatorial Guinea) he will slip a 9mm onto the aircraft, in among the hand towels in the aft hand.
"He has the guns. He has the contacts. He knows all the security men airside at Harare International. His uncle is their boss," writes Mann on pages 297 and 298 of the book.
He reveals that Chivayo had pledged to help him with the implementation of Operation Hurricane, a move that would have seen the publication of a tell all piece on the planned Equatorial Guinea coup in an unnamed newspaper.
"I've written a paper called Hurricane. It's a true account of the coup plot. Wicknell and I plan to place it in a Zim newspaper, by way of a pro-Mann propaganda.
"I have told Wicknell that Operation Hurricane must not go ahead without the nod from my sister Sarah back in London," reads a passage on page 250 of "Cry Havoc".
On page 247, Mann reveals how Chivayo was uncomfortable sharing the prison cell with an inmate who "had gone homosexual."
"I still need loads of fodya (cigarettes) to pay the staff – my butler, Agrippa. I share him with Wicknell who insists on calling him our butler.
"Agrippa is a wonder… He has gone homosexual but that bothers Wicknell more than it does me. That is why he is on our section. To keep him away from the boys," writes Mann.
Interestingly, Chivayo claims that he is too busy to marry.
Source - Sunday News
