Opinion / Columnist
Have Zimbabweans become Chivayo's wives?
09 Jun 2025 at 21:59hrs | Views
Have we lost all self-respect?
One of the most disturbing spectacles unfolding in Zimbabwe today is the humiliating spectacle of grown men and women - from all walks of life - openly begging controversial tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo for cars, cash, and various forms of assistance.
It has become a national embarrassment, a depressing reflection of just how far we have sunk as a society.
What is particularly concerning is how this grovelling and bootlicking are often performed publicly on social media, without a trace of shame or self-awareness.
Just a few days ago, popular comedian Kapfupi was reported to have written to Chivayo pleading for yet another car - after allegedly crashing the first one he had received, and then turning up drunk to collect a replacement.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
Chivayo supposedly withheld the second vehicle due to this drunken behaviour.
In Kapfupi's desperate plea for a third chance, he reportedly promised to quit drinking, apparently hoping this pledge of reform would win him back the disgraced benefactor's favor.
This would be comical if it were not so tragic.
What kind of nation have we become when grown men are reduced to publicly bargaining their dignity for another man's car?
What is more distressing is that Kapfupi's story is not an isolated case.
Zimbabweans across the country have now made it a habit to bombard Chivayo's social media pages, offering endless supplications.
Some ask for cars. Others for university fees. Some for farming equipment or small business capital.
The requests come in droves - each more pitiful than the last.
I have personally been caught in the crossfire of this bizarre circus.
For reasons I can only speculate, some people have been circulating my phone number as if it belongs to Wicknell Chivayo.
When I inquired how they got this number, one individual claimed to have found it after Googling the tenderpreneur's name.
It seems that my contact information, published on numerous articles I have written about Chivayo - was mistakenly assumed to be his.
And so began a torrent of messages.
Texts, WhatsApps, and calls from people, all supplicating for help.
Students unable to pay their tuition fees.
Single mothers struggling to feed their children.
Young men asking for money to start their hustles.
Farmers pleading for irrigation equipment.
They believed I was the man with bottomless pockets - the miracle worker who could pluck a Mercedes or a Toyota out of thin air.
While some of these requests undoubtedly stem from genuine need, I couldn't help but notice something more troubling: many were devoid of shame.
There was no sense of hesitation, no filter, just naked desperation.
It felt as if Zimbabweans had completely lost their self-respect, their dignity trampled by years of suffering and hopelessness.
At first, I chalked this behavior up to poverty.
After all, how can one criticize a starving man for begging?
But as I reflected more deeply, I realized that something far more sinister was at play.
This isn't just about poverty.
This is the product of a carefully engineered culture of dependency.
Over the years, the Zimbabwean ruling elite has mastered the art of manufacturing destitution, only to return with crumbs in hand and declare themselves saviors.
They plunder the nation's wealth, strip the country bare, and then toss a few bones to the masses - knowing fully well that desperation breeds loyalty.
It is no coincidence that our nation has become one where praise is reserved not for integrity or leadership, but for whoever can give us handouts.
Residential stands, farming inputs, food parcels, boreholes, and even cars have become the currency of political manipulation.
A people who were once proud and resilient have been broken down to the point of begging their oppressors for the very things they should already have by right.
And the system smiles, watching as Zimbabweans fight each other for scraps, rather than uniting to demand what is justly theirs.
Wicknell Chivayo is not an isolated actor in this tragedy.
He is a symptom of a rotten system that rewards proximity to power over merit, and looting over labor.
Here is a man who has been convicted of criminal activity, who has been the subject of scandal after scandal, and yet continues to thrive under government protection.
Just this year, reports emerged that his companies received R800 million - about US$42 million - from South African firm Ren-Form CC, itself having received R1.1 billion from Zimbabwe's Treasury supposedly for election material.
To date, no clear explanation has been given for this massive transaction, nor has there been public accountability on how the funds were used.
But instead of demanding answers, we are busy composing begging messages, hoping to get a car, a suit, or a school fees voucher.
This is the true tragedy of Zimbabwe.
We are no longer outraged by the looting of our nation.
We are no longer demanding justice, transparency, or restitution.
Instead, we are on our knees, hands outstretched, worshipping the very men who have helped destroy our economy, health sector, education system, and basic infrastructure.
We have forgotten that our hospitals lack medication, our schools lack textbooks, our towns go days without water, and our roads are death traps.
We are too busy pleading for a piece of the loot to ask why the loot exists in the first place.
How did we get here?
What happened to our dignity?
What happened to the spirit of resistance that once drove Zimbabweans to stand up against colonialism, injustice, and tyranny?
Are we now so broken that we see nothing wrong in selling our pride for a vehicle we can't even fuel?
Have we become so accustomed to dependence that we no longer believe in building anything ourselves?
Have we, in a twisted way, become Chivayo's wives - treating him as our breadwinner and provider, looking up to him for survival, and expressing gratitude for the crumbs he tosses our way?
This is not who we are meant to be.
We cannot allow a culture of begging and glorifying looters to define our future.
We cannot let our children grow up believing that the only way out of poverty is to sing praises to the rich and corrupt.
We must rediscover our collective dignity, our sense of justice, and our will to demand better.
Because until we do, the likes of Chivayo will continue to rule not just our politics, but our minds - and that, more than anything, is the greatest tragedy of all.
©Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
One of the most disturbing spectacles unfolding in Zimbabwe today is the humiliating spectacle of grown men and women - from all walks of life - openly begging controversial tenderpreneur Wicknell Chivayo for cars, cash, and various forms of assistance.
It has become a national embarrassment, a depressing reflection of just how far we have sunk as a society.
What is particularly concerning is how this grovelling and bootlicking are often performed publicly on social media, without a trace of shame or self-awareness.
Just a few days ago, popular comedian Kapfupi was reported to have written to Chivayo pleading for yet another car - after allegedly crashing the first one he had received, and then turning up drunk to collect a replacement.
To directly receive articles from Tendai Ruben Mbofana, please join his WhatsApp Channel on: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaqprWCIyPtRnKpkHe08
Chivayo supposedly withheld the second vehicle due to this drunken behaviour.
In Kapfupi's desperate plea for a third chance, he reportedly promised to quit drinking, apparently hoping this pledge of reform would win him back the disgraced benefactor's favor.
This would be comical if it were not so tragic.
What kind of nation have we become when grown men are reduced to publicly bargaining their dignity for another man's car?
What is more distressing is that Kapfupi's story is not an isolated case.
Zimbabweans across the country have now made it a habit to bombard Chivayo's social media pages, offering endless supplications.
Some ask for cars. Others for university fees. Some for farming equipment or small business capital.
The requests come in droves - each more pitiful than the last.
I have personally been caught in the crossfire of this bizarre circus.
For reasons I can only speculate, some people have been circulating my phone number as if it belongs to Wicknell Chivayo.
When I inquired how they got this number, one individual claimed to have found it after Googling the tenderpreneur's name.
It seems that my contact information, published on numerous articles I have written about Chivayo - was mistakenly assumed to be his.
And so began a torrent of messages.
Texts, WhatsApps, and calls from people, all supplicating for help.
Students unable to pay their tuition fees.
Single mothers struggling to feed their children.
Young men asking for money to start their hustles.
Farmers pleading for irrigation equipment.
They believed I was the man with bottomless pockets - the miracle worker who could pluck a Mercedes or a Toyota out of thin air.
While some of these requests undoubtedly stem from genuine need, I couldn't help but notice something more troubling: many were devoid of shame.
There was no sense of hesitation, no filter, just naked desperation.
It felt as if Zimbabweans had completely lost their self-respect, their dignity trampled by years of suffering and hopelessness.
At first, I chalked this behavior up to poverty.
After all, how can one criticize a starving man for begging?
But as I reflected more deeply, I realized that something far more sinister was at play.
This isn't just about poverty.
Over the years, the Zimbabwean ruling elite has mastered the art of manufacturing destitution, only to return with crumbs in hand and declare themselves saviors.
They plunder the nation's wealth, strip the country bare, and then toss a few bones to the masses - knowing fully well that desperation breeds loyalty.
It is no coincidence that our nation has become one where praise is reserved not for integrity or leadership, but for whoever can give us handouts.
Residential stands, farming inputs, food parcels, boreholes, and even cars have become the currency of political manipulation.
A people who were once proud and resilient have been broken down to the point of begging their oppressors for the very things they should already have by right.
And the system smiles, watching as Zimbabweans fight each other for scraps, rather than uniting to demand what is justly theirs.
Wicknell Chivayo is not an isolated actor in this tragedy.
He is a symptom of a rotten system that rewards proximity to power over merit, and looting over labor.
Here is a man who has been convicted of criminal activity, who has been the subject of scandal after scandal, and yet continues to thrive under government protection.
Just this year, reports emerged that his companies received R800 million - about US$42 million - from South African firm Ren-Form CC, itself having received R1.1 billion from Zimbabwe's Treasury supposedly for election material.
To date, no clear explanation has been given for this massive transaction, nor has there been public accountability on how the funds were used.
But instead of demanding answers, we are busy composing begging messages, hoping to get a car, a suit, or a school fees voucher.
This is the true tragedy of Zimbabwe.
We are no longer outraged by the looting of our nation.
We are no longer demanding justice, transparency, or restitution.
Instead, we are on our knees, hands outstretched, worshipping the very men who have helped destroy our economy, health sector, education system, and basic infrastructure.
We have forgotten that our hospitals lack medication, our schools lack textbooks, our towns go days without water, and our roads are death traps.
We are too busy pleading for a piece of the loot to ask why the loot exists in the first place.
How did we get here?
What happened to our dignity?
What happened to the spirit of resistance that once drove Zimbabweans to stand up against colonialism, injustice, and tyranny?
Are we now so broken that we see nothing wrong in selling our pride for a vehicle we can't even fuel?
Have we become so accustomed to dependence that we no longer believe in building anything ourselves?
Have we, in a twisted way, become Chivayo's wives - treating him as our breadwinner and provider, looking up to him for survival, and expressing gratitude for the crumbs he tosses our way?
This is not who we are meant to be.
We cannot allow a culture of begging and glorifying looters to define our future.
We cannot let our children grow up believing that the only way out of poverty is to sing praises to the rich and corrupt.
We must rediscover our collective dignity, our sense of justice, and our will to demand better.
Because until we do, the likes of Chivayo will continue to rule not just our politics, but our minds - and that, more than anything, is the greatest tragedy of all.
©Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/
Source - Tendai Ruben Mbofana
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