Custom Rolls-Royce Phantom Worth Over $550,000 Arrives in Zimbabwe After Death of Businessman Wicknell Chivayo

A custom-built Rolls-Royce Phantom valued at upwards of $550,000 arrived in Harare on October 23, 2026, weeks after the death of Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo. Chivayo, known for an extravagant lifestyle and links to senior African political figures, and his wife, Lucy Muteke, died on September 30, 2026, in a helicopter crash near Marondera, east of Harare. Everyone aboard was killed. Zimbabwean authorities launched an investigation, and the couple were buried on October 8.

Humanitarian Post, a Zimbabwean publication, said the Phantom was already in international transit when Chivayo died, and that customs clearance was completed after his death. He had commissioned the vehicle months earlier, selecting bespoke finishes and personalised number plates reading "Wicknell" and "Chibaba". Comparable Rolls-Royce Phantom models cost between $550,000 and more than $800,000.

The car was meant to join a collection that included a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, Rolls-Royce Ghost, Bentley Bentayga, two Lamborghini Urus SUVs, a Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 and a Range Rover Autobiography. He also frequently gifted expensive vehicles to musicians, religious leaders and political figures.

ZimLive said three luxury car dealerships in Harare were owed a combined $5.1 million for vehicles supplied to Chivayo before his death: Faramatsi Motors $2.4 million, Exquisite Cars $1.4 million and Enterprise Car Sales $1.3 million. Sources said Chivayo bought vehicles on credit and usually settled within three months. Exquisite Cars owner Victor Vikela disputed the figures and said his company had written off any outstanding balance. The claims have raised questions about the management of his estate, which includes vehicles, property and business interests.

Chivayo, popularly known as Sir Wicknell, had interests in energy infrastructure and government contracts. Through Intratrek Zimbabwe, he secured a contract worth more than $170 million to develop a 100-megawatt solar power plant in Gwanda, southern Zimbabwe. Project delays led to legal disputes and questions about his government dealings. Reports also linked his company IMC Construction Kenya to a proposed project in Kenya.

He maintained connections with African political figures, particularly Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose ruling ZANU-PF party he supported. He also interacted with former Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera and former Zambian President Edgar Lungu, though these encounters did not necessarily establish close personal relationships.

After his death, Kenya's Ruto described him as a close friend, saying: "I will remember him for his friendship, his energy and his deep conviction in the possibilities of our continent." Mnangagwa mourned the couple as philanthropists.

The episode shows how a single death can freeze a chain of commitments that was built on personal trust. A vehicle ordered months earlier, shipped internationally and cleared through customs after the buyer died now sits in an estate whose assets, debts and business interests are all under question. For high-end dealers in thinly capitalised markets, selling on short credit to one wealthy client concentrates risk in a way that only becomes visible when that client is gone.

The dealer figures also illustrate how informal credit norms work at this end of the market. Purchases settled within roughly three months on the strength of a client's reputation leave no formal security behind, so recovery depends on how an estate is administered and on whether each seller treats the balance as collectable or as a write-off, as Exquisite Cars says it has done. The same logic applies to any segment where large, bespoke, high-value assets, whether cars or aircraft, are delivered against a buyer's standing rather than against secured financing.

The next concrete signals are the outcome of the authorities' investigation into the helicopter crash and any formal handling of the estate, which will determine how the disputed $5.1 million in dealer claims is treated.