Prominent Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife Lucy Muteke died in a helicopter crash on the evening of 30 September 2026.
The crash left no survivors and brought sudden attention back to the long-running legal dispute involving Chivayo and his first partner, Sonja Louise Madzikanda.
Madzikanda, then 34 and the mother of Chivayo’s two children, had separated from him in early 2024. What began as a private breakdown quickly moved into the High Court in Harare. She maintained that the couple had entered a valid customary marriage in July 2017 after lobola was paid, and she sought a substantial share of the assets built up during their years together.
In court papers she asked for a one-off payment of 25 million United States dollars, monthly spousal maintenance of 40,000 dollars until she remarried, an annual sum of one million dollars for holidays and lifestyle costs, several properties in Harare and Johannesburg, and a list of luxury vehicles that included three Rolls-Royces.
She also raised questions about a private jet she said was linked to Chivayo.
The dispute over the children ran alongside the financial claims. Chivayo went to court seeking regular access after accusing Madzikanda of restricting contact with their son and daughter, born in 2018 and 2019.
In April 2026 the two sides reached a consent order before Justice Amy Tsanga.
Under that agreement Chivayo was to pay five million dollars as maintenance for the children.
Of that sum, 2.2 million dollars had already been placed in investment accounts, with the remaining 2.8 million dollars due within 30 days.
Madzikanda was given primary residence of the children while Chivayo received structured access: one uninterrupted week each month, weekends, and alternating public holidays.
For the first year after the transfer he remained responsible for the children’s day-to-day living costs so that the investment portfolio could grow.
That five-million-dollar package settled the immediate maintenance and parenting questions, yet the larger claim for a full division of assets stayed open.
Madzikanda continued to press for recognition of the union and a share of what she described as multimillion-dollar holdings. Court proceedings in both Zimbabwe and South Africa kept the matter alive through the middle of 2026, including temporary freezes on certain assets such as a private jet. Chivayo’s sudden death has now placed the remaining claims in a new legal setting.
The case that sought the 25 million dollars and related relief has been taken off the Supreme Court roll until an executor is appointed to represent his estate.
Madzikanda’s lawyers have indicated that the claims themselves do not disappear; they will simply be pursued against the estate once the formal administration process begins.
The five-million-dollar payment Madzikanda secured earlier this year remains the concrete outcome of the custody and maintenance battle.
The wider fight over the scale of Chivayo’s wealth and how it should be divided is now tied to the settlement of his estate, leaving that chapter unfinished for the time being.
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