EXPOSED: King Mswati grants diplomatic passport to Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo previously convicted and linked to multibillion fraud and money-laundering cases, an alleged ally to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
MBABANE: Wicknell Munodaani Chivayo, the Zimbabwean businessman who recently received a diplomatic passport from King Mswati after being granted Eswatini citizenship, is an ex-convict, an alleged fraudster and/or multibillion money-launderer.
A brief research conducted by this publication about Chivayo suggests that, he is the founder and Managing Director of Intratrek Zimbabwe and known for his involvement in Government tenders with close links to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).
The Zimbabwean businessman had a series of legal proceedings relating to fraud and money-laundering allegations, Intratrek Zimbabwe was awarded a contract in 2015 to construct a 100-megawatt solar power plant in Gwanda, for which it received an advance payment of US$5 million (over R80million) from the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) without carrying out substantive work on the project.
But before that, Chivayo was convicted of theft and illegal foreign currency exchange (money laundering) in 2004, he was sentenced to three (3) years in prison, which he served at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison
An independent investigation conducted by this publication further uncovered that, Chivayo faced separate multiple rounds of criminal prosecution over the advance payment but, due to his subsequent close alleged links to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, he was ultimately acquitted in 2024.
But in 2024, leaked audio recordings linked him to a US$100 million (over R1.6billion) contract for the supply of election materials to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and subsequently, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) investigated and announced in December 2025 that it had found no evidence directly linking Chivayo to the transaction.
The Eswatini diplomatic passport awarded to the Zimbabwean businessman by the King was facilitated by appointed Member of Parliament (MP) and King’s son Prince Lindani and with President Mnangagwa very close to Mswati, sources told this Swaziland News that, the Zimbabwean businessman was granted the diplomatic passport to advance business dealings for King Mswati and President Mnangagwa.
“This will take you all over,” said the King when granting the diplomatic passport to the businessman, another diplomatic passport was granted to Zimbabwean Prophet Uebert Angel at Lozitha Palace last week.
Efforts to reach the Zimbabwean businessman proved unsuccessful at the time of compiling this report.
Reached for comments by this Swaziland News on Sunday evening, Mlungisi Makhanya, the President of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), described the granting of the diplomatic passports to the Zimbabweans as a classical example why Tinkhundla royal supremacy and King Mswati must be removed.
“What the King did is treason, the King auctioned the Sovereignty and the autonomy of the Swazi Nation in giving these two individuals, among many by the way, not just Swazi citizenship but international passports which remain out of reach for many Swazis. Not everyone is granted a diplomatic passport because a diplomatic passport simply implies, that issuing State is taking full and absolute responsibility for the conduct of the holder. In many organized serious Nations, holders of diplomatic passports are only allowed to travel on the diplomatic passports when on official diplomatic duty.
Simple put, a Minister in South Africa who is travelling to Swaziland for leisure and non-official travels, is not expected to use a diplomatic passport but the normal passport. When a person uses a diplomatic passport, it implies that he is undertaking an official State responsibility,” said the PUDEMO President.
https://swazilandnews.co.za/articles/36121