Zimbabweans are a superstitious lot, Mmatigari dismisses conspiracy theories around Chivayo helicopter crash

Social media personality Mmatigari has dismissed the wave of conspiracy theories surrounding the helicopter crash that killed businessman Wicknell Chivayo and four other people, saying Zimbabweans are generally superstitious and will cling to superstition even in the face of evidence.

Chivayo, his wife Lucy Muteke, aide Senelisiwe Magagula and pilots Captain Calvin Tafirei Soda and Captain Courage Mutavirwa died when their Bell 430 helicopter crashed at Kudenga Farm near Marondera, about 70 kilometres east of Harare, on 30 September. The aircraft had departed from Chivayo’s rural homestead in Gandami, Chikomba.

Authorities said the bodies were severely damaged, with pieces of flesh scattered across the veld, to such an extent that even their heads could not be located. The confirmation that the heads of Chivayo and his wife were not recovered has since become the focus of intense speculation online.

Among the theories circulating is that Chivayo staged his own death. Some users have compared the incident to that of South African convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester, who was believed to have died in a prison fire in 2022 before it emerged he had faked his death and escaped.

A second theory suggests he was deliberately killed because he knew too much and had become a liability to powerful people due to his political connections.

A third, advanced by activist Rutendo Matinyarare, alleged that the heads were taken to open vaults, safes and bunkers where loot was hidden, using facial or iris recognition.

Writing on X, Mmatigari argued that there is sufficient data to show that helicopters have a higher general accident rate than commercial airlines and that fatal crashes are not unusual.

He pointed to four recent examples. In September 2024, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s helicopter crashed in Masvingo with only crew on board. They were injured.

In May 2024, a Bell 212 helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation went down in a remote, mountainous area of East Azerbaijan province in northwestern Iran, killing everyone on board.

In January 2019, former MDC MP Roy Bennett and his wife Heather died when their Bell UH-1 helicopter crashed in rugged terrain in New Mexico in the United States. The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that weather conditions were completely clear at the time of the flight.

On 27 October 2018, shortly after a Premier League match against West Ham United, Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s personal Leonardo AW169 helicopter took off from the centre circle of the pitch at the King Power Stadium. Moments after clearing the stadium roof, the aircraft suffered a critical mechanical failure, began spinning out of control and plummeted into a car park where it burst into flames, killing Srivaddhanaprabha and all on board.

Statistically, Mmatigari wrote, helicopters have a higher accident rate than commercial airlines.

“Most Zimbabweans are very superstitious. Even where evidence shows otherwise, they remain superstitious,” he wrote. “Even with all this data, Zimbos will remain superstitious about that chopper that crashed in Marondera some days ago – even if you tell them that the life size of a propeller blade of a chopper is so huge that it can chop a head off.”

He added: “Everything that goes up can come down. Our people are a superstitious lot!!!”