By Cde Nhamo Taneta
When Wicknell Chivayo boasted in that leaked audio that he had President Emmerson Mnangagwa “by the balls,” many dismissed it as bravado.
After all, this is a man who treats government tenders like his personal ATM.
Yet, just days after Mnangagwa’s “shocked and concerned” tour of Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Sally Mugabe Central Hospital, and NatPharm, Chivayo’s new South African shell company, TTM Global Medical Exports, landed a US$437 million tender for cancer equipment.
Behind the cameras and choreographed concern lay a carefully scripted diversion—not to fix the broken health system, but to legitimize the latest multi-million-dollar looting scheme disguised as reform.
TTM Global Medical Exports (Pty) Ltd, the lucky recipient, was registered just six months ago in a Johannesburg hotel suite.
Its sole director is none other than infamous Chivayo a man whose track record includes undelivered power stations, an US$88 million election tender mystery, and a dubious claim to exclusive Starlink rights in Zimbabwe.
This “medical export” company exists on paper but not in practice.
Yet it’s now tasked with supplying cancer treatment equipment at US$109 million annually.
The contract includes a US$52.5 million upfront payment, despite no itemised procurement list, no public bidding, and no justification for the pricing.
This is no emergency health response. It’s elite patronage and state capture.
Of course this script was written months ago.
In early May, youth empowerment minister Tinoda Machakaire publicly urged Mnangagwa to tour public hospitals.
At the time, it seemed like an honest plea. Now, it looks like the opening act of a political theatre, laying the groundwork for what followed.
The hospital “inspection” was moral cover for a prearranged outcome: a colossal contract for a regime loyalist under the guise of urgent health reform.
The real tragedy isn’t just the looting, it’s the cynical use of public suffering to justify it.
Chivayo’s name is now synonymous with state-sanctioned pillage.
He no longer pretends to be a contractor; he’s the regime’s financial proxy.
His closeness to power makes tender corruption not just permissible—but systemic.
Mnangagwa’s hospital visits aren’t a turning point.
They’re a tightening of the screw, entrenching patronage while projecting concern.
The diagnosis is clear, Zimbabwe’s public sector is being cannibalised from within, with tenders as the tools of decay.
True Patriots as always, the State House prescription remains the same “enrich the few, sedate the masses.”
