Chivayo and Wife Lucy to Be Buried Thursday as Family Says Their Heads Are Still Missing After Helicopter Crash
Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo and his wife, Lucy Muteke, will be laid to rest on Thursday, October 8, nearly a week after they died in a devastating helicopter crash in Marondera.
The couple will be buried side by side at Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare following the completion of forensic and DNA identification procedures on the remains recovered from the crash site.
However, their final farewell will come under deeply painful circumstances.
The family has confirmed that the heads of both Chivayo and his wife Lucy have not been recovered following the September 30 helicopter crash. The condition of the remains has also forced the family to rule out a traditional body-viewing ceremony before the burial.
The development has added another layer of grief to a tragedy that has already shocked Zimbabwe and attracted widespread attention across the region.
Family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo said forensic examinations and DNA identification had been completed, with the family waiting for the necessary burial orders before the couple’s remains could be formally laid to rest.
He also confirmed that the decision to hold the burial at Glen Forest Cemetery was reached after consultations within the two families.
The cemetery will provide a central location for relatives, friends, business associates, religious leaders and members of the public who wish to pay their final respects.
The family has stressed that the funeral will be open to the public.
A burial shaped by a devastating crash
Chivayo and Lucy died on September 30 when the helicopter they were travelling in crashed at Kudenga Farm near Marondera.
The aircraft came down in a rural area, killing everyone on board.
The crash also claimed the lives of pilot Captain Calvin Tafirei Soda, co-pilot Captain Courage Matavirwa and Lucy’s aide, Senelisiwe Magagula.
The incident immediately triggered a major response as authorities and relatives moved to the crash site.
The nature of the impact, however, made the recovery and identification of the victims extremely difficult.
Family members who visited the scene described it as traumatic, with human remains and body parts scattered across the area. The aircraft also caught fire after the crash, further complicating the recovery operation and subsequent identification process.
Forensic specialists were therefore required to work with recovered tissue and other remains to establish the identities of the victims.
The process took several days.
Initially, the uncertainty surrounding the identification of the remains raised questions about when the burials would take place.
The family later confirmed that forensic and DNA procedures had been completed, clearing the way for the burial arrangements.
But even after the scientific identification process was completed, some parts of the victims’ bodies remained unrecovered.
Among those missing are the heads of Chivayo and Lucy.
Herbert Chivayo has specifically dismissed claims circulating on social media that several skulls had been recovered.
He said pieces of bone initially suspected to be skulls were later determined not to be the heads of the deceased.
According to the family, the last identifiable personal belongings recovered included Chivayo’s wristwatch and Lucy’s watch.
The family has therefore accepted that the couple will be buried without their heads.
No body viewing for mourners
The condition of the remains has also led the family to make another difficult decision.
There will be no body viewing.
Herbert said the remains were severely damaged and burnt in the crash, making an open-coffin viewing impossible.
This means relatives, friends and other mourners who attend the funeral will not have an opportunity to see Chivayo or Lucy one final time before they are buried.
The decision is understandable given the circumstances, but it also highlights the devastating nature of the accident.
For many families, a final viewing provides an opportunity to say goodbye and accept the reality of a loved one’s death.
For the Chivayo and Muteke families, that opportunity has been taken away by the severity of the crash.
The family has instead focused on giving the couple a dignified funeral despite the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
The couple will be buried in separate graves, although the graves will be next to each other.
Herbert has dismissed claims that Chivayo and Lucy would be placed in the same grave.
He explained that the decision was simply to have them laid to rest side by side because they died together as a couple.
Burial set for Thursday in Harare
The funeral will take place at Glen Forest Cemetery on Thursday, October 8.
The decision to hold the burial in Harare was partly influenced by the number of people who knew the couple and the fact that many of their relatives, friends and associates are based in the capital.
The family has invited members of the public to attend.
Herbert said there was no reason for the funeral to be treated as a private event and encouraged anyone who wishes to pay their last respects to attend.
Mourners have already begun gathering at the couple’s Gletwyn residence, where funeral activities have been taking place.
The family has also been making arrangements to ensure that people attending the burial can travel to Glen Forest Cemetery.
Transport will reportedly be made available for mourners who do not have their own means of transport.
The burial date was set after the completion of forensic procedures and also allowed relatives travelling from different countries to make their way to Zimbabwe.
This has given the family time to bring together those who want to participate in the final farewell.
The funeral is expected to attract a large number of mourners given Chivayo’s wide network of business, political, religious and social connections.
A life that attracted enormous public attention
Chivayo’s death has generated an unusually large reaction in Zimbabwe and beyond.
The businessman was one of the country’s most recognisable personalities, particularly because of his flamboyant lifestyle, high-profile friendships and extensive presence on social media.
He frequently displayed expensive vehicles, luxury properties, lavish gifts and major financial contributions.
His public image was built around both wealth and generosity.
He became particularly well known for giving away cars, money and other valuable items to individuals, celebrities, religious figures and members of the public.
His relationships with senior political figures also kept him in the public spotlight.
Chivayo was known to have maintained close links with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other influential figures across Africa.
His death therefore attracted messages of condolence from political leaders, businesspeople, religious figures and ordinary Zimbabweans.
President Mnangagwa confirmed Chivayo’s death following the crash and mourned the businessman as a prominent figure in Zimbabwe’s business community.
Kenyan President William Ruto was also among African leaders who expressed condolences following the tragedy.
The reaction reflected the extent to which Chivayo had built relationships outside Zimbabwe during his lifetime.
Controversy followed Chivayo throughout his public life
Although Chivayo was admired by many for his generosity, his public life was also marked by controversy.
His wealth, political connections and involvement in major business dealings frequently attracted scrutiny.
He became a polarising figure.
Some people viewed him as a successful businessman who used his wealth to help others.
Others questioned how he accumulated his fortune and raised concerns about his relationships with powerful political figures and government-linked business opportunities.
He denied wrongdoing in various controversies surrounding his business activities.
His death therefore produced different reactions across Zimbabwe, with many people choosing to focus on his family, generosity and humanitarian activities while others continued debating his public legacy.
The circumstances of his death, however, have largely shifted public attention away from those controversies and towards his family and the painful loss they are now facing.
For his relatives, the most important issue is no longer the debate surrounding his public life.
It is saying goodbye to a husband, father, son, brother and relative.
Investigations into the helicopter crash continue
While funeral preparations are now progressing, authorities continue investigating what caused the helicopter to crash.
The exact cause has not been publicly established.
Investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the flight, the aircraft and events leading up to the crash.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe is involved in the investigation, with other authorities also examining the circumstances of the tragedy. International aviation experts have reportedly joined the investigation as officials seek to establish what happened before the helicopter went down.
Investigators are expected to consider a range of possibilities, including the aircraft’s condition, flight records, weather conditions, communications and other technical evidence.
The fact that the helicopter caught fire after impact has also complicated the physical evidence available at the scene.
Authorities have, however, cautioned against drawing conclusions about the cause of the accident before the investigation is completed.
The examination of the aircraft and other available evidence could eventually provide answers to the families of the victims.
For now, the families are left to mourn.
The other victims are also being remembered
The tragedy did not affect only the Chivayo and Muteke families.
Two experienced pilots and Lucy’s aide also lost their lives.
Captain Calvin Tafirei Soda, who was piloting the helicopter, was described by those who knew him as a dedicated aviator, hardworking family man and unifying personality.
He was laid to rest in Marondera on Sunday, October 4.
His burial took place as investigations into the crash continued.
Captain Courage Matavirwa, the co-pilot, and Senelisiwe Magagula, Lucy’s aide, were also killed in the accident.
Their families have had to deal with the same devastating reality of losing loved ones in circumstances that have shocked the country.
The attention surrounding Chivayo’s death has been immense because of his public profile, but the crash represents five individual lives lost and several families permanently changed.
For every person who died aboard the helicopter, there are relatives, friends and colleagues now preparing to live with the consequences of the tragedy.
A final farewell under painful circumstances
The Thursday burial is therefore expected to be an emotional moment for the Chivayo and Muteke families.
It will not be an ordinary funeral.
There will be no body viewing.
There will be no opportunity for mourners to see Chivayo and Lucy for the final time.
Their heads have not been recovered.
Yet the families have chosen to move forward with the burial and give the couple a dignified final resting place.
The decision to bury them side by side at Glen Forest Cemetery reflects the couple’s life together.
They died together and will now rest next to each other.
The family has also made clear that the funeral is open to everyone, reflecting the wide circle of people who knew and interacted with Chivayo and Lucy during their lives.
As mourners gather in Harare, attention will inevitably turn to the life Chivayo lived, the woman he shared his life with and the sudden manner in which both lives ended.
For those closest to them, however, the focus will be much more personal.
It will be about remembering a husband and wife rather than the businessman and public figure.
It will be about mourning parents, relatives and friends.
And it will be about trying to find closure after a tragedy that has left questions unanswered and a family facing an extraordinarily painful goodbye.
The helicopter crash has already become one of the most talked-about tragedies in Zimbabwe in recent days.
But for the Chivayo and Muteke families, Thursday’s burial will mark the beginning of a much longer journey of grief.
The investigation may eventually explain what caused the helicopter to come down.
For now, the families are preparing to do something much simpler and much harder: lay their loved ones to rest.
Wicknell Chivayo and Lucy Muteke will be buried side by side at Glen Forest Cemetery on Thursday, October 8.
They will be laid to rest without a public viewing, and according to their family, without their heads, which have not been recovered from the crash site.
Their deaths have brought an abrupt end to a highly visible life and left behind families and friends who must now confront a tragedy whose full circumstances are still being investigated.
