HARARE – Flamboyant businessman Wicknell Chivayo has agreed to pay his former partner US$5 million as maintenance for their minor children, with a High Court consent order also granting him weekend access and one week per school month with the children.
The order, granted by Justice Amy Shupikai Tsanga on April 2, resolves an urgent chamber application Chivayo had filed in March after accusing Sonja Louise Madzikanda of systematically denying him access to their two children born in January 2018, and March 2019.
In his founding affidavit, Chivayo said Madzikanda had “systematically and unilaterally” withheld access unless he complied with financial demands, most recently on February 28, 2026. He described the situation as the “extortionate weaponisation of the children.”
“The weaponisation of the children and the restriction of my access to them have caused me great concern and anguish and collaterally affected the well-being of the children,” Chivayo stated under oath.
He said the denial included blocking telephone contact, withholding school information and preventing him from attending school and social events.
“No court order lawfully restricts my contact with the children,” he said, adding that direct engagement, mediation proposals and written correspondence had all failed.
Under the consent order, primary residence of the children was awarded to Madzikanda, while both parties retain full parental responsibilities and rights.
Chivayo is entitled to collect the children every Friday after school and return them on Sunday evening, plus one uninterrupted week per school month on dates to be agreed in advance. He must be personally available during access periods and cannot delegate parental responsibilities to third parties.
The court order records that US$2.2 million of the agreed US$5 million maintenance sum had already been invested, with the remaining US$2.8 million to be paid into the same investment accounts within 30 days. Madzikanda will control the bank account, with Chivayo retaining oversight.
For the first 12 months, Chivayo will personally cover all reasonable living expenses of the children while the investment portfolio is established.
Neither party may remove the children from Zimbabwe without the other’s prior consent.
The access dispute is a sideshow to a much larger and more contentious battle over the dissolution of the parties’ union and the division of assets, which continues under case number HCHF 62/2026.
In that case, Madzikanda – who says she and Chivayo were married under customary law in July 2017 – is seeking a US$25 million lump sum maintenance payment, US$40,000 per month in spousal maintenance until she remarries, and a share of a fleet of luxury vehicles including three Rolls-Royces, a Lamborghini Urus, a Mercedes-Benz Maybach and a private jet.
She is also claiming several properties in Harare and a Sandton apartment in Johannesburg, as well as interests in companies including Intratek, WMC Trading and Trintas Petroleum.
Chivayo has contested the asset claims, arguing that Madzikanda made no contribution to his wealth and that the customary union – which was never formally registered – does not entitle her to spousal maintenance or a share of his estate. His legal team has also argued that Madzikanda herself ended the relationship when she gave him gupuro – a customary divorce token – in early 2024.
Madzikanda’s lawyers have countered that gupuro has no legal effect on a marriage, which can only be dissolved by a competent court.
Chivayo was represented by Edley Mubaiwa and Sikhumbuzo Mpofu of Mpofu Mazhata Chambers, while Madzikanda was represented by Rungano Mahuni of Mahuni Gidiri Law Chambers.
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