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Pressure is mounting on Zimbabwe’s government after the leak of a dossier alleging the looting of more than US$3.2 billion in state funds through corrupt contracts and shadowy tender schemes. The explosive document — which surfaced earlier this week — centers on a network of politically connected businessmen, including Wicknell Chivayo and Kudakwashe Tagwirei, whose names have long hovered around the nexus of power and money in Harare.
The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) is demanding a forensic audit of the contracts cited in the dossier, which is believed to have been presented to the ZANU–PF Politburo by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga before being leaked to the media. Interim opposition leader Jameson Timba said the alleged looting represents “a direct assault on the public purse” and warned that without an independent investigation, “Zimbabwe’s institutions will remain captured by cartels and political elites.”
The dossier lists Chivayo and Tagwirei alongside businessmen Delish Nguwaya, Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya, and Paul Tungwarara. It paints a picture of a closed loop of insiders securing state contracts and channeling public funds into private networks. Timba said this pattern reflects a “well-oiled system of extraction” that has left hospitals without medicine and infrastructure projects starved of funds.
The revelations come at a politically sensitive moment. The governing party has been flirting with constitutional changes under a banner dubbed “Agenda 2030,” which critics say is designed to keep President Emmerson Mnangagwa in power beyond his term. Timba said a government mired in allegations of large-scale looting has “no moral authority” to even broach such proposals.
The allegations against Chivayo are particularly explosive. The controversial businessman has built a public profile as both a flamboyant figure. He is already under investigation by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), which recently confirmed plans to question him and two associates, Mike Chimombe and Moses Mpofu, over leaked audio recordings that appear to implicate them in money laundering and the abuse of state contracts.
Chivayo has denied any wrongdoing, saying his business deals are legitimate. But leaked recordings in which he allegedly boasts of political protection have fueled public anger. His name has also surfaced in connection with Ren-Form, a South African company that supplied election materials through opaque procurement processes. Investigators have pointed to fast-moving transfers of large sums linked to those deals.
Tagwirei, a powerful businessman with vast holdings in fuel and mining, has long been seen as close to the political establishment. His companies have benefited from major state contracts, and his name has appeared in past corruption allegations, though he has denied any illegal activity. The new dossier revives questions about how deeply business interests are enmeshed with political power in Zimbabwe.
According to government figures cited in the leaked material, Zimbabwe is losing an estimated US$2 billion a year through corruption and illicit financial flows. Opposition leaders say that without an independent forensic audit and international cooperation, those losses will only deepen, further crippling a struggling economy.
Both Chivayo and Tagwirei remain influential. For years, they’ve operated in the blurred zone between private enterprise and political power — a space where few face real consequences. Whether this scandal leads to actual prosecutions or fades into political theater will test the country’s already fragile anti-corruption machinery.
The government has not publicly commented on the dossier. Efforts to obtain responses from the businessmen named were unsuccessful. For ordinary Zimbabweans, the allegations feel familiar: a new scandal, the same powerful names, and a lingering question about whether anyone will be held accountable.
