Why Zimbabwe tycoon 'Sir Wicknell' was loved and hated in Africa

Chivayo dropped out of high school aged 15 because his family could no longer afford the fees after his father died when he was 10. His first job was as a wages clerk for a bus company. From there, he moved into his first independent hustle - selling mobile phones and dealing in foreign currency, often on the black market at the height of the country's hyperinflation crisis.In 2005, he was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering involving 837,000 South African rand (then worth $137,500, £72,000). He served three years at Chikurubi Maximum Prison after two years were suspended.Details of his career following his release are murky, but he went into the energy business, becoming what one state-run newspaper described as a "tenderpreneur" -making money by getting government contracts.He headed the firm Intratrek Zimbabwe, which partnered with Chinese electrical giant CHiNT Electric. This was at a time when legislation required all companies in the country to cede economic control to black Zimbabweans, under a policy known as indigenisation.In 2014, Intratrek was selected to build a 100MW solar power station in the southern town of Gwanda. A contract worth more than $170m...