The burial will go ahead, and the heads will not be in it. The family of Wicknell Chivayo and Lucy Muteke has confirmed that the couple will be laid to rest side by side — not in one grave — on Thursday at Glen Forest Cemetery in Harare, after forensic examination established that no recovered remains belonged to their heads. "There has been speculation on social media saying that there were four head skulls that were found. That is not true. We did not find any head," family spokesperson Hebert Chivayo told reporters on Sunday. "The last things that we found were Sir Wicknell's wrist watch and my daughter-in-law's watch."
The couple died on 30 September when the Bell 430 helicopter carrying them from their rural home in Gandami, Chikomba East, crashed at Kudenga Farm in Marondera — an impact so violent that remains were scattered and fire consumed part of what was left. Accounts of the number aboard have differed between reports; the family has spoken of five deaths including the couple, and co-pilot Courage Mutavirwa was buried in Chiredzi on Sunday, his own family described as destitute and unable to fund the burial. For the Chivayos, the absence of the heads forecloses the custom that matters most: no viewing, no last sight. "The last memory will be the crash, not the person," as one account of the family's briefing put it.
What the family has refused is privacy of the exclusive kind. "We have never had a private funeral in our family. Everyone is welcome," Hebert Chivayo said, inviting mourners to Glen Forest and to the family home in Gletwin Park — a deliberate contrast, in tone if not intent, to the speculation that has swirled around the death of a man who was declared a provincial hero. The couple's two children are receiving counselling and have not yet joined the mourners; the forensic DNA process, with representatives of the families involved, continues in parallel with the funeral preparations.
Zambian readers have followed this story since the crash — the tycoon's name travelled the region long before it, through business deals, conspicuous generosity and, in this newspaper's earlier reporting, the grim mechanics of identifying the dead. Thursday closes the public chapter, if not the questions. The family has asked for one thing above all: that the burial be allowed to be a burial.
Confirmed vs. unverified
Confirmed (by the family): The burial is set for Thursday at Glen Forest Cemetery; the couple will be buried side by side without their heads and without body viewing; the funeral is open to the public; the children are in counselling; DNA work continues.
Unverified or disputed: Social-media claims that skulls were recovered — denied by the family; the exact number of people aboard the helicopter, on which reports differ; the cause of the crash, which has not been established.
Sources: NewZimbabwe, "Chivayo and wife's remains to be laid to rest without heads following horror helicopter crash" (5 Oct 2026); ZimLive, "Wicknell Chivayo, wife Lucy to be buried without heads: family" (5 Oct 2026); Eastleigh Voice on the 8 October Glen Forest burial (4 Oct 2026); ZBC via K24 on the children and the DNA process (2 Oct 2026); Billionaires.Africa obituary (1 Oct 2026); Lusaka Brief archive.
Back to the front page