THE ‘6TH OCCUPANT’ OF CHIVHAYO CRASH CHOPPER LOCATED — MAKANDIWA EXPLAINS THE PASSENGER CONFUSION
Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa has given a possible explanation for one of the biggest inconsistencies in the initial reporting of the helicopter crash that killed businessman Wicknell Chivayo, his wife Lucy Muteke and three others.
Speaking during a Sunday service on 4 October, Makandiwa said one of his church members, who was working as an aide to Chivayo, had been aboard the helicopter earlier in the journey but was instructed to disembark shortly before the aircraft left Gandami for Marondera.
According to Makandiwa, that decision ultimately saved the aide's life.
If accurate, the account could explain how early information about the number of people associated with the flight may have contributed to the initial reports that six people were aboard, when subsequent police identification established that five people were actually on the helicopter when it crashed.
THE INITIAL SIX-PERSON REPORT
The confusion began immediately after the crash.
At about 5pm on 30 September, the Zimbabwe Republic Police announced that an aircraft had crashed in the Marondera Rural area and stated that “the aircraft had 6 occupants.”
Government communications also initially described the aircraft as carrying a high-profile businessman, other passengers and two pilots, with early international reports reflecting the six-person figure.
The number subsequently changed.
On 1 October, the ZRP released a revised account naming five occupants: Chivayo, Muteke, Saneliswe Magagula, pilot Calvin Tafirei Soda and co-pilot Courage Mutavirwa.
That correction left an obvious question:
Where did the sixth person in the initial account come from?
MAKANDIWA'S ACCOUNT
Makandiwa's explanation, as described in his Sunday service, is that one of his members who worked as an aide to Chivayo had been travelling with the group but was made to disembark before the final flight from Gandami to Marondera.
The aide therefore would have been associated with the journey but not aboard the helicopter when it crashed.
Makandiwa said that decision was ultimately what saved the person's life.
If that account is correct, it provides a possible explanation for how information about people travelling with Chivayo could have been confused with the actual passenger manifest of the fatal flight.
THE SECURITY AIDE'S ACCOUNT ALSO PUT THE NUMBER AT FIVE
There is independent reporting that supports the eventual five-person figure.
Chivayo's senior security aide Froster Chisi, who was travelling in a separate helicopter, told journalists that five people were aboard Chivayo's helicopter.
The revised police statement subsequently identified those five people by name.
That means the official position eventually settled on five occupants, despite the original police announcement saying six.
A LIFE SAVED BEFORE THE FINAL FLIGHT
Makandiwa's account adds another dimension to the passenger-number confusion.
According to his version, the aide was not simply absent from the crash by coincidence. He was allegedly removed from the helicopter before its final departure from Gandami, meaning that a decision made moments before take-off separated him from the fatal flight.
The significance is obvious: had he remained aboard, he could have been among those who died.
Makandiwa presented the incident as an example of how circumstances surrounding the journey unfolded immediately before the tragedy.
THE PASSENGER LIST NOW APPEARS CLEARER
The sequence that has emerged is therefore:
Initial ZRP report: six occupants.
Subsequent accounts from people close to the flight: five occupants.
Revised ZRP statement: five named occupants.
Makandiwa's account: an aide connected to Chivayo was removed from the helicopter shortly before the final Gandami–Marondera flight and was therefore not among the five who died.
The official investigation remains responsible for establishing the definitive flight manifest and reconstructing the aircraft's final movements.
But Makandiwa's account provides a possible explanation for why the first public figure was six before authorities later corrected it to five.
And behind that discrepancy lies an extraordinary detail: according to Makandiwa, one person who might have been on that helicopter was spared because he was made to get off before the final flight.
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