HARARE — Capitalk FM presenter Phathisani Sibanda and station manager Yvonne Tibatye have been retrenched by the Zimbabwe Newspapers Group, months after their involvement in a controversial gift dispute with businessman Wicknell Chivayo.
The two are among 154 Zimpapers employees being cut this week as the state-owned media group reduces costs, restructures its operations and shifts towards a digital-first strategy. Their departure has brought renewed attention to a dispute that began with cash handed to radio staff and a luxury vehicle offered to Sibanda during a live studio visit by Chivayo in May.
The retrenchments also affect one of the most recognisable radio teams in the group. Sibanda was a popular voice on Capitalk FM, while Tibatye served as station manager. Their removal comes at a difficult time for Zimpapers, which employs more than 900 people and is facing falling advertising revenue and rising operating costs.
The company’s restructuring is expected to affect several of its divisions. Gugulethu Ncube, editor of the Bulawayo-based Umthunywa, was among the senior employees told that her services were no longer required. The newspaper has stopped printing and now operates exclusively online. Zimpapers Television Network, which broadcasts on DStv, is also expected to undergo a major reorganisation as the company seeks to reduce its costs and reshape its television operations around digital platforms.
The employment cuts followed a May 5 visit by Chivayo to the Capitalk FM studios. During an interview with Sibanda, the businessman handed over US$30,000 for what he called “lunch” for employees in the radio division. The money was intended to be shared among 30 workers, giving each employee US$1,000.
Chivayo also offered to upgrade Sibanda’s Toyota Aqua to a new 2025 Toyota Fortuner GD6. A female colleague, Yvonne Tibatye, who was the station manager, was offered a Toyota Aqua. The gifts immediately created a conflict with Zimpapers’ internal rules, which were introduced in 2024 and limit the value of gifts that employees may accept to US$100. The policy also requires all gifts to be declared to the company.
Zimpapers management ordered the employees to keep only US$100 each from the cash distribution. The remaining US$27,000 was to be returned to Chivayo. Sibanda was told to reject the vehicle or resign from his position, while the company maintained that the policy applied to all employees regardless of the donor’s status or the public nature of the gift.
Zimpapers chief executive William Chikoto defended the decision in a brief statement: “This is in compliance with the gift policy. They are not allowed to accept anything with a value of more than US$100.”
The policy had been introduced after Chivayo gave Sibanda a Toyota Aqua during a separate radio appearance in 2024. At the time, Sibanda was working as an independent contractor and was not a permanent Zimpapers employee. That status changed in January 2026, when he joined the group as a full-time employee and became subject to the company’s staff rules.
The earlier vehicle gift also involved Tinashe Chikuse, Sibanda’s co-host on the Champions League programme. Chikuse received a Toyota Aqua around the same period, after the pair had left ZBC’s Power FM. Their vehicles became an early example of the close relationship between Chivayo and high-profile media personalities, and helped prompt Zimpapers to place a formal ceiling on gifts.
Rather than accept the company’s decision, Chivayo proposed a way to put the vehicles into the employees’ hands through a sale. He said a dealer known as Madzibaba Chipaga of Enterprise Car Sales would sell the new Fortuner to Sibanda for US$100 and the Toyota Aqua to the female employee for US$50.
In a statement posted on X, Chivayo said he was “profoundly surprised” by the controversy. He argued that workers who informed, educated and entertained the public deserved appreciation instead of what he described as “unnecessary red tape and excessive bureaucracy.”
He said the arrangement was a legitimate sale rather than a gift. Quoting the dealer, he wrote: “No law restricts me from selling my property or assets at any price of my choice.”
Zimpapers rejected the proposed workaround. A company executive responded: “This changes nothing.” Chivayo also said he would send his lawyer, Sikhumbuzo Mpofu, to collect the US$27,000 that the company had ordered staff to return. He added, with sarcasm, that Mpofu “probably needs it more than I do” to fuel a Range Rover Autobiography he had recently gifted him.
The dispute grew beyond the cash and vehicles. Chivayo has built a public image around high-value gifts to musicians, entertainers, social media personalities and other prominent figures. His social media posts frequently show vehicle handovers, cash donations and public celebrations involving the recipients.
Other media figures have also been linked to his gifting campaign. Reuben Barwe, a veteran ZBC chief correspondent who often travels with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, was reported to have received a 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser and a substantial cash gift. Social media personality Yahya Goodvibes was also reported to have received a Toyota Aqua after entertaining Chivayo with her comedy skits. The gifts have placed broadcasters and public personalities at the centre of a wider debate about the boundaries between personal generosity, publicity and professional responsibility.
The issue became particularly sensitive because Zimpapers operates newspapers, radio and television platforms that reach a large national audience. A luxury vehicle or a large cash payment can create a close personal connection between a media personality and a wealthy public figure whose business activities and public relationships regularly attract attention.
The cash was distributed openly at a radio station, rather than privately. Videos and photographs of Chivayo’s visit circulated online, showing the businessman with Sibanda and other staff members. The public nature of the handover did not prevent Zimpapers from applying its policy. Instead, it made the company’s response more visible and forced management to explain why employees could not retain the money or accept the vehicles.
The controversy has also highlighted the difficult financial conditions facing Zimbabwe’s media workers. Salaries have been under pressure while the cost of living has risen, making a US$1,000 payment or a new vehicle a significant benefit. At the same time, Zimpapers is cutting staff because of falling advertising income and higher operating costs. The contrast between lavish private gifts and large-scale job losses has added to the intensity of the dispute.
Sibanda and Tibatye eventually collected the vehicles offered by Chivayo despite the company’s position, according to the account of the retrenchments. Their inclusion in the list of 154 employees marks the latest and most serious development in the row.
The saga began as a high-profile studio appearance, moved into an internal fight over the value of gifts, and then became a test of whether Zimpapers would enforce its own rules against prominent employees. It has now ended with the loss of two senior Capitalk FM figures as the media group carries out its most extensive restructuring in years.
For Zimpapers, the retrenchments are part of a wider effort to cut costs and build a stronger online presence. For Sibanda and Tibatye, they bring an abrupt end to their roles at Capitalk FM after a gift dispute that placed their employment, the company’s ethics policy and Chivayo’s public gifting campaign in the same spotlight.
The US$27,000 cash dispute, the rejected vehicle workaround and the fate of the Fortuner and Toyota Aqua have all become part of the same story. What started with “lunch” money for 30 radio employees has ended with two prominent broadcasters losing their jobs while Zimpapers tries to rebuild its business around tighter spending and digital media.