Tanzania’s Covid-sceptic President John Magufuli dies from ‘heart complications’ aged 61 after not being seen in public for two weeks amid rumours he had contracted coronavirus
- Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the death in a televised address
- Magufuli had not been seen in public since February 27, spurring rumours
- There was speculation he contracted Covid, but VP said he died of heart illness
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, one of Africa’s most prominent coronavirus sceptics, has died aged 61.
Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the president’s death in a televised national address on Wednesday.
Magufuli had not been seen in public since February 27, sparking rumours that he had contracted COVID-19. Officials denied on March 12 that he had fallen ill.
But today the vice president said on state broadcaster TBC: ‘Dear Tanzanians, it is sad to announce that today 17 March, 2021, around 6 pm, we lost our brave leader, President John Magufuli who died from heart illness at Mzena hospital in Dar es Salaam where he was getting treatment.
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, one of Africa’s most prominent coronavirus sceptics, has died aged 61
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Friday that he had spoken to Magufuli, and blamed the narrative of the president’s ailment on some ‘hateful’ Tanzanians living abroad.
Tundu Lissu, Magufuli’s main rival in the October election when the president won a second five-year term, had suggested Tanzania’s leader had been flown to Kenya for treatment for COVID-19 and then moved to India in a coma.
After the death was announced, opposition leader Zitto Kabwe said he had spoken to Vice President Hassan to offer condolences for Magufuli’s death. ‘
The nation will remember him for his contribution to the development of our country,’ Kabwe said in a statement published on Twitter.
Magufuli, from northwest Tanzania, first won the presidency in 2015 and had faced accusations from Western countries and opposition parties of eroding democracy.
President John Magufuli (centre) and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta (behind) dance with traditional dancers during the official commissioning ceremony of the Nairobi Southern Bypass road in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2016
He was nicknamed ‘The Bulldozer’ because of his reputation for pushing through policies despite opposition.
According to Tanzania’s Constitution, Vice President Hassan, 61, should assume the presidency for the remainder of the five-year term that Magufuli began serving last year after winning a second term.
She would be the East African nation’s first female president.
Born in the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, Hassan studied economics in Britain, worked for the U.N.’s World Food Programme and then held various government posts prior to becoming Tanzania’s first female vice president in 2015.