By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Tanzania’s Vice President Samia Sulhu Hassan on Wednesday announced the death of President John Magufuli on state television.
In a televised address, Hassan said that Magufuli had died of heart complications.
Hassan said that Magufuli was hospitalised on March 6 at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute.
She said that flags will fly at half-staff nationwide and that funeral arrangements were underway.
Magufuli, a trained chemist, was first elected in October 2015 on an anticorruption platform. He was initially lauded for his efforts to bolster the economy, stem wasteful spending and upgrade Tanzania’s infrastructure.
But the leader, popularly known as “the Bulldozer,” was soon accused of muzzling dissent, rolling back freedom of expression and association, and pushing through laws that shored up his Party of the Revolution’s grip on power.
Magufuli has faced criticism for his handling of Covid-19, with his government refusing to buy vaccines.
He has played down the threat from COVID-19, saying God and remedies such as steam inhalation would protect Tanzanians. He has mocked coronavirus tests, denounced vaccines as part of a Western conspiracy to take Africa’s wealth, and opposed mask-wearing and social distancing.
Its 61-year-old president has called for prayers and herbal-infused steam therapy to counter the virus.
Earlier this month, at a funeral for a top presidential aide, Magufuli said Tanzania had defeated Covid-19 last year and would win again this year.
The aide died hours after the vice-president of the country’s semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar, who was being treated for Covid-19.
Tanzania has not shared data on the coronavirus with the World Health Organization since April, and it has reported just 509 cases and 21 deaths, figures that have been widely viewed with skepticism.
This is developing story.