Tanzania President Magufuli died from coronavirus, says opposition leader

In this file photo taken on October 31, 2016, Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli speaks during a joint press conference with Kenyan President at the State House in Nairobi. – Tanzanian President John Magufuli has died from a heart condition, his vice president said in an address on state television on March 17, 2021, after days of uncertainty over his health and whereabouts. But Tanzania’s main opposition leader Tundu Lissu said Thursday, March 18, 2021, that Magufuli had died from the coronavirus. (Photo by SIMON MAINA / AFP)

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — Tanzania’s main opposition leader Tundu Lissu said Thursday that President John Magufuli had died from the coronavirus, calling his death “poetic justice” after the strongman leader downplayed the severity of the virus.

The country’s vice-president announced late Wednesday that Magufuli, who had not been seen in public for nearly three weeks, had died in a hospital in Dar es Salaam from a heart condition he had suffered from for a decade.

But Lissu, who ran and lost against Magufuli in a disputed October election, said the 61-year-old strongman leader had succumbed to coronavirus and the government was “lying even now that he is dead”.

“Magufuli died of corona,” said Lissu from Belgium in an interview broadcast on Kenyan network KTN News, citing his sources. The claim could not be independently verified.

Magufuli’s unexplained absence from public view had fueled wild rumors of his ill health, with his opponents insisting he had contracted COVID-19 and his illness was being kept under wraps.

The government repeatedly denied those allegations.

Magufuli was one of a handful of world leaders who scoffed at the coronavirus, championing alternative medicines and calling for prayer instead of face masks.

The government stopped the publication of statistics in April 2020 when the country had recorded a total of 509 cases and 16 deaths, and later Magufuli claimed prayer had beaten the disease.

Lissu said it was “poetic justice” that Magufuli had succumbed to a disease he ignored.

“President Magufuli did not wear a face mask. He actually denigrated anyone who wore face masks. He did not believe in vaccines, he did not believe in science,” said Lissu, who was shot multiple times in 2017 in what he called a politically-motivated assassination attempt.

“He placed his faith in faith healers and herbal concoctions of dubious medical value. And what has happened, happened. He went down with corona.”

Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan has announced a 14-day mourning period.