Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who gained fame as one of the world’s most vehement deniers of the COVID-19 threat, has died at the age of 61 after disappearing from public view more than two weeks ago.
His death was announced on Tanzanian television on Wednesday night by the vice-president, Samia Suluhu Hassan.
She said Mr. Magufuli died on Wednesday evening from a heart complication in a hospital in Dar es Salaam. But many reports, circulating for the past week, have claimed that he was seriously ill with the coronavirus.
Mr. Magufuli, nicknamed “The Bulldozer,” rose to power in 2015 and was re-elected last year in a disputed vote in which many opposition activists were arrested or forced into exile. He gained early popularity for his anti-corruption campaigns and his battles with multinational mining companies, including Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp., but later pushed the country in an authoritarian direction.
Nearly a year ago, the Tanzanian government stopped disclosing any data on COVID-19 cases, while Mr. Magufuli mocked the virus tests, criticized face masks and urged Tanzanians instead to rely on prayer, herbal remedies and steam inhalation.
Mr. Magufuli denounced vaccines as a Western conspiracy and refused to allow his government to order any COVID-19 vaccines, provoking the World Health Organization to issue an unusual statement of concern in which it criticized his government’s secrecy and urged it to accept vaccines.
In early January, during a meeting with Chinese foreign affairs minister Wang Yi, he insisted there was no COVID-19 in Tanzania. He shook hands with the diplomat and thanked him for refraining from wearing a mask.
Despite his denials, there was mounting evidence that COVID-19 was inflicting heavy damage on Tanzania in recent months, especially with the arrival of new variants. Several top leaders and senior officials died of COVID-19 or from unexplained illnesses. Hospitals were reported to be full, and the WHO warned that travellers from Tanzania were exporting the virus to other countries. - Geoffrey York, The Globe and Mail
