SA President Ramaphosa to attend funeral of Tanzanian President John Magufuli
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his deep sadness at the death of Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli.
JOHANNESBURG, March 22 (ANA) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will attend the funeral of Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli, his office said on Monday.
Magufuli died on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, in a Dar es Salaam hospital at the age of 61.
The South African Presidency said that Ramaphosa would visit to Dodoma, the national capital of Tanzania, on Monday to attend the funeral of Magufuli.
Ramaphosa arrived in Dodoma fro the funeral at Jamhuri Stadium.
On Thursday, in a statement, Ramaphosa said: “South Africa is united in grief with the government and people of Tanzania as they go through this difficult moment.”
Former Tanzanian Vice-President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been inaugurated as Magufuli’s successor.
Making the announcement on Wednesday, Hassan said Magufuli died of heart disease that had plagued him for a decade.
Magufuli served as the fifth president of Tanzania and chaired the Southern African Development Community until August 2020.
Magufuli had not been seen in public for more than two weeks and citizens were asking questions about his disappearance.
Politicians tweeted last week that Magufuli had contracted Covid-19, but government officials denied those allegations and urged citizens not to listen to rumours, because their president was in good health.
In June last year, Magufuli declared Tanzania free of the coronavirus, stating that it had been eliminated by God, the BBC reported at the time.
He teased neighbouring countries which imposed health measures to curb the virus and urged Tanzanians not to wear masks.
“We need to be careful because some of these donations to fight coronavirus could be used to transmit the virus. I want to urge you Tanzanians not to accept donations of masks, instead tell the donors to go and use them with their wives and children,” the BBC quoted him as saying.
Tanzania stopped reporting coronavirus data in May last year, when it reported 509 cases and 21 deaths.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Devereaux Morkel
