Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli has died.
The country’s vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan announced in an address on state television that Magafuli succumbed to heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday.
Magufuli has not been seen in public for more than two weeks, and rumours have been circulating that he had succumbed to Covid-19.
“It is with deep regret that I inform you that today… we lost our brave leader, the president of the Republic of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli,” Vice-President Hassan said.
She said there would be 14 days of national mourning and flags would fly at half mast.
Magufuli who was serving his second term in office was 61. He was known for his skepticism against Covid-19 and Tanzania did not have a lockdown or any form of restrictions to curb the pandemic.