John Magufuli, the President of Tanzania, has died.
The announcement was made by Vice-President Samia Suluhu on Wednesday, who said that he had died from heart failure. However, the opposition claimed that the 61-year-old had died from Covid-19.
Tanzania stopped reporting its Covid-statistics nearly a year ago and Magufuli had been a prominent sceptic of the pandemic, claiming that Tanzanians would be protected through prayer and did not need any other interventions.
Magufuli was born in 1959 and trained to be a teacher. He worked as a teacher and then as an industrial chemist, before entering politics. He was elected as an MP in 1995 and was appointed as a deputy minister in that same year, before being promoted to a full ministerial post in 2000. It was in his role as the minister of public works where he gained the nickname ‘The Bulldozer’ for the many construction and road-building projects which were undertaken while he was a minister.
In 2015 he won the presidential primary of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and won the ensuing general election, succeeding Jakaya Kikwete, and becoming the fifth President of the country.
Magufuli began his presidency as an anti-corruption crusader, cancelling lavish government events and slashing his own salary. However, an authoritarian streak soon emerged. He also took on foreign mining companies, claiming they were evading tax, although there was little evidence of this. There were also crackdowns on free speech and the rights of gay Tanzanians.
Magufuli won a second term easily in 2020, winning 84% of the vote, a large increase compared to the below-60% he had achieved in 2015. However, the election was marred by violence against the opposition, blocking of social media sites, and widespread claims of rigging and cheating.
Vice-President Suluhu is expected to succeed him, which will make her the first woman President of the country. She will also be the first Zanzibari Tanzanian President.
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