Zimbabwean Foreign Minister succumbs to COVID-19

Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo died Wednesday, a day after testing positive to COVID-19, acting chief secretary to the president and cabinet George Charamba said in a statement.

A close family member of Moyo also confirmed the death to Xinhua.

“It’s true my brother. COVID-19. He tested positive yesterday,” the family member said.

He becomes the third government minister to succumb to COVID-19 since the pandemic hit the country in March 2020.

The retired army Lieutenant-General was the face of the military operation that ousted former President Robert Mugabe in Nov. 2019 and went on to be part of current President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.

When Sibusiso Moyo announced the takeover on national television dressed in military fatigues he emphasised that the coup was targeting the ‘criminals’ surrounding Mugabe not Mugabe himself.

The country has seen a spike in COVID-19 infections and fatalities since the start of the new year, with the Health Ministry on Tuesday recording 52 deaths and 783 new infections within 24 hours.

It has reported 28,675 COVID-19 cases to date, including 825 deaths.