Zimbabwe's foreign minister dies from Covid-19

It is yet another death of a senior government person from COVID in Africa.

Zimbabwe's foreign minister, Sibusiso Moyo, on Wednesday died at a local hospital. Government spokesman George Charamba, attributed the minister's cause of death to Covid.

The Foreign Ministry said he was "a man who fought tirelessly for a better Zimbabwe."

Moyo was the army officer who went on state television on November 15, 2017 to announce the military's takeover of power from former late President Robert Mugabe.

Face of the fall of Mugabe

During the night of November 14 to 15, 2017, for the first time since independence, Zimbabwe's army positioned tanks in the capital Harare. The operation goes smoothly, only a few shots are fired around the "Blue Roof", the property of the head of state. President Mugabe at the time is then placed under house arrest with his family.

At dawn, it was he Sibusiso Moyo, then spokesman for the General Staff, who intervened on national television to ensure that it was not a coup d'état, that the president and his family were safe. 

Stating that it was simply '' an operation against the "criminals" of the entourage of the president, namely the supporters of his wife, Grace Mugabe, who was believed to be in the run to succeed him. As soon as we have completed our mission, the situation should return to normal," Moyo said.

He thus became the face of the "internal" revolution, directed against Robert Mugabe. An involvement rewarded by his appointment to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in late November 2017 by the country's strong man, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

General ''darling'', as he was called, is the third minister to succumb to the consequences of the coronavirus in the country. 

New wave of Covid

Zimbabwe is facing a second wave of the pandemic, which is thought to be tougher. Officially, Harare says it has recorded only 52 deaths since the start of this new wave.

But according to data from John Hopkins University, there has been a spike in Covid-19 infections in Zimbabwe since Christmas Day. Over half its 28,675 total cases and 825 total deaths have been recorded, the data says.

The Zimbabwean Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) has warned the country's hospitals are unable to deal with an increased demand for admissions.