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COVID-19 KILLS 8 SADC MINISTERS IN 2 WEEKS

03/02/2021 08:53:00 BY SABELO MAJOLA

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MBABANE – Zimbabwe has lost three Cabinet ministers in just two weeks due to COVID-19.

Four member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have lost a total of eight Cabinet ministers to COVID-19 in just two weeks but the number of Cabinet ministers who have died due to COVID-19 in the region thus far is 10.

Zimbabwe has lost three, Malawi lost two, and Eswatini has lost two Cabinet ministers to the pandemic during the past two weeks. South Africa has lost one.

Succumbed

Eswatini first lost Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini late last year. Just over two weeks ago, the country woke up to the sad news that Minister of Public Service Christian Ntshangase had succumbed to COVID-19 complications.

Just over a week ago, Minister of Labour and Social Security Makhosi Vilakati also succumbed to COVID-19 complications, taking the death toll on Cabinet ministers to three in the country.

In Zimbabwe, Transport Minister Joel Matiza became the fourth serving minister in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Cabinet to succumb to the virus.

Matiza’s death came just days after that country lost its Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo.

Two weeks ago, Zimbabwe also lost its minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Ellen Gwaradzimba.

Gwaradzimba’s death came after that of then minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Perrance Shiri, who succumbed to the virus in August last year.

On January 12, Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster in an address to the nation delivered hours after two Cabinet ministers died from COVID-19 amid a spike in coronavirus infections.

Disease

Transport minister Sidik Mia and Local Government minister Lingson Berekanyama both succumbed to the disease on January 19, 2021, the government spokesman said.

Chakwera, in his speech, called the deaths an ‘incalculable loss’.

The former governor of Malawi’s central bank, Francis Perekamoyo, and the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Ernest Kantchentche, has also died of the disease, the government of Malawi said.

On January 21, news coming fromSouth Africa had it that South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed the death of minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, 62, from complications related to COVID-19 which he contracted on January 11.

“It is with deep sorrow and shock that we announce that minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu passed away earlier today from COVID-related complications. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time of loss,” the President tweeted.

SADC comprises 16-member States: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.