Social media reports claim that Tanzania’s late president, John Magufuli, is the only politician to have died from COVID-19. This is not true: millions of people worldwide, including politicians, have died from the novel coronavirus; however, it is said that Magufuli died of heart disease.
The reports, which were posted on Facebook in early April, read: “Fun Fact: No politician in the world has died at the rona … except the one who called it #Tanzania” (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here). This remark refers to Magufuli’s disapproval of the closure and skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines. He also questioned the legitimacy of COVID-19 testing and declared the pandemic and reopened the Tanzanian economy (here, here).
The former leader’s death was announced on March 17; However, he was not seen in public after February 27. This lapse of time led to rumors – before his death – that Magufuli had captured COVID-19 himself. Samia Suluhu Hassan, the former vice president and now president, has since said her predecessor died of heart disease that has plagued him (here) for a decade.
Although Magufuli’s death has not been linked to COVID-19, more than 3 million deaths have been attributed to the disease worldwide – including politicians (here). In a similar debunk from September 2020 (here), Reuters highlighted several from the United States, such as former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain in July (here), South Dakota State Representative Bob Glanzer in April (here, here) and Louisiana Reggie Bagala, state representative, also in April (here). Elected Congressman Luke Letlow passed away on December 30 (here).
Elsewhere, veteran Ukrainian politician Gennady Kernes dies on December 17 with COVID-19 (here), four Malawian politicians on January 12 (here), a Brazilian mayor on January 13 (here), Columbia’s Secretary of Defense on January 26 (here) here), a senior Tanzanian politician on 18 February (here), a senator in Brazil on 19 March (here) and, most recently, the biggest opposition candidate in the Congo Republic’s presidential election on 23 March (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. The Tanzanian government has said John Magufuli died of heart disease, but more than 3 million people around the world have died from COVID-19 – politicians included.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.