HARARE – Two former Zanu PF MPs have become the latest high-profile figures to die from Covid-19, the respiratory illness which has killed over a thousand Zimbabweans including four cabinet ministers, an ambassador and a judge.
Super-dad former Mutasa North lawmaker Luke Phibion Masamvu died at a private hospital in Harare on Saturday at the age of 62.
Masamvu, who ran several grocery shops in Manicaland province and was also a farmer, is survived by 79 children and 12 wives.
His friend Misheck Mugadza said: “Masamvu’s deeds testify to the kind of a man he was.”
Former Mbare East MP Tendai Savanhu died on Sunday at the age of 52.
Savanhu, a former deputy minister of lands and resettlement, was expelled from Zanu PF last year accused of conspiring with the opposition in a plot to oust President Emmerson Mnangagwa through street protests.
The former Hwange Colliery Company chairman was a controversial political figure, once accused of running a terror group which terrorised opposition members in Mbare.
His relative and former minister Saviour Kasukuwere said: “We are in deep pain over his untimely and sad departure.”
On Sunday, Zimbabwe reported 115 new Covid-19 infections and 24 deaths. To date, the country has seen 33,388 cases, of which 1,217 have resulted in deaths.
Among the dead are former ministers Perrance Shiri, Sibusiso Moyo, Ellen Gwaradzimba and Joel Biggie Matiza.
Jetro Ndlovu, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, died on Saturday, a day before Justice Clement Phiri of the Harare High Court passed away at his home in Marondera.
