Zanzibar’s First Vice President Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad has been buried at Mtambwe, Pemba Island in Zanzibar.
The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar says the ACT-Wazalendo Chairman who passed away on Wednesday at the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) was laid to rest at his native Pemba Island after prayers at Mnazi Moja grounds in Unguja.
More prayers were held at Gombani grounds and his body was later interred at Mtambwe in Pemba islands.
Seif’s death occurred barely three weeks after his party said he had contracted Covid-19.
No official reason was given for Seif Sharif Hamad death, popularly known as Maalim Seif.
He died aged 77.
He was the most prominent politician in Tanzania to have openly declared that he had the virus.
Health experts have accused Tanzania authorities of downplaying the threat posed by Covid-19.
Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has called for prayers and herbal remedies to counter it.
Mr. Hamad was a senior member of the opposition ACT Wazalendo party, which has been critical of the government’s policy on Covid-19.
