Mnangagwa throws away face mask at Magufuli's funeral

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa and his security aides were surrounded by hundreds of mask-less mourners while attending President John Magufuli's funeral in Dodoma, Tanzania, something which is never allowed in Zimbabwe.

The East African country's citizens continue to disregard Covid-19 health guidelines as advised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Dodoma is the new capital Tanzania.

Magufuli died last week Wednesday, a fortnight after rumours he had contracted Covid-19.

However, Tanzania's Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan, said Magufuli succumbed to heart complications at a hospital in Dar es Salaam.

While Mnangagwa was delivering hundreds of mourners at an open space in Dodoma Monday, he did not put wear face mask something he never does in public places back home.

While his security details and other senior government officials who accompanied Mnangagwa to Tanzania kept their face masks on, he chose to remove his, a rare picture of him when he is in Zimbabwe.

Failure to wear a face mask in in public in Zimbabwe attracts a fine of $5000 or a jail sentence of not more than six months. Thousands of Zimbabweans have been arrested since last year for breaching this directive.

WHO has also advised that wearing of face masks in public reduces chances of one contracting the deadly virus.

Mnangagwa is scheduled to take his Covid-19 vaccine jab this Wednesday in the resort city of Victoria Falls after the country received its second batch of the Chinese made Covid-19 vaccines last week.