President Emmerson Mnangagwa says he has lost a friend following the death of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Retired Lieutenant General Sibusiso Moyo on Wednesday morning.
In a statement posted on his social media pages, President Mnangagwa said it was with a heavy heart that he was announcing Moyo’s death who he said had fought for Zimbabwe’s freedom his entire life. He said:
It is with a heavy heart that I announce Foreign Minister Dr SB Moyo has died.
Zimbabwe has lost a devoted public servant and a true hero, and I have lost a friend. He fought his entire life so that Zimbabwe could be free.
May he rest in peace.
Moyo, who became famous for announcing a military coup that toppled President Robert Mugabe in November 2017, had been battling a kidney ailment requiring regular dialysis died at a private hospital in Harare days after testing positive for COVID-19.
He became the third minister to die from the respiratory illness since July last year.
Lands and agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, a former Air Force of Zimbabwe commander who also became a minister following the coup, also died of COVID-19 in July 2020.
Ellen Gwaradzimba, who was the minister of provincial affairs for Manicaland succumbed to the respiratory disease last week.