Zimbabwe's foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo speaks to Reuters at his office in Harare, Zimbabwe on Sept. 13, 2019. Philimon Bulawayo, Reuters/File
HARARE — Zimbabwe's foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo has died after contracting COVID-19, presidential spokesman George Charamba said on Wednesday.
Moyo died at a local hospital early on Wednesday, Charamba said.
He was a former army general who announced the military coup that led to the removal of the late long-serving leader Robert Mugabe in November 2017.
"The nation will be kept apprised of further developments regarding this untimely demise of the late minister, himself a decorated soldier and freedom fighter," Charamba said.
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Moyo was one of several generals who, after helping plot the coup, were rewarded with senior positions in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's cabinet and the ruling ZANU-PF party.
Another cabinet minister, retired general and agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, died of the virus last July.
Zimbabwe has suffered a surge in COVID-19 infections, with more than half of the 28,675 total cases and 825 deaths being recorded since New Year's Day.
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