Tanzania’s former president, 61-year-old John Magufuli, recently passed away. There is a lot of mystery surrounding his death as no one heard from him for several weeks and the government did not provide any information about what was going on.
Official government line now reads that he died of heart failure on Wednesday, while Tanzania’s opposition leader claims he died of coronavirus earlier this month, citing “credible government sources”.
It is worth remembering that Magufuli was perhaps the greatest coronavirus denier among all heads of state. He encouraged people to go to church because prayer “can defeat the satanic virus.” He stated that the country had no plans to get a vaccine but would use local herbs to protect people. In comparison, he made Donald Trump look almost like Jacinda Ardern.
However, this afternoon Magufuli’s body was loaded onto a plane at Dar es Salaam’s Julius Nyerere International Airport when his body was about to be flown to the Tanzanian capital, Dodoma.
Well, there was an airport security breach, to say the least. Literally hundreds of people have managed to get over a security fence and storm the asphalt. Below are some videos to show you how close people were to airplanes.
Pilots cld their planes not taxiing, planes on the ground cld not being serviced, passengers cld not boarding or disembarking on time, I suspect the whole thing #JNIAirport was closed during that time, it’s the biggest airport security breach I’ve ever seen! 🙆🏿♂️🙆🏿♂️🙅🏾♂️🙅🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️ @breakingavnews @ ErnestMushi3 pic.twitter.com/knkRAfrvQ7
– Cyril Ndegeya (@CyrilNdegeya) March 21, 2021
Banana Republic of Tanzania. The marauding gang entered the international airport and boarded planes unhindered.
See this stupidity. @ SuluhuSamia Stop the madness. pic.twitter.com/YFBgZBv7pj
– Robert Alai, HSC (@RobertAlai) March 21, 2021
VIDEO: Wakazi wa Dar es Salaam wamsindikiza #ShujaaWao, Hayati Rais Magufuli had Uwanja wa Ndege Terminal II katika Ndege ya @ AirTanzania aina ya Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner iliyoandaliwa kwaajili ya kubeba mwili wake kuupeleka jijini Dodoma. #HakikaNiUpendo. #RIPMagufuli pic.twitter.com/ilpbtEpwvQ
– Koncept TV (@koncept_tv) March 21, 2021
It seems to me that Magufuli’s body was carried on Flight 108 by Air Tanzania, a Dash 8-400 with the registration code 5H-TCF.
We’ve seen one or two (or even a dozen in some cases) people get into the safe area of an airport, but I’ve never seen anything like it.
It’s not entirely clear to me what the motive was for people storming the airport. It goes without saying that Magufuli has a mixed heritage. So were these his fans, people who just thought it would be cool to get on an airport tarmac, right …?
