Zimbabwe vice-president Msika dies at 85
August 5th, 2009 - 12:25 am ICT by IANSJohannesburg, Aug 4 (DPA) One of Zimbabwe’s vice-presidents, Joseph Msika, has died at the age of 85 after a battle with illness, the South African public radio reported Tuesday.
Msika died Tuesday in a hospital in Zimbabwe, the report said. He was admitted to hospital in South Africa in June after falling ill at a summit of eastern and southern African leaders, the radio report said.
Reports in Zimbabwe at the time said he had suffered a stroke. He had poor health since 2005.
Msika, who was 85-year-old President Robert Mugabe’s senior by just a few months, had been state vice-president since 1999. Joice Mujuru, wife of influential former army general Solomon Mujuru, is the other vice-president.
Both Msika and Mujuru maintained their positions after Mugabe formed a coalition with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in February.
Under the terms of the power-sharing agreement, Mugabe gets to name two vice-presidents from his Zanu-PF party. Party chairman John Nkomo is deemed a strong candidate to replace Msika.
As a member of Zimbabwe’s Ndebele minority, which was brutalised by the army in a bloody crackdown on the opposition in the 1980s, Msika was one of the few senior Zanu-PF members to speak out about state-sanctioned human rights abuses.
He publicly took Mugabe to task over the killings of thousands of Ndebele civilians and later questioned the sincerity of Mugabe’s apology.
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Tags: african leaders, army general, bloody crackdown, chairman john, democratic change, human rights abuses, john nkomo, ndebele, opposition movement, party chairman, poor health, president robert mugabe, public radio, radio report, robert mugabe, sincerity, solomon mujuru, state vice president, vice presidents, zanu pf