Samia Suluhu Hassan said Magufuli had been treated in a Tanzanian hospital when he died Wednesday evening.
But opposition leaders insist Magufuli died of Covid-19 at least a week earlier.
Tundu Lissu, from opposition party Chadema, said in an interview with a Kenyan broadcaster on Thursday that Magufuli had died of Covid in early March.
“I received news of President Magufuli’s death without any surprise,” he added.
“I had always expected this, from the first day I tweeted on March 7 … when I asked the question ‘Where is President Magufuli and what is his health status?’ I had information from very credible government sources that the president was seriously ill with Covid-19 and that his situation was actually very bad, “Lissu said from his base in Belgium. CNN has contacted Lissu for further comment.
CNN has not been able to independently verify its claims. The Tanzanian authorities also did not respond to calls for comment on Lissu’s claims.
The secrecy and mystery that surrounds his death tells of Magufuli’s enduring legacy, said Maria Sarungi Tsehai, activist and founder of the #ChangeTanzania movement, a community group that promotes freedom of speech.
Tsehai said the circumstances of his death and the “secrecy and intimidation” citizens face when speculating or talking about it “tell a lot about the kind of presidency he led. ‘
“Even now that he’s dead, people are still terrified and talk in hushed voices,” Tsehai said.
Magufuli was Tanzania’s fifth president and was part of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party that has ruled the country since independence in 1961.
The last reported figures of 509 cases and 21 deaths were in April last year.
Magufuli frustrated global health leaders after he suspended nationwide tracking of Covid cases – blamed the country’s infection toll on faulty test kits.
Magufuli’s death has raised many questions about how the country is progressing in a pandemic with a huge information vacuum.
Magufuli did not bid for Covid vaccines because he questioned their safety and instead promoted the use of prayers, herbal treatments and steam inhalation to combat the disease.
Tsehai says the lack of information makes it difficult for health professionals and citizens to know the real situation. Her organization conducted an informal survey to get a “snapshot” of the Covid situation in the country last year.
“We are seeing more obituaries, obituaries and more people leaving us. There are elderly people and people in their 50s. Parents also tell us that children with respiratory problems are being hospitalized,” she said.
However, changes are far from imminent, Tsehai added. “Nothing happens immediately. We have to wait and see what Samia (Hassan) can do.”
On Friday, Hassan was sworn in as the country’s first female president.
Now the new leader must select a vice presidential candidate and form a cabinet, Tsehai said.
“We are very concerned. She must take action now. The ceremony and funeral ceremony and final rite ceremony will be Covid superspreader events,” added Tsehai.
Fight Covid with prayers
Magufuli was a devoutly religious and rabid Covid-19 denier who repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of Covid-19 in Tanzania, declaring the country virus-free last June after three days of massive prayers.
“Let’s pray and fast for three days. I am sure we will win … today for the Muslims who have already started, tomorrow the Seventh-day Adventists who pray on Saturdays and on Sundays for Christians,” Magufuli said on February 19. .
“God has never failed this nation. We won last year and graduated to middle-income status amid the coronavirus,” he added.
Deus Valentine Rweyemamu, head of the Center for Strategic Litigation, a pro-democracy movement in Tanzania, told CNN that Magufuli had no leadership in dealing with the pandemic.
“President Magufuli hid behind religious fundamentalism and managed to get an entire nation to deny it. Half his only recorded public speech on Covid is made up of Bible verses,” Rweyemamu said.
But religious leaders were among its harshest critics.
Father Charles Kitima, secretary of the Tanzanian Bishops’ Conference, a group of Catholic bishops, told CNN on Thursday that the Magufuli regime has not taken urgent steps to tackle the coronavirus.
Kitima, who has been an outspoken critic of Tanzania’s Covid response under Magufuli, said some members of the Catholic Church in Tanzania may have died from Covid-related complications.
“Some members of the Church had respiratory complications and died as a result,” he told CNN.
“For the months from mid-December 2020 to February 2021, we lost 25 priests and 60 nuns… Some of them died due to breathing difficulties,” he said.
He added that the number of infections in the country could not be determined due to the lack of testing.
Kitima criticized Magufuli’s Covid response, which was largely based on religion, while neglecting the scientific recommendations.
“You can’t separate prayer from science. Religion is there to support doctors and researchers. Science and faith must work together,” Kitima told CNN.
Rweyemamu told CNN that many Tanzanians trusted Magufuli’s – albeit unconventional – methods.
“If President Magufuli were to appear in public with a mask, even the sickest dog in Tanzania would wear one. This is because… Tanzanians believe in their president more than their own parents,” he added.
Mussa Khamis, a project officer at Good Neighbors, a non-profit humanitarian organization in Tanzania, told CNN, “While some of my friends and family members were inhaling steam to fight this pandemic … WHO and other medical experts.”
The 26-year-old resident of Tanzania’s semi-autonomous islands, Zanzibar, said the existence of Covid-19 began to resonate with many Tanzanians following the death of Zanzibar Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad, who died in February after contracting the virus.
Hamad was open about his illness, which he made public three weeks before his death.
“People now wear masks and often wash their hands. I think this is motivated by the recent loss of our vice president,” said Khamis.
The end of the Magufuli era is expected to usher in a new national perspective on Covid-19.
However, it remains to be seen whether it will be business as usual for Tanzania’s new leader or if she will change course and make room for science to thrive as the pandemic rages on.