{"id":104294,"date":"2025-02-11T12:15:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T10:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy"},"modified":"2025-02-16T00:21:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T22:21:21","slug":"simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy","title":{"rendered":"Simba Makoni Laughs Off Death Rumours: &#8220;I&#8217;m Very Healthy&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Zimbabwe\u2019s former Finance Minister and ZANU PF politburo member, Simbarashe Herbert Stanley Makoni\u2014better known as Simba Makoni\u2014has come out to quash rumours of his death.<\/p>\n<p>Despite circulating reports on social media that he had passed away, Makoni, who also once served as the SADC executive secretary, is very much alive.<\/p>\n<p>In a candid chat with NewsDay from his farm in Headlands, Makoni reassured everyone that he was in good shape. He said:<\/p>\n<p>As you can tell I am very much alive. The key message is you have called me and talked to me. I do not know where that rumour started from but I am now living in rural areas and I am very healthy.<\/p>\n<p>Muchadeyi Masunda, the chairperson of the AMH Advisory Board of Trustees, said that the person who passed away is actually the younger brother of musician Steve Makoni\u2014not the former Finance Minister and ZANU PF stalwart.. Said Masunda:<br \/>\nI had to telephone and speak to Dr Makoni himself. I am pleased to confirm that he is alive and well. As it turns out, the \u2018Simba Makoni\u2019 who passed away is the younger brother to Steve \u201cDhongi\u201d Makoni, the musician who made a name for himself through his popular songs like Sabhuku Nedhongi; Zvachonyana and Chakafukidza Dzimba Matenga.<\/p>\n<p>Makoni served as a key member of the ZANU PF government, holding various cabinet positions until 2002 when he broke away to form his own political party, Mavambo\/Kusile\/Dawn.<\/p>\n<p>His political journey began in 1980 when he was elected as a ZANU PF member of the House of Assembly.<\/p>\n<p>At just 30 years old, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture. By 1981, Makoni had risen to the position of Minister of Industry and Economic Development, where he served until 1993.<\/p>\n<p>In 2000, he was appointed Minister of Finance, further cementing his influential role in Zimbabwean politics.<\/p>\n<p>So, while the news of Simba Makoni\u2019s death spread like wildfire, it turns out it was a case of mistaken identity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe\u2019s former Finance Minister and ZANU PF politburo member, Simbarashe Herbert Stanley Makoni\u2014better known as Simba Makoni\u2014has come out to quash rumours of his death. Despite circulating reports on social media that he had passed away, Makoni, who also once served as the SADC executive secretary, is very much alive. In a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":104293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[11992,17879,19],"class_list":["post-104294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-simba-makoni","tag-simbarashe-herbert-stanley-makoni","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Simba Makoni Laughs Off Death Rumours: &quot;I&#039;m Very Healthy&quot; - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zimbabwe\u2019s former Finance Minister and ZANU PF politburo member, Simbarashe Herbert Stanley Makoni\u2014better known as Simba ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Simba Makoni Laughs Off Death Rumours: &quot;I&#039;m Very Healthy&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zimbabwe\u2019s former Finance Minister and ZANU PF politburo member, Simbarashe Herbert Stanley Makoni\u2014better known as Simba ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-11T10:15:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-15T22:21:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/02\/sm_1739264739.892964.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"482\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Simba Makoni Laughs Off Death Rumours: &#8220;I&#8217;m Very Healthy&#8221;\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-11T10:15:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-15T22:21:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy\"},\"wordCount\":351,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/02\/sm_1739264739.892964.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Simba Makoni\",\"Simbarashe Herbert Stanley Makoni\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/simba-makoni-laughs-off-death-rumours-im-very-healthy\",\"name\":\"Simba Makoni Laughs Off Death Rumours: \\\"I'm Very Healthy\\\" - 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