Several notable individuals from the African continent passed away in 2024, creating a significant gap in several fields. These people, who made important contributions to their various fields—from business and politics to entertainment and sports—will be sorely missed.
When news of the politician Ifeanyi Ubah and music icon Onyeka Onwenu went viral online, Nigeria was plunged into anguish and despair.
Ubah, a Nigerian politician and business tycoon, was well-known for his wild demeanour and his attempt at playing professional football. On July 27, 2024, he died from heart arrest. A well-known person in Anambra State, Ubah was a senator and an outspoken supporter of youth development.
Onwenu was a real legend. She died on July 30, 2024. Her remarkable career included activism, acting, and music. Onwenu was a strong social justice voice who promoted women’s rights and social change through her music and platform.
On October 12, 2024, Tito Mboweni, a well-known player in South Africa’s economic policy, passed suddenly. The economic landscape of South Africa was significantly shaped by Mboweni, who was well-known for his candid opinions and dedication to budgetary restraint.
Similarly, Connie Chiume, a well-liked actress who starred in many South African television shows and Hollywood blockbusters, including “Black Panther,” died on August 6, 2024. Her skill and commitment to her work will be sorely missed.
Hage Geingob, Namibia’s first post-independence president and prime minister, died in February 2024 at the age of 82. Geingob was instrumental in Namibia’s transition to independence and its development as a modern nation.
Ali Hassan Mwinyi, the former president of Tanzania who served from 1985 to 1995, died in February 2024 at the age of 98. Mwinyi’s presidency helped bring multi-party politics to Tanzania.
Dr. Faustine Ndugulile, a former Tanzanian health minister and newly elected WHO Regional Director for Africa, passed away at the age of 55 while receiving medical treatment in India, shortly before he was scheduled to assume his new position.
The year 2024 saw the deaths of a few athletes who made significant contributions to Africa’s development and global recognition. The sports world was impacted by Dikembe Mutombo, Rebecca Cheptegei, Kelvin Kiptum, Rachid Mekhloufi, Issa Hayatou, and Jacques Freitag.
Throughout his eight-time NBA All-Star career in the USA, Dikembe Mutombo was a fan favourite due to his pleasant demeanour and signature finger-wagging celebration.
But after his death at the age of 58 from brain disease, Mutombo will be remembered as much for his humanitarian efforts in his home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and throughout Africa as for his defensive abilities as a centre.
A hospital in Kinshasa and an educational facility in Mbuji-May were two of the projects he supported.
In the weeks following her participation in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, 33-year-old Ugandan runner Rebecca Cheptegei was the victim of gender-based abuse.
Days after a former partner doused Cheptegei in petrol and set her on fire, she passed away. According to a local administrator’s report, the Ugandan lived and trained in northwest Kenya, and she and her ex-partner had been fighting over a plot of land there.
As the third athlete to be assassinated in the East African nation in the last four years, World Athletics has made it a mission to fight gender-based violence. Cheptegei finished 44th in the Olympic marathon, which was her final competition.
The career of Kenyan distance runner Kelvin Kiptum was also cut short. In February, a car tragedy in Kenya claimed the lives of Kiptum and his coach. After establishing a timing of two hours and thirty-five seconds in Chicago in October 2023, the 24-year-old continues to retain the world record for the marathon.
Kiptum claimed his career was just “getting started” after that historic event. In 2018, Kiptum ran in his first major competitive race without the money to buy shoes.
His unexpected passing shocked many in Kenya and around the world, leaving them with the overwhelming sense that their potential had been lost. The father of two seemed poised to become the first man to complete an open competition marathon in less than two hours.
Since leaving Saint-Etienne, a French club, in the first half of 1958, striker Rachid Mekhloufi has come to represent Algeria’s struggle for independence.
Mekhloufi went to Tunisia and joined like-minded players, many of whom had previously been stationed in France, to help form a National Liberation Front (FLN) team.
Due to his activities, he forfeited his opportunity to play for Les Bleus at the Fifa World Cup in Sweden that summer, despite having earned four caps for France. To promote his country’s claim for independence, which was ultimately granted in 1962, the FLN squad played games around the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Later, Mekhloufi was president of the Algerian football federation and coach, sharing coaching duties when Les Verts defeated Germany in the 1982 World Cup. In November, at the age of 88, he died.
Two weeks after going missing, 2003 global high jump champion Jacques Freitag of South Africa was discovered dead in a Pretoria cemetery in July, suffering from numerous gunshot wounds.
One of a few athletes who have won individual world titles at the Under-18, Under-20, and senior levels is the 42-year-old, whose mother was a national high jump champion. He became the first African male to win a world title in a field event when he cleared 2.35 metres to earn gold at the World Championships in Paris.
Although Freitag did not make it to the final in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, he broke the African record the following year, setting a new mark of 2.38 metres that remains to this day. This was not the only violent tragedy in South Africa this year; in April, Luke Fleurs, a defender for Kaizer Chiefs, was shot and killed at the age of 24 during a carjacking.
Issa Hayatou, a national track champion, played basketball for his nation, Cameroon. He spent the majority of his life working in sports administration, and during his 29-year term as president (1988–2017), he contributed to the Confederation of African Football’s transformation.
He managed the Africa Cup of Nations’ expansion from eight to sixteen teams, enhanced the organisation’s balance sheet, and added more competitions to aid in the development of players and facilities around the continent.
The Cameroonian served as president of football’s world governing body for a brief period and was a long-time member of FIFA’s executive council. Hayatou denied any wrongdoing despite being linked to several controversies, including the claim that he accepted a bribe during Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid.
Many people think Hayatou, a sultan’s son, did a better job of advancing African football than most of his predecessors or successors. In August, he passed away at age 77.
