Ex-deputy interior minister Salva Mathok dies in Thailand

JUBA, MARCH 1, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan’s former deputy minister of interior General Salva Mathok Gengdit died on Tuesday in a hospital in the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, according to a parliamentary source close to him.

Mathok who is also a member of parliament representing Warrap State on the ticket of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) under President Salva Kiir Mayardit was suffering from a throat cancer, according to the parliamentary source.

“I think one of the problems he was suffering from is throat cancer and it is not the first time that he is hospitalized for the same several times in recent years including in Nairobi and this enabled him to improve his health,” the source told Sudans Post.

Another family source who refused to be named for having been authorized to speak to the media by the family confirmed Gen. Mathok’s demise, and said that preparations are on the way for his body to be brought back the country.

“He passed away yesterday in Thailand where he was flown for medical treatment. Now the government and the family is preparing for the return of the body and he will be buried in his home state, Warrap State,” the family member said.

CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE

The veteran lawmaker who was once the deputy minister of interior following South Sudan’s independence in July 2011 is a controversial figure in the country’s political and was last involved in a public controversy late last year when was involved in a church arson.

The lawmaker claimed at the time that the church was causing harm to the traditions of his constituency and that he had to intervene to set the church ablaze to recue his community and his family from bad norms.

“I am a lawmaker and what happened to my community is beyond. The Adventist Church is fighting our identity. What makes us to be identified is what they don’t want,” Mathok told the media at the time.

“In Dinka, when a girl spends one hour away, she is told to get back to where she came from or she accepts the punishment so that she does not repeat it again.

“White stuff is what blesses our marriages; this is what they do not want. They want us to drink the Bazungu (whites) drink while Gogrial community ruled out other drinks,” he added.