Gen. Salva Mathok’s body arrives in Juba, to be flown to Gogrial for burial

JUBA, MARCH 6, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – The body of South Sudan member of parliament Gen. Salva Mathok Gengdit who passed on in Thailand last week has been flown to Juba where hundreds of citizens were waiting to receive his body.

General Salva Mathok who also served at onset of South Sudan’s independence as the country’s deputy minister of interior  died following undisclosed and short illness in a hospital in the Thai capital Bangkok, according to family members and friends.

In a statement, the presidency said that President Salva Kiir was among the citizens who went to Juba International Airport to receive the body of the prominent lawmaker.

“President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Monday joined mourners at Juba International Airport to receive the body of late Gen. Salva Mathok Gengdit who died on 1st March 2023 in Thailand after a short illness,” the presidency said in a brief statement.

A senior government official separately told Sudans Post that Mathok’s body will be flown to Gogrial for  burial.

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 rescue 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.