A bishop who became the first woman in the entire continent of Africa to be elected to the position in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has passed away from Covid-19. Rt Revd Ellinah Wamukoya, the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Eswatini, Southern Africa, died from the disease on Tuesday.

"It is with profound sorrow that I have to announce the devastating news that the Bishop of Swaziland in eSwatini, the Right Revd Ellinah Wamukoya, died today," said Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, the South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town. "Bishop Ellinah was admitted to hospital late last week and was put on oxygen therapy for Covid-19." 

He added: "We express our deepest condolences to her husband, Okwaro Henry Wamukoya, their children and grandchildren. May her soul rest in peace." 

At the weekend, Archbishop Thabo had requested prayers for his colleague. "She asks that we continue to pray for her full healing," he wrote on Saturday.

Bishop Ellina was consecrated by Archbishop Makgoba in 2012. "The thunder is rumbling as I write: We have witnessed a great occasion," Makgoba said at the time. "And now it does indeed seem that the heavens are about to fall upon us - the falling of rain, which this country and its people so desperately need." 

After taking up the senior role, Bishop Ellina said she was "going to try to represent the mother attribute of God".

"A mother is a caring person but at the same time, a mother can be firm in doing whatever she is doing," she said.