Tanzania continues to witness the largest protests since independence following recent elections, which have been declared neither free nor fair.
They were also characterised by a crackdown on dissent, including the targeting of journalists, human rights activists, political opposition and religious leaders.
The protests against government repression and electoral fraud , consisting mainly of Gen Z (people born roughly between 1997 and 2012) broke out on 29 October in several towns, cities and districts across the country and have persisted despite a curfew, the deployment of the military, an internet shutdown and unconfirmed reports of over 160 casualties. There are reports from the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, of a crowd marching on the official residence of the president, demanding her resignation. Protestors are also reported to be targeting properties belonging to members and supporters of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.
In a joint statement issued on 30 October, three prominent Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) declared that the general election on 29 October ‘cannot be regarded as free and fair.’ David McAllister, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mounir Satouri, Chair of the Sub-Committee on Human Rights, and Merja Kyllönen, Chair of the Delegation for relations with the Pan-African Parliament appealed to ‘all democratic partners to stand firm in the defence of democracy and human rights. Silence is not neutrality - it is complicity.’
The MEPs also highlighted that the electoral ‘fraud did not begin at the ballot box - it has been unfolding for months,’ and has included the systematic dismantling of civic society, disqualifications of the two main presidential candidates and the prosecution of the leader of the largest opposition party, CHADEMA, on trumped up charges.
‘The arrest and ongoing trial for high treason of opposition leader Tundu Lissu - a man whose only “crime” was to demand free and fair elections - exemplifies the collapse of democratic values and judicial independence in Tanzania. Lissu must be released immediately and unconditionally.’
The MEPs stressed that ‘Reports of irregularities, obstruction of observers and targeted violence against critical voices have further eroded the integrity of this electoral process.’ Nevertheless, on 30 October, Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission began airing provisional results on state-run television which gave President Samia Suluhu Hassan an unassailable lead.
The lead up to the general election was marred additionally by increased suppression of free expression and association. Violations included enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, assaults and torture of journalists, human rights activists, opposition leaders, and their supporters. Many who were disappeared forcibly remain missing, with at least one confirmed to have been killed extrajudicially. The Tanganyika Law Society confirmed 83 abductions since President Hassan came to power in 2021, with another 20 occurring in the immediate pre-election period, including that of former ambassador to Cuba Humphrey Polepole, who was disappeared on 6 October, having resigned from the ruling party earlier and criticised the government. The doors of his house had been broken, and a large pool of blood was found on the floor.
Religious leaders voicing concerns about the country’s trajectory were also targeted. For example, on 30 April, Fr Charles Kitima, the Secretary General of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC), a vocal critic of the deteriorating human rights climate, sustained head injuries and was hospitalised following a vicious assault by unidentified assailants at the TEC headquarters in Dar es Salaam.
On 24 October Pastor Eleth Mtaita of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) in Babati District was arrested, allegedly for telling church members not to participate in the election. According to eyewitnesses the pastor’s house was stormed by armed men who took him away in a vehicle without licence plates.
In a curious incident, Fr Camillus Aroni Nikata of the Archdiocese of Songea in Tanzania, a lecturer in the Department of Public Communication at St. Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT) in Mwanza, who founded Radio Maria Tanzania, went missing on 7 October, while attending a spiritual retreat for priests in Dodoma. He had reportedly described the electoral process as not being free and fair, and had also condemned abductions and enforced disappearances, leading to fears he had been targeted with similar violations.
On 17 October police announced that Fr Nikata had been found alive but extremely weak in farmlands near his birthplace in the Ruvuma Region, and claimed his disappearance was due to financial strain and emotional distress from a broken romantic relationship. However, church officials disputed the police narrative, pointing to the fact he was in a wheelchair and hospitalised due to his extremely poor physical condition after being found.
CSW Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘The fact that Tanzania is witnessing the largest protests in 64 years is a staggering indictment of the severity and frequency of the violations that are occurring with impunity. We concur with the MEP’s assessment that silence is complicity, and urge the international community, and particularly the African Union, East African Community and Southern African Development Community, to stand with the Tanzanian people by persuading the government to exercise restraint in addressing desperate citizens who feel protest is now their only means of redress, and calling for a rerun after reforms have been enacted to ensure subsequent elections are free and fair, and that no citizen is deprived of their constitutionally stipulated right to participate in public affairs. We also reiterate our call for the immediate release of all who have been detained arbitrarily or disappeared forcibly, and to hold perpetrators of enforced disappearance, torture and extrajudicial executions accountable.’