On 2 October 2024, Tanzania’s communications regulator suspended the online license of Mwananchi Communications Limited, preventing its leading newspapers, including The Citizen, Mwananchi, and Mwanaspoti, from publishing any content online. The suspension followed the publication of an animated video portraying President Samia Suluhu Hassan watching reports about abductions. President Hassan has faced criticism over a rise in abductions in Tanzania, which has heightened public scrutiny. Authorities claimed the video threatened national unity and social peace. Media advocates criticized the 30-day ban as a blow to press freedom, urging the government to reverse the suspension and ensure a safer environment for independent journalism in Tanzania.

Sources: Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, The Citizen, Committee to Protect Journalists, British Broadcasting Corporation, The Guardian

On 8 September, a senior Tanzanian opposition leader was found dead after being brutally beaten and doused with acid. According to media reports, on 6 September, Mohamed Ali Kibao was forced off a bus by suspected security agents while travelling to his hometown, Tanga. Kibao, a retired military intelligence officer, joined the opposition party Chadema (Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo) in 2008 and was a member of its Secretariat. The killing has sparked outrage, with President Samia Suluhu Hassan condemning the murder and calling for a swift investigation. Chadema claims the attack was politically motivated, highlighting a troubling rise in tensions as opposition figures face growing instances of arbitrary arrests and detention ahead of local elections in December 2024 and the general elections set for next year.

Sources: BBC, The Citizen, U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, The East African, International IDEA

Tanzanian security forces arrested hundreds of supports of opposition movements and parties, including Party for Democracy and Progress (Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, Chadema) Chairman Freeman Mbowe, former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, as well as several journalists for violating a ban on holding a Youth Day rally. The arrests – which began on 11 August ahead of Chadema’s planned International Youth Day celebration in the city of Mbeya – signaled growing repression ahead of the local government elections in December 2024 and the 2025 presidential election. Authorities justified the banning of the event and the subsequent crackdown by claiming that Chadema was planning violent protests, ostensibly drawing parallels to unrest in neighboring Kenya. Human rights groups condemned the mass arrests and arbitrary detentions, with concerns mounting over President Samia Suluhu’s use of state power to suppress political opposition. Mbowe and Lissu were both released on 13 August after posting bail.

Sources: The Citizen, Africa Confidential, The New York Times, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International

The first significant opposition protest in many years took place in Dar es Salaam on 24 January. In January 2023, President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced the termination of a ban on most political rallies that had been imposed by former president John Magufuli in 2016, but the government continued to repress protests, most notably in June 2023. In the event on 24 January, thousands of supporters of the opposition Party for Democracy and Progress (Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, CHADEMA) peacefully rallied to call for reforms to the electoral laws and constitution that would decrease the power of the president, particularly relating to the independence of the electoral management body (EMB).

Sources: The Citizen, Al Jazeera, Human Rights Watch