Tanzania’s cat and mouse politics: Treason, arrests and shrinking political space

Tanzania’s main opposition party said Thursday that two of its senior officials were arrested on their way to court to attend the proceedings against their party leader, who faces treason charges for calling for reforms ahead of October elections.

The opposition CHADEMA party leader Tundu Lissu, who returned to Tanzania last year after living on and off in exile since 2017 over threats to his life, was arrested on April 9 after a public rally where he called for electoral reforms. He was charged with treason, which carried the death penalty.

The party’s spokesperson, Brenda Rupia, wrote on X on Thursday that CHADEMA’s deputy chairperson, John Heche, and secretary general, John Mnyika, were arrested and that their whereabouts remain unknown.

The authorities have not confirmed the arrests so far and The Associated Press could not reach government officials for comment.

Meanwhile, Lissu refused to appear in court virtually and the proceedings were subsequently postponed until April 28. He is being represented by a team of 31 lawyers, led by Mpale Mpoki, who filed an objection to the case being heard remotely.

Outside the court in the country’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, violence erupted as riot police beat opposition supporters, injuring dozens, Rupia said.

Human rights activists have accused the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan of heavy-handed tactics against the opposition, claims that the government denies.

Hassan is serving out her autocratic predecessor John Magufuli’s term after he died in office in 2021. The next presidential and parliamentary elections are due in October.

CHADEMA has criticized the absence of an independent electoral commission, as well as laws that favor the ruling party, CCM, which has been in power since Tanzania’s independence in 1961.