On July 1, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) ordered DarMpya to suspend publication immediately, according to news reports and a copy of TCRA’s July 1 letter.
The letter cited the TCRA’s June 28 inspection of the outlet’s office in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, where authorities found that the outlet’s license had expired in 2021, and it was therefore publishing in breach of the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations.
A person familiar with the matter, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity citing safety concerns, said that DarMpya had applied for its license renewal shortly before the suspension. On July 6, DarMpya tweeted that it had ceased publication until it could renew its license.
The letter said the inspection followed complaints about DarMpya’s coverage of a protest, but did not specify the reporting in question. In a since-deleted tweet seen by CPJ, DarMpya alleged that a June 17 protest against alleged Kenyan interference in the Tanzanian government’s plan to evict members of the Maasai community from lands in northern Tanzania was staged. The person who spoke to CPJ said that the inspection was in response to that tweet.
Tanzanian Information Minister Nape Nnauye told CPJ via messaging app that DarMpya had been under scrutiny for allegedly unbalanced content, but said the outlet’s suspension had nothing to do with its journalism and was solely due to its failure to comply with licensing requirements.
“Tanzanian authorities are using a repressive set of regulations to control who may and may not express themselves online. The suspension of the DarMpya news outlet shows how such regulations can become tools of censorship,” said CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should allow DarMpya to resume operations without interference, cease using harsh regulations to police speech on the internet, and urgently reform the country’s laws to nurture, rather than limit, press freedom.”
DarMpya publishes national news and commentary on its website, on YouTube as DarMpya TV, where it has about 809,000 followers, and on Twitter as DarMpya Blog, where it has over 309,000 followers. It has not published news content on those channels since July 2.
Tanzania’s online content regulations were first issued in 2018, and at the time CPJ called on authorities to scrap the regulations, as they threatened the “diversity and robustness of online media.”
A new version of the regulations was issued in 2020, and those rules were amended earlier this year, narrowing the scope of the licensing requirements, but news blogs, online television broadcasters, and online radio stations must still register with the TCRA and comply with content restrictions.
Nnauye told CPJ that the Tanzanian government was engaging with local journalists about reforming media laws, but while the regulations remain on the books, the government will enforce them.
“We can’t close our eyes and say the law isn’t there,” he said. “As long as the law is there, it is not suspended, it is not changed. I am sworn to stand and make sure these laws are followed. If it is changed, then we will follow the new one.”
Under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office last year, Tanzania has committed to reforming its media laws, as CPJ has documented. However, at least two other publications—Raia Mwema and Uhuru—were suspended last year, as CPJ has documented.
In a phone call today, a representative of the TCRA said they would follow-up on emailed queries CPJ had sent about DarMpya’s case. CPJ had not received a response at the time of publication.
]]>The ban was only supposed to last two years, but it stretched on as officials failed to lift it even after a court found it “illegal” and “irrational.” Then, in February, the government took a U-turn. Nape Nnauye, Tanzania’s recently appointed information minister, announced that he was restoring the licenses of Mawio, as well as newspapers MwanaHALISI, Mseto, and Tanzania Daima, just a handful of the outlets that were banned or suspended from publishing online and in print under former President John Pombe Magufuli.
“If I have come saying that our intentions are good, let’s begin by turning a new page,” Nnauye said in a February 10 meeting with editors in Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian commercial capital. Nnauye said he was acting on orders of the new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, who succeeded Magufuli after his death a year ago. The new government, which has also suspended newspapers, aims to work in concert with members of the press to reform Tanzania’s media laws, said Nnauye. Reached by CPJ for comment about details of the reforms, government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa said that they would be announced at a later date.
CPJ spoke to Mkina about his plans for restarting his publication, and what the lifting of the ban means for press freedom in Tanzania. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your reaction to learning that Mawio’s license was restored?
Simon Mkina: I heard the breaking news from social media. I felt a rush of relief at the possibility of being able to go back into publishing and to do what I love the most. It feels like freedom was restored after almost five years’ delay.
What was the impact of the years-long ban on Mawio?
The biggest impact [was] to the public. Their rightful freedom of information was infringed. [In 2017], a lot of people came to our office [to express their concerns]. Some institutions, including lawyers’ organizations and human rights organizations, wrote in protest of the banning of the newspaper. On social media there were many stories from our readers who were just blaming the government for this decision. The public, from the country and outside, were crying for the newspaper to get back on the street.
When the paper was banned, did the staff continue working as journalists?
We had to close the office because there was no other business we were doing apart from writing. Reporters, editors, designers, proofreaders, and all other support staff, including drivers, were forced into redundancy.In the main office in Dar es Salaam, we were 27 [staffers]. And we had reporters in all regions, including Zanzibar. So in total about 57 people were made redundant because the newspaper was closed. The impact is multiplied beyond these 57, because they have families. Very few of the reporters were able to continue working in journalism, it was difficult finding other jobs.
You continued to work as a journalist, publishing in places like South African weekly The Mail & Guardian. What was it like going from being an editor to a freelancer?
It was not very easy. The thing is: you have to survive. You have to raise your kids. There is no other business I know that I can do better than journalism. But it was not only about surviving, I love the profession.
Can we expect to see Mawio back in circulation soon or are there any remaining hurdles?
It will take some time for Mawio to go back into publishing, as it needs huge capital. We need to start afresh. We need a printing budget, which is more than 100 million Tanzanian shillings [US$43,300] for a few months, before the newspaper even stands on its own feet financially and generates revenue. We need equipment and to hire the team. So there is hard work to be done. We have already started doing some of this work– looking for a team and new offices.
What will be Mawio‘s place in the Tanzanian news market once it reopens?
If we get back, Mawio will continue uncovering news that is not covered elsewhere in the mainstream media. We will do forensic journalism, investigative journalism. I can’t say what specific subjects right now—but in every story there is always an investigative aspect if you want to dig deeper, whether it is social, financial, or governance issues.
How would you characterize the press freedom environment since Samia became president almost a year ago?
President Samia has taken a great drift from what I can call the dark ages for media freedom in Tanzania. She has started to show good signs towards freedom of the media and there is a clear flow of information to the general public. But much work remains to be done.
Our country still has some controversial media laws which in an actual sense would hinder our working environment. Still, I hope President Samia will work to rectify them. It is crucial now that relevant legislation, including the Media Services Act [a 2016 law found inimical to press freedom by a regional court] be transformed.
Editor’s note: The second and third paragraphs have been updated with the correct spelling of deceased Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli’s name.
]]>On September 24, police arrested Fwema at his home in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, and have since detained him at the Oysterbay police station, according to a statement by the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders’ Coalition (THRDC), as well as Florence Fwema, the cartoonist’s brother, and Robert Mwampembwa, the head of the Creative Industry Network, a local industry body, both of whom spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Police say that Fwema is under investigation on cybercrime offenses, but have yet to arraign him in court, according to his brother, Mwampebwa, and a THRDC lawyer familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ via messaging app but asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns.
Fwema was arrested days after publishing on his Instagram page a political cartoon that was critical of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, according to those sources.
Separately, on October 2, police in Kawe, a suburb in Kinondoni District of the Dar es Salaam region, arrested Shemsanga, a reporter with the recently established YouTube news channel Mgawe TV, while he was covering an event by members of BAWACHA, the women’s league of the Tanzania’s leading opposition party, CHADEMA, according to the Defenders’ Coalition statement, as well as Shemsanga, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Mgawe told CPJ that police detained him later that day when he went to seek bail for Shemsanga. Both men told CPJ that they were released on the evening of October 4, but that police are still investigating them on allegations of illegal assembly, alongside several members of BAWACHA. Shemsanga told CPJ that police had yet to return electronic devices confiscated during his arrest.
“Critical political commentary and coverage of the opposition are essential to Tanzania’s democratic discourse, and it is deeply worrying that police are equating this kind of journalism to criminal activity,” said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “Police should unconditionally release cartoonist Opptertus John Fwema. Authorities should also discontinue any ongoing investigations into Mgawe TV’s Harold Shemsanga and Ernest Mgawe, return their confiscated devices, and abandon the habit of throwing journalists behind bars for their work.”
Fwema publishes illustrations and cartoons on his Instagram account and takes commissioned work in Dar es Salaam, according to Mwampembwa. On September 16 and again on September 20, Fwema published a political cartoon that depicts Hassan as a child playing with a basin of water painted with the Tanzanian flag, while a large man wearing a black coat printed with the words “Kiwete”—“cripple” in Kiswahili and a play on words that refers to former President Jakaya Kikwete—stands behind her, telling a group of concerned people that “she leads the country well.” The cartoon is a critical commentary on Hassan’s governance and depicts Kikwete being weak but also acting as her protector, according to CPJ’s review of the cartoon and a statement published by Cartooning for Peace, an international network of press cartoonists, calling for Fwema’s release.
On September 24, police initially claimed that they were arresting Fwema in connection to investigations into the theft of a motorbike, but the following day they told him that he was under investigation for misuse of the internet, according to Florence. The cartoonist did not have legal counsel present when he was initially questioned by police, who asked him about the cartoon, according to Florence Fwema and Mwampebwa.
Yesterday, a lawyer acting on behalf of the THDRC filed a bail application for Fwema at a Dar es Salaam court, which set a hearing in the case on October 11, according to a statement by the THRDC that was reviewed by CPJ.
In the October 2 incident, police approached Mgawe TV reporter Shemsanga while he was interviewing BAWACHA members following a jogging event in Kawe, according to the journalist. Even though Shemsanga identified himself as a journalist, the police officers demanded that he come with them to a local police station. The BAWACHA members, who demanded an explanation for his arrest, accompanied them to the station, Shemsanga said. At Kawe police station, the officers confiscated his devices including a camera and laptop; reviewed footage of his interviews; and locked him up in a cell, Shamsange said. Several of the women were also arrested, according to Shemsanga and an October 2 statement from BAWACHA that was posted on Twitter by the league’s secretary general, Catherine Ruge. Police said they had detained all of them on suspicion of illegal assembly and after a few hours they were transferred from Kawe to a police station about 24 kilometers (15 miles) away in Mbweni, according to these same sources.
Mgawe told CPJ that when he went to the police station in Mbweni later that day to seek bail for Shemsanga, police also arrested him. He said that they are investigating him for being complicit in the act of illegal assembly because he had sent the journalist on the assignment.
Following their release on October 4, both Shemsanga and Mgawe were ordered to report periodically to the police station in Mbweni. Shamsange told CPJ that Mbweni is far from his home and that his journey to and from the station on October 5 took about five hours on public transport. Shemsanga told CPJ they were due back at the police station on October 8.
Since mid-September BAWACHA has been organizing jogging meets for its members, saying that the events are supposed to promote good health among women in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to media reports. Videos posted on Twitter by Ruge and on CHADEMA’s YouTube channel show women at several such events jogging in t-shirts printed with the words “Tume Huru” (“Independent Commission”) and chanting the same words, a reference to CHADEMA’s campaign for reforms to the country’s electoral commission.
In a phone call on October 7, Tanzania government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa referred CPJ to police, and specifically the force’s spokesperson David Misime, for comment on Fwema’s detention, and the arrest of Mgawe and Shemsanga.
Someone who answered Misime’s phone today did not say anything and CPJ’s queries to Misime, sent via WhatsApp and SMS, were also unanswered.
When reached for comment on his phone, Kinondoni police commander Ramadhani Kingai referred CPJ to the Dar es Salaam special zone police commander, Jumanne Muliro, whose phone rang without answer today. Muliro did not immediately respond to a text message from CPJ asking about Fwema’s detention and the arrest of the Mgawe TV journalists. However, the local Dar Mpya news blog quoted Muliro saying that those arrested in Kawe had “indications of breaching peace by using exercise as pretext to rouse political sentiments,” according to an October 2 tweet from the outlet.
A phone number for Tanzania’s Inspector General of Police Simon Sirro that was listed on the police’s website did not connect today. CPJ’s email to the police headquarters and an address for the Kinondoni regional police, asking about the detention of Fwema and the arrest of the Mgawe TV journalists, also went unanswered.
]]>In a statement released on September 5, Tanzanian government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa announced a month-long suspension of the privately owned newspaper, beginning the following day. In that statement, he accused Raia Mwema of repeatedly breaking the law and violating professional journalism standards through misleading reporting and incitement.
Raia Mwema editor Joseph Kulangwa denied those allegations but said the newspaper would comply with the order and not file an appeal, according to a letter from the newspaper to Msigwa, which CPJ reviewed, and interviews Kalangwagave with local outlet The Chanzo and German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office in March, previously ordered the reversals of some media bans, and officials in her government have made statements committing to improve conditions for journalists, according to multiple news reports and CPJ reporting.
However, last month her government also suspended Uhuru, a newspaper owned by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, for two weeks, as CPJ documented at the time.
“Promises by Tanzania’s government to improve the country’s press freedom climate will continue to ring hollow if authorities keep up the trend of taking newspapers off the streets on the flimsiest pretexts,” said CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. “Tanzanian officials should drop their suspension of Raia Mwema and ensure that all newspapers can report the news without fear of suspensions and bans.”
Msigwa, a presidential appointee who is also in charge of Tanzania’s Information Services Department, which licenses newspapers, said in his statement that Raia Mwema broke the law in three separate reports.
He cited an August 21 article about proposed government fees for public locations playing music, saying it “creates panic among the community.” Speaking to Deutsche Welle, Kalangwa said that the report was not published with malicious intent but was meant to tell the public to prepare for the new fees.
Msigwa alleged that a September 3 article about the August 25 shooting of police officers by a person whom Raia Mwema linked to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party did not provide adequate evidence that the shooter was a member of that party and could incite hatred within it. He also alleged that the newspaper showed a lack of professionalism by mislabeling the date of that article.
In the letter from Raia Mwema and in Kalangwa’s interviews, the newspaper and editor said that the article only claimed that the shooter was a supporter of the party, not that he was a member, and said that they had visual evidence and witness statements to support that claim. Raia Mwema also asked why the party itself did not file a complaint. In the September 3 article, which CPJ reviewed, a man identified as the shooter is seen wearing a shirt with the party’s colors.
Msigwa also cited another September 3 article about a lawsuit against a former government official, saying that the newspaper failed to make clear in its headline that the official was no longer in office. In that article, which CPJ reviewed, the official is identified as having left office in the first paragraph.
In his statement, Msigwa accused Raia Mwema of breaching sections of the Media Services Act, a 2016 law which imposes prison terms of up to five years and fines of up to 20 million Tanzanian shillings (US$8,600) on those convicted of publishing false news; up to five years in prison and fines of up to 10 million shillings (US$4,300) for first-time offenders convicted of publishing and distributing seditious content; and prison terms of up to six years and fines of 20 million shillings (US$8,600) for publishing false information likely to cause alarm or disturb the peace.
In 2019, the East African Court of Justice ruled that the Media Services Act, which was also cited in the Uhuru case in August, was inimical to press freedom, as CPJ documented. However, Tanzania has not implemented the court’s directive to amend the law, according to multiple reports.
The law was also cited as justification for the closure of several publications under the previous government of President John Magufuli, including in 2017 when Raia Mwema was closed for 90 days, according to reports and CPJ research.
On September 6, CPJ emailed the Information Services Department for comment, but did not receive any reply.
On September 12, Samia moved that department from the Ministry of information, Culture, Arts, and Sports to the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, headed by a newly appointed minister, according to a statement shared by Msigwa and media reports.
After that reorganization, CPJ emailed the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology for comment on September 14, but did not receive any response, and the phone number listed on the ministry’s website did not connect.
CPJ repeatedly called Msigwa for comment and also contacted him via messaging app and Twitter, but did not receive any responses.
]]>Earlier that day, Uhuru had published a front-page story alleging that Hassan, who took office in March following the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli, did not intend to run for office during the next general election in 2025, according to the same media reports and a statement by the CCM.
The CCM disowned Uhuru’s reporting, claiming that the article was false and a mischaracterization of an August 9 interview Hassan gave to the BBC, according to the party’s statement and CCM Secretary General Daniel Chongolo, who spoke about the incident during a press conference on the morning of August 11.
In a video posted on Twitter on August 27, Uhuru Media Group, the newspaper’s parent company, said that the publication was back in circulation after 14 days and shared top headlines of that day’s newspaper. Edwin Soko, the chairperson of the Mwanza Press Club who spoke to CPJ via telephone on September 9, also confirmed that the paper was in circulation.
CPJ was not able to get through to anyone at Uhuru when trying to call phone numbers listed on its website and Facebook page in early September. The publication also did not respond to an email, a message sent via Facebook, or a message submitted through an automated form on the outlet’s website.
At the August 11 conference, Chongolo said that the newspaper’s board had suspended three senior managers at Uhuru pending investigation, and that he had directed the newspaper to cease publishing for seven days, according to a recording of the press conference posted on YouTube by private media outlets Mwanahalisi TV and Global TV.
However, Msigwa, a presidential appointee who is also the director of Tanzania’s Information Services Department, whose mandate includes licensing print media, issued a harsher 14-day suspension of Uhuru’s license, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account later that day. The suspension would take effect August 12, Msigwa said, adding that Uhuru could appeal to the Minister of Information if it wanted to contest the suspension.
In the statement, Msigwa said that in publishing the front-page story, Uhuru had breached professional standards and had violated sections of Tanzania’s Media Services Act. He accused the newspaper of violating sections of the law that allow for the imposition of hefty fines and prison terms for publications that include false information or have seditious intent.
Under the Media Services Act, first-time offenders convicted of publishing or distributing seditious publications may face up to five years in prison and/or fines of 10 million Tanzanian shillings (US$4,300). Anyone convicted of publishing “recklessly” or “fraudulently” fabricated information may face a prison term of up to five years and fines of up to 20 million Tanzanian shillings (US$8,600).
Uhuru is the first newspaper to be suspended in Tanzania in 2021, though the Media Services Act was weaponized to temporarily shutter several publications and to indefinitely revoke the license of at least one newspaper under the Magufuli presidency, according to CPJ’s past reporting and an August 11 statement by a local non-governmental organization, the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC), reviewed by CPJ.
In 2019, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), a regional body, directed Tanzania to amend the Media Services Act, finding that the law was inimical to press freedom and violated the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community, of which Tanzania is a founding member, as CPJ reported at the time.
In the August 11 statement, the THRDC urged the government to implement the 2019 EACJ ruling, saying that failure to do so was giving Tanzania a “bad image.” On August 27, the THRDC and two other local non-governmental organizations, Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) and the Legal and Human Rights Centre, filed a lawsuit against the government of Tanzania for contempt of court at the EACJ for its failure to amend the Media Services Act, according to a statement published on Facebook by the MCT.
CPJ emailed the EACJ for confirmation of the filing, but did not receive a response.
CPJ’s emails to the CCM, the Ministry of Information, and the Information Services Department requesting comment on the suspension of Uhuru, sent in late August and early September, went unanswered.
Msigwa did not answer his phone when CPJ called twice in early September, and also did not respond to a text message or WhatsApp message from CPJ requesting comment.
]]>June 14, 2021
Sent via email: press@ikulu.go.tz, ikulu@ikulu.go.tz
Dear President Samia Suluhu Hassan,
We at the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent non-governmental organization that defends press freedom worldwide, welcome your government’s initial steps to improve conditions for the press, including commitments to restore banned media outlets and to investigate attacks on journalists. We write to urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure a free and safe environment for journalists by committing to legal reforms that conform to Tanzania’s constitution as well as regional and international treaty obligations.
Over the last five years, CPJ has witnessed a grinding crackdown on the Tanzanian press, characterized by shutdowns of critical publications, arbitrary arrests of members of the press, the judicial harassment of bloggers, and impunity for those who attack journalists. You can reverse this trend by refraining from arresting and prosecuting journalists in connection to their work, discontinuing all ongoing journalist prosecutions, and lifting all media outlet bans and suspensions.
We also urge you to undertake a review of legislation that threatens a free press and to revoke, suspend, or reform the following:
Legal reforms must be coupled with measures to ensure journalists’ safety and freedom. Impunity for physical attacks on journalists or failures to investigate alleged abuses contribute to a climate of fear.
Since 2017, the Tanzanian government has failed to credibly account for the disappearance of freelance journalist Azory Gwanda. We have been dismayed by the lack of an effective response to his case, including at ministerial level and from police leadership. We urge your office to demand police investigate Gwanda’s disappearance immediately.
We welcome your recent call for a government that stands for justice and serves all Tanzanians without discrimination. These goals are directly linked to a probing, vibrant media, but only if journalists can operate freely and safely.
We look forward to a continuing dialogue with your government, and thank you for considering our concerns.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
Executive Director
Committee to Protect Journalists
Three officers from the KVZ force, a security unit controlled by the Zanzibari government, confronted Mikofu while he was photographing officers forcibly evicting market traders from the Darajani area of Stone Town, on the west coast of Unguja Island, according to those sources.
Mikofu told CPJ that he showed the three officers his government-issued press card and a company ID, and they then took him to a commanding officer at the scene for questioning. That commanding officer forced Mikofu to sit on the ground, questioned him about his identity and his work, and told him that he should not have photographed the KVZ operation, the journalist told CPJ, adding that he was questioned in the presence of about 20 KVZ officers.
Several KVZ officers then placed a large stone across Mikofu’s knees and mockingly told him to write his articles there; when he said that was impossible, they hit him with sticks across his back and on the soles of his feet, and kicked him all over his body, he said.
The officers also ordered Mikofu to log into his email account on his phone, then one of them changed the password, he told CPJ, saying the officers then forced him to hit his smartphone with a rock until it was broken beyond repair.
The commanding KVZ officer then forced Mikofu to do several push-ups, and officers pushed the journalist into a muddy pool by the roadside and forced him to roll around in it; Mikofu told CPJ that the officers allowed him to walk away once he was entirely soaked with mud.
Mikofu said that not all the officers who surrounded him participated in the attack, but he could not be sure how many took turns in beating and harassing him. He said that he suffered pains on his back and his left hand, and received outpatient treatment at a local hospital.
In an April 22 press conference, the Zanzibar minister of regional administration and local government, Massoud Ali Mohammed, and the information and youth minister, Tabia Maulid Mwita, condemned the attack and harassment of Mikofu, and said the government had not ordered such treatment. They promised to take action against the officers responsible, and said that journalists should not be afraid to do their jobs.
On April 23, both ministers visited the Mwananchi offices in Zanzibar to check on Mikofu’s health, and brought a new phone, an Itel device that cost 140,000 shillings ($60), to replace his destroyed phone, according to the journalist. Mikofu told CPJ that his original phone was an Infinix device which cost about 380,000 shillings ($160). He added that he later regained control of his email account.
Mohammed, the regional minister who oversees Zanzibar’s security forces including the KVZ, told CPJ in a May 6 phone interview that investigations into the incident were still ongoing. He said that the officers responsible would be taken through a disciplinary process, and the outcome of these proceedings would be made public once completed.
]]>That official, Lusubilo Mwakabibi—the district executive director of Temeke, a local administrator appointed by former President John Magufuli—ordered officers from the municipality’s auxiliary police force to arrest the journalists when they attempted to attend a meeting between Mwakabibi and traders from a local market, according to Billikwija and James.
The journalists told CPJ that they had traveled to Temeke, a municipality in Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, to cover allegations that Mwakabibi had mistreated the traders. When the meeting between Mwakabibi and about 90 traders was about to begin, Mwakabibi called out the journalists and said he had not given them permission to cover the event, James said.
The auxiliary officers then detained Billikwija and James at a holding facility within the municipal government offices until the meeting concluded, according to the two journalists and statements by two local rights organizations, the Tanzania chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), and the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC).
Billikwija and James said they were freed unconditionally after about three hours. James said that he believed the protests of the traders, who refused to leave the government offices until the journalists were freed, aided in their release.
In an April 13 tweet and April 15 statements to journalists, Information Minister Innocent Bashungwa said that the government was investigating the incident, but did not provide information on whether action had been taken against Mwakabibi. CPJ emailed the Ministry of Information for comment but did not receive any response.
Bashungwa told journalists that the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who succeeded Magufuli as president following his death in March, would not allow journalists to be mistreated for doing their jobs.
When CPJ called Mwakabibi on April 19, he hung up as soon as he was asked about the journalists’ cases. When CPJ called back, the phone was answered but no one responded. CPJ also contacted Mwakabibi via messaging app, but he did not respond.
]]>On November 17, the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court acquitted Melo on charges of operating a website that was not registered in Tanzania, but convicted him of obstructing police investigations by failing to disclose the personal data of whistleblowers who used his platform, according to news reports, Jamii Forums, and Melo’s lawyer, Ben Ishabakaki, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. The court did not fine Melo or sentence him to prison, and released him on the condition that he not commit any criminal offenses for one year, according to Ishabakaki.
“While we welcome the decision to acquit Maxence Melo on one of the trumped-up charges against him, his conviction on an obstruction charge is deeply disappointing and his conditional release leaves the door open for further judicial harassment,” said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “This ruling entrenches the dangerous message that the Tanzanian media cannot expect to protect sources. Tanzanian authorities should guarantee that Melo will not face prosecution for his work and reassure the media that they will not be forced to reveal sources.”
Ishabakaki told CPJ that the judgment was unclear on the consequences of breaching the terms of Melo’s discharge. Article 38 of Tanzania’s penal code stipulates that a judge may issue an arrest warrant and a new sentence if an individual on conditional discharge is convicted of a separate criminal offense.
Melo, who received CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2019, was convicted on similar obstruction charges in April and fined $1,300, as CPJ documented at the time. Both cases stemmed from 2016, when Tanzanian authorities raided Jamii Forums and arrested Melo, according to CPJ research and Jamii Forums.
]]>The over-the-top display of repentance was dictated by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), on the grounds that both broadcasters had broken the law by airing parliamentary candidate nomination results without verifying the information with Tanzania’s electoral commission.
This kind of punishment is becoming more common in Tanzania. In 2020, the TCRA has ordered at least one online television station, a news site, and at least four other broadcasters to temporarily suspend programming, and fined at least 10 other media outlets, according to CPJ’s review of TCRA’s public statements. The regulator cited violent and sexual content as the reason it penalized some outlets; others were punished for allegedly misleading or biased reporting on topics like politics and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The regulator’s aggressive stance – the latest development in a years-long decline in press freedom in Tanzania documented by CPJ – is undermining the ability of the press to cover the upcoming elections independently, according to a dozen journalists in Tanzania who spoke to CPJ in September and October.
“There is an atmosphere of fear—a deeply ingrained fear for journalists. Self-censorship has set in. People prefer not to do things rather than do them and risk censure from TCRA or the ministry [of information],” said Jenerali Ulimwengu, a columnist with weekly TheEastAfrican newspaper and a former Tanzanian parliamentarian.
Ulimwengu, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app in September and October, said he thinks the media is shying away from criticizing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), Tanzania’s ruling party.
Incumbent President John Magufuli is running for reelection against 14 other candidates, according to reports. As the vote draws near, Tanzanian authorities have broadened their crackdown on civil society and the opposition, leading to concerns among political observers and rights organizations that the conditions in the country won’t “engender free and fair elections” as Ringisai Chikohomero, a researcher with African non-profit Institute for Security Studies, put it.
Journalists who spoke to CPJ in December 2015 were hopeful that the newly-elected Magufuli might reform anti-press cybercrimes and statistics laws and stymie a problematic proposed media law. Instead, over the past five years CPJ has documented a bludgeoning of press freedom through retaliatory prosecutions, arbitrary media shutdowns, and restrictive legislation.
In July, Tanzania updated its 2018 online content regulations, entrenching requirements for internet news providers, including bloggers, to pay exorbitant registration fees to TCRA and strengthening prohibitions on broad categories of content, including political demonstrations and natural disasters, according to the rules, which CPJ reviewed. The updated regulations also further empower TCRA, a self-described “quasi independent Government body” established in 2003 to oversee electronic media and manage frequencies, to act as an enforcer.
“TCRA has moved beyond a regulator and taken on a seemingly censorious role,” Maria Sarungi-Tsehai, director of the independent Kwanza Online TV, told CPJ via messaging app in September.
Khalifa Said, an independent journalist who spoke to CPJ in September, recalled interviewing a videographer to work with him on a project who was so fearful that he requested a clause in his contract absolving him of liability should the regulator come calling.
Officials at TCRA did not respond to CPJ’s emails requesting comment in September and October. CPJ also contacted Tanzania’s information minister, who has the power to appoint TCRA’s director general as well as board members. In a phone call, the minister, Harrison Mwakyembe, declined to comment, saying he was preoccupied with elections. He referred CPJ to the government spokesperson, Hassan Abbasi, but he did not respond to CPJ’s texts or calls.
In April TCRA suspended Mwananchi, a Kiswahili-language newspaper, from publishing online for six months for posting an old video of Magufuli in a busy fish market. At the time, people familiar with the matter told CPJ the video had been construed to show the president was acting imprudently amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In July, the regulator hit Kwanza Online TV with an 11-month ban for sharing an American embassy COVID-19 travel warning, as CPJ documented. Mwananchi came back online on October 16, according to reports on its website and on TheCitizen, which is owned by the same company.
Chambi Chachage, a Tanzanian political commentator and a post-doctoral research associate at Princeton University, said that while some regulation is necessary, he was concerned by what he called the inconsistent and arbitrary application of the rules.
“Who decides you’re going to be banned for a week? For a year?” said Chachage, who is based in the United States, in a video call with CPJ.
Between January and April, the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC) documented the prosecution of at least seven journalists and bloggers, for allegedly failing to register websites and YouTube pages with the TCRA, according to the Coalition’s public statements. The Coalition, which is an umbrella body for local rights groups, said it had documented a total of at least 13 people prosecuted during this period; two were convicted and paid the minimum fine of five million Tanzanian shillings (US$2,150) rather than go to prison for 12 months.
In August and September, CPJ spoke to three people who had been prosecuted under this law who said the cost of registration is too prohibitive and that they live in fear of the possible penalties. “It is cheaper for me to go to prison for a year than to pay this fine,” said blogger Jabir Johnson, the only one of the three who agreed to be named and whose court case is ongoing.
The regulator has also taken aim at local media for using foreign content. In August, the TCRA issued warnings to four Tanzanian radio stations for rebroadcasting a BBC interview of opposition presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, according to a TCRA statement.
These warnings followed changes to broadcasting rules in June which require local stations to be licensed with TCRA in order to run any content other than their own, according to reports. The rules also include a vague stipulation that broadcasters must involve a government official in any dealings with foreigners, without providing specifics.
Officials have explained the rules as a way to keep track of partnerships with foreign companies and to ensure that foreign content adheres to local standards, according to media reports and a statement from TCRA.
“We remain very concerned about the new regulation, as it seems to be a tool intended to control what media in Tanzania will be able to publish in the future, ultimately putting the public at a disadvantage,” the head of DW’s Africa service, Claus Stäcker, told CPJ via email though he said that all of the German broadcaster’s Tanzanian partners had received the new permit without delays.
In an August 31 statement, the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees the broadcaster Voice of America (VOA), said that some of its Tanzania affiliates had “promptly ceased carrying internationally produced programs” when the regulations became public. In an October 15 email, USAGM told CPJ that 23 of the agency’s 24 partner stations are now carrying VOA content; one is still awaiting a TCRA permit to do so.
USAGM told CPJ it does not believe the new broadcasting regulations would have any impact on the VOA’s coverage of the elections. However, local journalists who spoke to CPJ are less optimistic in their outlook.
“We are trying to be professional and balanced, but not even this will protect you. Right now, as a journalist, you will struggle,” said a reporter with Watetezi TV, an outlet owned by the THRDC. The reporter requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
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