Tanzania’s media barred from covering post-election violence victims’ testimonies:
Tanzania’s media has been barred from covering the testimonies of victims and the relatives of those killed during the violence which followed elections last October, a move critics say undermines the public’s right to information.
Making the announcement recently, the acting chairperson of the Presidential Commission conducting the inquiry, former chief justice Ibrahim Juma, said the restriction was intended to protect the privacy of those giving testimony.
Since the commission began its hearings across different parts of the country, hundreds of victims and relatives of deceased victims have presented harrowing accounts which have attracted significant public attention.
Juma said the widespread circulation of testimonies had exposed some victims to renewed trauma and persistent media intrusion, potentially leading to psychological stress and family tensions.
But media analyst and former Tanzania Media Council executive secretary Kajubi Mkajanga questioned the decision, in an interview with German network DW.
“I do not understand why the commission has taken this step, because these incidents occurred publicly. Many people witnessed them, debated them and lodged complaints,” he said.
Media organisations and press freedom advocates have criticised what they describe as a blanket restriction, arguing that while victim protection is essential, it should not undermine transparency and the public’s right to information.
A senior editor at one of the country’s leading national newspapers warned that the decision risks eroding public confidence in the commission’s work.
“Journalists are bound by professional ethics. We routinely protect the identities of vulnerable sources. A total ban creates suspicion and limits independent verification,” the editor said.
While acknowledging the need to safeguard victims, the editor urged the commission to consider alternatives such as anonymised reporting, pooled media coverage, or the delayed publication of sensitive details.
“Accountability mechanisms work best when they are seen to be open and fair,” he added.
Victims and relatives who have appeared before the commission have recounted cases of deaths, gunshot injuries, beatings, destruction of property and forced displacement linked to the 29 October protests and violence that followed the general elections which kept President Samia Suluhu Hassan in power.
Testimonies have reportedly been emotionally charged, with families describing how their relatives died from bullet wounds or injuries allegedly inflicted by security forces. In Dar es Salaam, one woman told the commission that her son was shot while returning home from work on the day of the demonstrations and later died in hospital.
At the end of its mandate, the commission is expected to release a comprehensive report outlining its findings, patterns of alleged violations and recommendations, including on accountability and institutional reforms.
Legal analysts say the decision highlights the delicate balance between protecting victims and ensuring public accountability.
“International best practice allows for in-camera hearings in sensitive cases, but transparency remains crucial, particularly where allegations involve state actors,” said a Dar es Salaam-based constitutional lawyer.
The October demonstrations, which erupted in several regions after the announcement of election results, marked one of the most violent post-election periods in Tanzania’s recent history.
Local and international human rights groups have reported hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries — claims the government says remain under investigation.
‘Gupta lieutenants are in court, Batohi says on her last day in office:
Outgoing national director of public prosecutions Shamila Batohi used her final day in office on Friday to reflect on her seven-year tenure, saying she leaves behind a stronger and more resilient National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Presenting the NPA’s 2024/2025 annual report, Batohi described institutional rebuilding as her central achievement, saying that the entity she inherited in 2019 had been weakened by the era of state capture.
“I leave behind an NPA that is more independent, more credible, more resilient and more future ready than the one I inherited when I took office seven years ago,” she said, urging her successor Andy Mothibi to fight for more institutional independence and for competitive salaries to attract high profile advocates.
Batohi said her return to South Africa from the International Criminal Court in The Hague in February 2019 to take up the post came as the NPA faced declining public trust and operational challenges.
“We had to rebuild a broken institution while simultaneously delivering on our core prosecutorial responsibilities, given the understandable impatience for accountability and justice in this country,” she said, describing the early period of her term as “a time that was marked by institutional decay, erosion of public trust and a deeply compromised criminal justice system”.
Batohi pointed to marginal progress in high-profile corruption cases involving the Gupta family which was at the centre of state capture, as well as state-owned enterprises such as logistics company Transnet.
Earlier on Friday, the NPA said the case against former public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba, former Transnet group chief financial officer together Anoj Singh, former group chief executive Brian Molefe, former chief executive Siyabonga Gama and former chief procurement officer Thamsanqa Jiyane had been postponed to 19 February at the South Gauteng High Court.
The indictments served on the group relate to a process of acquiring locomotives to expand and modernise the country’s rail infrastructure, during which the tender processes were flouted and three contracts were irregularly awarded to provide Transnet with 95, 100 and 1 064 locomotives in three different contracts, resulting in a loss of billions of rands for the entity.
“As much as many cases, important cases have not gone to finality, many of the key Gupta lieutenants are in court and many in this particular [Transnet] case as well,” Batohi said.
She acknowledged public frustration over the pace of prosecutions but stressed that complex corruption and organised crime cases take years to conclude.
“Despite important progress in various areas, South Africans are understandably frustrated by the slow pace of complex corruption cases and the lack of orange overalls for the most egregious offenders,” she said.
“They require intelligence, documents from multiple jurisdictions that must meet admissibility requirements, skilled investigators, forensic analysis and most importantly a justice system that can withstand relentless delay tactics.”
Batohi also addressed reports that she had walked out of the Nkabinde inquiry which is examining the fitness of South Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions Andrew Chauke to hold office. This is after she halted her testimony, citing concerns about the line of questioning from Chauke’s counsel.
“All I’m going to say on this platform is that: One, I did not walk out of the inquiry, two, I am not a delinquent and three, I would really like to say that I’m committed to this process,” Batohi said on Friday. She said she had spent 15 days testifying and did not “intend to not continue with the inquiry”.
Batohi said the NPA had steadily improved its target achievement rates over recent financial years, moving from achieving 50% of its targets in 2020/2021 to 75% in 2022/2023, 73% in 2023/2024 and 85% in 2024/2025, with performance exceeding 90% in the current financial year.
She highlighted the formal establishment of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption in August 2024, saying it was handling 50 high-profile matters involving 332 individuals and entities.
Further achievements included hundreds of corruption-related convictions and progress in complex commercial crime prosecutions.
“We’ve made really excellent progress in recovering the proceeds of crime, sending the message that really, crime must not pay,” she said.
Batohi said accountability involved both convictions and the recovery of stolen public funds. She noted that the Asset Forfeiture Unit had recovered R1.96 billion, with a significant portion channelled into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account.
“Recently another R1 billion has been dispersed to the South African Police Service to fight organised crime and another R900 million towards gender-based violence,” she said.
Total recoveries over the past five years represented 47% of all recoveries made by the Asset Forfeiture Unit since its establishment in 1999.
Batohi also cited partnerships with the private sector that contributed to the establishment of 66 Thuthuzela Care Centres aimed at supporting victims of abuse.
Batohi commended the Madlanga Commission, which is investigating allegations of corruption and political interference in the criminal justice system.
“This is our opportunity to really take on board recommendations from the Madlanga commission and make very important reforms across the system,” she said.
South Africa expels Israel’s chargé d’affaires Ariel Seidman:
South Africa on Friday expelled Israel’s chargé d’affaires Ariel Seidman, ordering him to leave the country within 72 hours, citing conduct it said was inconsistent with diplomatic norms and protocol.
In a statement, the department of international relations and cooperation referenced official communications and engagements that allegedly took place without appropriate notification through established diplomatic channels.
“This decisive action follows a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice which pose a direct threat to South Africa’s sovereignty,” its spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said.
“These violations include the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch insulting attacks against His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa and a deliberate failure to inform (the international relations department) of purported visits by senior Israeli officials. Such actions represent a gross abuse of diplomatic privilege and a fundamental breach of the Vienna Convention.”
Relations between South African and Israel have been stormy over Pretoria’s vocal criticism of Tel Aviv’s attacks on Gaza which have left more than 70,000 dead since late 2023.
South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice, saying the attacks on Gaza in retaliation against coordinated attack by Hamas and allied Palestinian militants on Israel on 7 October 2023 amounted to a pattern of genocidal conduct under the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.
Earlier this week, Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane criticised the Israeli embassy’s engagements with provincial institutions, saying visits and donations made without government approval breached diplomatic protocol and undermined South Africa’s sovereignty.
He said foreign relations must be conducted through established national channels and directed the provincial health department to investigate how donations were accepted without proper authorisation.
Seidman had been serving as Israel’s chargé d’affaires in South Africa, effectively the acting head of mission in the absence of a resident ambassador.
In the diplomatic hierarchy the role carries ambassador-level authority on the ground, making him the most senior Israeli representative physically present in the country at the time of his expulsion.
Meanwhile, South African Friends of Israel held a protest outside the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg on Friday objecting to the chairpersonship and leadership of Naledi Pandor at the foundation.
Pandor led South Africa’s criticism of Israel during her term as minister of international relations and cooperation.
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