The cover image of this article is from unibasq.org.
There has been a slight decrease in the number of journalists facing censure in Tanzania, stoking hopes of press freedom improving in the nation. According to the Media Council of Tanzania, there were 17 such cases of ‘press violations’ reported in the previous year. This includes various threats, arrests, denial of access to information and equipment seizures by the state. The number had been 25 the year before and 41 in 2021.
Former President John Magufuli, who passed away in March of 2021, had been recorded as ‘hostile’ to the media, leading to Tanzania dropping from 71 to 124 on the World Press Freedom Index in the span of five years. However, with the new President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, taking a more progressive stance, some changes have been observed.
Making a statement in her first month in office, the new President declared that she did not want Tanzania to continue its bad reputation for violations of press freedom. Additionally, she had ordered the Minister of Information to lift a number of media bans that had been imposed during Magufuli's tenure. This led to four critical newspapers having their licenses reinstated after prolonged bans.
Kajubi Mukajanga, head of Tanzania’s Media Council, expresses mixed feelings of both hope and distress when it comes to the state of press freedom in Tanzania. He states that while the new administration has made certain positive changes, journalists can still face difficulties and overly stringent scrutiny.
In June of last year, a Zanzibar-based journalist was arrested on dubious charges of creating a video with a critical view of their island President, Hussein Ali Mwinyi. Without being properly informed of the reasons for his arrest and interrogation, he is required to report to a police station every month.
In May of 2021, the government also mandated that journalists submit a range of details such as their CVs and family backgrounds in order to receive a license to practice. Media outlets can be fined or have their licenses suspended without any warning, and the state advertising makes up 40 to 80% of the income of these outlets, leading to self-censorship.
Journalist Thobias Mwanakatwe had difficulty covering the state-backed evictions of the Maasai pastoralists in 2022, which saw independent media outlets barred from accessing the story. Only the state-owned media received free movement and access. As he states “there’s more media freedom now but where the government doesn’t want certain issues to be known about, you will face challenges. You have to be smart about how you report.”
A survey conducted by the Media Council between 2019 and 2021 found that three out of five journalists had experienced some violation of their rights. Reports that were critical of the government, offered alternate views or were about human rights were the most likely to generate some pushback. International reporters too have difficulty acquiring the necessary permits, a problem Ruud Elmendorp, a Dutch journalist, encountered first-hand. While in Tanzania due to Covid induced border closures, he tried multiple times to get a reporting permit, without success. After leaving and attempting to re-enter, he was told he was on a blacklist, a reason he believes is linked to his work.
The current laws in Tanzania offer substantial power to the government, with hefty fines for defamation and sedition. This was established by the East African Court of Justice in 2019, noting that the regulations do not meet the basic democratic standards.
Absalom Kibanda, a former Chair of the Tanzania Editors Forum, described journalism today as being “at the weakest in the country’s history”. He said that due to the laws, readers stopped buying publications, making them become irrelevant.
In spite of the progress that has been seen in recent times, leaders in the media circle stress that the changes must be formulated into law in order to be effective. As Kajubi Mukajanga puts it, “All this change is based only on the goodwill of the president, so we are insisting that this should be rooted in law.”