Tanzania: Back to the Authoritarian Routine

In May 2025, Tanzanian security forces stripped Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire naked, raped her and smeared her with excrement while they filmed her ordeal, seemingly to shame her into silence. Her crime: entering the country alongside fellow activist Boniface Mwangi from Kenya to attend the politically motivated trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Mwangi, arrested alongside her, was also subjected to torture . They were eventually dumped near the border.

This brutality should shock the world into recognising the reality of Tanzania under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office in 2021 with eloquent promises of reconciliation and democratic renewal following the death of authoritarian president John Magufuli. Four years later, every democratic gain made since 2021 has been dismantled. As an October general election approaches, Hassan is showing herself to be not a reformist alternative to Magufuli’s authoritarianism but a more polished successor: one who uses the language of democracy to legitimise increasingly brutal repression .

Illusion of change

In 2022, Time magazine named Hassan as one of the 100 most influential people of the year. This praise conveniently overlooked that fact she’d been elected and re-elected on the same Party of the Revolution (CCM) ticket as Magufuli in rigged elections, been a key part of his administration and benefited from the system that had kept the CCM in power for over half a century.

But Hassan’s early presidency seemed to mark a genuine departure from her predecessor’s methods. She championed ‘ the four Rs ’: reconciliation, resilience, reform and rebuilding. In January 2023, she lifted a 2016 ban on political rallies , allowed banned media to resume operations, released imprisoned opposition leaders and set up a task force on political reform including civil society, media and political representatives. Hassan sought to improve the business climate, re-engaged with international partners and adopted a more pragmatic approach to COVID-19, in sharp contrast with Magufuli’s refusal to respond to the pandemic.

However, this liberalisation proved superficial and short-lived. By early 2024, reforms had stalled. Many restrictive laws remained in place, and as the country approached crucial local elections, Hassan decisively returned to repressive tactics from the old CCM playbook.

Single-party hegemony

Tanzania’s democracy has always been constrained, its political system dominated by the CCM since independence in 1961. The CCM’s power derives not just from organisational strength and resource advantages, but also from its manipulation of electoral processes . This was clear in 2020’s implausible election results, which saw the increasingly unpopular Magufuli re-elected with over 84 per cent of the vote. Tactics included tight control of the election administration body, systematic exclusion of opposition candidates, deployment of security forces against opposition supporters, voter intimidation and ballot stuffing. Opposition parties were constrained by legislation empowering the government to interfere with their registration, funding, internal operations, advocacy and coalition formation.

The state became more authoritarian when Magufuli took the helm in 2015, using increasingly extreme measures to silence critics, including banning political rallies, shutting down media outlets and targeting civil society organisations. His crackdown extended beyond traditional opposition figures to encompass activists, journalists and anyone who dared criticise government policies. So when Hassan succeeded Magufuli upon his death, people hoped for change.

Intensifying crackdown

Hassan’s mask slipped ahead of November 2024 local elections. In August, police detained 375 members and supporters of the main opposition party, the Party for Democracy and Progress (CHADEMA), including Lissu and party chair Freeman Mbowe. This crackdown was triggered by CHADEMA’s referencing of youth-led protests in neighbouring Kenya , with authorities banning a planned International Youth Day celebration. Authorities arrested five media workers alongside opposition members.

This was followed by a wave of enforced disappearances and targeted killings of opposition activists. In September, senior CHADEMA member Ali Mohamed Kibao was abducted and found dead the following day with evidence of severe beating and acid burns. Social media commentator Edgar Mwakabela was similarly abducted, tortured, shot in the jaw and dumped in Katavi National Park; fortunately, he survived. At least three other opposition members went missing.

As voting approached, the government launched a systematic attack on media freedoms, blocking nationwide access to Twitter/X in August and physically assaulting journalists covering banned protests. In October, authorities suspended three major online news outlets for 30 days after The Citizen published an animated video featuring a character resembling Hassan watching coverage of abductions.

Portrait artist Shadrack Chaula was convicted and fined for ‘insulting’ Hassan in a TikTok video, then disappeared for a month after his release. Academic freedom was constrained, with scholars self-censoring due to laws criminalising disputing government statistics. Civil society organisations faced growing restrictions , including deregistration and legal harassment.

These actions created a climate of fear that neutered opposition. When local elections were held, meaningful competition was impossible, and to nobody’s surprise, the CCM won over 98 per cent of seats.

Democracy denied

With local elections secured, Hassan moved to eliminate any potential challenge in the general election. In April, a court charged Lissu with treason – which carries the death penalty – for allegedly inciting rebellion while calling for electoral reforms. After CHADEMA refused to sign an electoral code of conduct without comprehensive reforms, the election body banned it from all elections until 2030, eliminating the only credible challenge to CCM rule.

On the same day they abducted Atuhaire and Mwangi, authorities detained former Kenyan Justice Minister Martha Karua on her arrival at Dar es Salaam airport to attend Lissu’s trial, and then deported her. This targeting of foreign political figures demonstrates the government’s growing confidence that brutal repression carries no consequences.

The international community’s response has been shamefully muted. While international civil society organisations and United Nations human rights experts have condemned violations and called for investigations, governments have done virtually nothing. Their silence can only embolden Hassan, and authoritarians around the world.

The upcoming general election isn’t just another vote: it’s a test of whether the international community will stand by as Tanzania becomes a fully authoritarian state.

*CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report .

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