In Part II, explored the subject of Tanzanian Gen Z rising after the just-ended elections were marred by rigging and irregularities. Widespread protests erupted in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and other major cities last week after the disputed election saw the incumbent President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, declared the winner.
Today, I’ll recap what would have been done to avoid the bloodbath based on the geopolitics, causes and effects.
Tanzania’s elections followed those in Botswana (October 30, 2024), Malawi (September 2025), and Zambia (2021), in which all the incumbents were floored in credible, fair, and free elections.
Also around the same period, Madagascar (November 2023) and Kenya (August 2022) held elections. In Madagascar, the pre-election period was marked by protests, and 10 of the 12 Opposition candidates boycotted the polls. The president was ousted last month in a military coup following days of protests by Gen Z.
In Kenya, the disputed 2022 election was largely considered peaceful, but the country has since then been marked by significant anti-government protests.
Realistically, Tanzania could have gone the Botswana, Malawi and Zambia route, but didn’t. Its ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has been in power for more than six decades.
It fought for and brought independence, created a cohesive, stable, non-ethnic, and united nation, but sipped too much of power and created absolute power, which corrupts and deceives absolutely. This has created seeds of destruction within itself. CCM curtailed all sorts of freedoms, leaving no room for venting of frustration. Further, it ignored the voices of its critics.
Essentially, Tanzania’s problems emanate from within.
First, when CCM backed a stringent and workaholic outsider, John Magufuli (RIP), in 2015, it blindly set itself on a collision course. Magufuli bulldozed the party’s traditional networks and webs of eaters and movers.
After his sudden death in 2021, the party was left fractured and fragile in the hands of cagey, antagonistic, individualistic, and opportunistic players. With Magufuli gone, his confidants, most of whom were outsiders, were purged. This created acrimony in the party.
Former CCM ideology and publicity secretary and former ambassador to Malawi and Cuba, Humphrey Polepole, resigned and returned home with one mission: to avenge by spilling the beans. He was abducted a month ago, and his whereabouts are still unknown.
In a word, Tanzania was ripe for the post-election unrest that left hundreds dead, according to opposition politicians. The jury is still out on Tanzania as the country starts a journey of return to normalcy. The country can still pick up the pieces and move on.
But CCM and Samia Suluhu have been badly injured, and the over-touted Tanzanian myth of ‘Island of peace and stability’ has been demystified. And for its neighbours in the region, those who look down on the downtrodden must quickly change.