PREVIEW
A senior Chadema party official was abducted and beaten before being dumped in a forest a month after the kidnapping and murder of another of the party’s leaders
The crackdown on Tanzania’s opposition continues ahead of November’s local elections. On Monday, the opposition Chadema party reported that Aisha Machano, its women’s wing publicity secretary, had been found with severe injuries in a forest after being abducted in nearby Kibiti in the eastern part of the country.
Machano is being treated in hospital for her injuries, Chadema officials said. It is not clear who was responsible for her attack.
The assault on Machano is the latest in a series of attacks on opposition leaders. Last month, Ally Kibao, a member of Chadema’s secretariat, was abducted and murdered on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam (Dispatches 10/9/24, Murder of Chadema official sends chilling warning to opposition). His assailants claimed to be soldiers.
In August, Tundu Lissu and Freeman Mbowe, Chadema’s two leading politicians, were arrested and beaten by police ahead of a planned demonstration to celebrate World Youth Day. They were later released on bail (Dispatches 14/8/24, Wave of arrests points to pre-election crackdown).
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is set to win a first full term at general elections next year, has said that she will not ‘tolerate such brutal acts’. However, many believe that securocrats in her Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party are responsible.
Meanwhile, opposition parties have complained that the processes ahead of November’s local elections are being rigged to favour CCM.
ACT-Wazalendo Secretary-General Ado Shaibu has complained that voter registration in Dar es Salaam has been limited to a couple of days before the swearing in of election agents, while Chadema officials have reported cases where primary school children have been registered to vote in areas favouring the ruling party.
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