Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Monday, June 27, 2022.

African court to rule on Tanzania’s education ban for pregnant students

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights is set to rule on Tanzania’s now lifted ban against students who are pregnant, married, or are mothers to access education through a formal system filed in 2020 by human rights organisations.

In November 2020, Equality Now, a global women’s rights organization, and Tike Mwambipile, executive director of Tanzania Women Lawyers’ Association, filed a joint case against the government of Tanzania at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, a regional court based in Arusha, Tanzania. They are seeking measures to overturn Tanzania’s discriminatory ban on students who are pregnant, married, or are mothers from continuing their schooling.

This was before November 24, 2021, a year after the case was filed, when the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology reversed its policy and published a circular saying that pregnant girls and girls who are mothers are allowed to return to public schools to resume their studies.

Three human rights organisations – the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa, Women’s Link Worldwide, and Human Rights Watch – ​​submitted a joint amicus curiae brief to the court on June 17, 2022, arguing that the case could impact the rights of girls across Africa.

“This case represents an important milestone as one of the first cases at the African Court on the rights of women and girls,” a statement released Sunday quoted Sibongile Ndashe, executive director at Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa as saying. “The loss of education and low educational attainment faced by girls in Africa has a long-term personal and wider societal cumulative impact and can significantly affect girls’ life trajectories.”

In their joint brief, the organisations provided information about the gendered impact of denying access to education on women and girls, including on their autonomy, development and self-advancement, and the perpetuation of lost earnings and poverty cycles.

“It is vital that girls and women everywhere experience no structural hindrance as they pursue their goals,” said Achieng Orero, senior attorney at Women’s Link Worldwide, “As co-amicus, we offer a transnational perspective that emphasizes the importance of sexual and reproductive rights and girls’ and women’s ability to pursue their life projects, including obtaining the highest possible level of education.”

Tanzania plans to reinforce laws protecting water sources

Ministry of Water has tabled a bill seeking to reinforce laws for the protection of water sources in parliament.

The bill aims at strengthening the protection and conservation of water sources from pollution, soil erosion or any other adverse effect.

The bill seeks to introduce provisions relating to water impoundment as one of the activities requiring a water permit.

It says impoundment of water entails interference of natural flows of water which may lead to adverse effects on water resources, environment and other water uses.

Last month, the Minister for Water, Jumaa Aweso, said Tanzania has surveyed and identified 163 water sources for conservation and protection.

Mr Aweso said most of the identified water sources for conservation and protection faced threats caused by human activities and climate change.

Tabling his ministry’s budget estimates for the 2022/2023 financial year that runs from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023, Aweso told the House in the capital Dodoma that most of the identified water sources are located in the country’s water basins.

Resource Mining Corp starts maiden drilling in Rukwa

The Australian-based exploration company Resource Mining Corporation has started a maiden drilling programme for 18 reverse circulation holes at the Kabulwanyele nickel project, in Rukwa.

The 1,000 m drill programme is testing a 2 km strike anomaly that was identified from prior soil and rock sampling work and should assist the company in understanding the genetic model for mineralisation, executive chairperson Asimwe Kabunga was quoted Monday as saying.

The sampling programme returned soil samples grading up to 0.85 per cent nickel and rock samples reporting up to 1.27 per cent nickel.

“After spending some time on the ground over the past few months, we are convinced that Kabulwanyele has all the right geological ingredients for significant nickel mineralisation,” Kabunga said.

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