Dar es Salaam. The wave of youth-led protests, colloquially referred to as ‘Gen Z protests,’ that continues to rock several countries globally has generated mixed reactions from Tanzanian observers, with the government and the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) seeming to take an interesting note of the attention-grabbing developments.

Protests are currently underway in several countries worldwide, and the youth leading them appear to be decrying issues and challenges of similar nature, including runaway inflation, corruption and mismanagement, mass unemployment, and nepotism in government.

While some governments managed to suppress the protests through heavy-handed approaches, such as in Uganda and Nigeria, elsewhere, protesters managed to topple governments, forcing power-holders to flee their countries, such as in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In Kenya, protesters forced President William Ruto to withdraw an unpopular finance bill and dissolve his cabinet.

Tanzanians’ reactions to these developments have been a mixture of despair, where some believe the same cannot happen here given the past failed attempts, and caution, where some observers note that nothing can be ruled out given Tanzanian youth face similar challenges their colleagues elsewhere are up in arms against.

Food is politics

On August 3, 2024,President Samia Suluhu Hassan explained the recent phenomenon while speaking to sugar to factory owners, noting that the government tries to balance the needs of businesspeople with those of the general population.

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“They say food is politics,” President Samia analysed. Food scarcity has been mentioned as one of the factors fueling much of the Gen Z protests in Africa. “When there’s no food here [in Tanzania], Gen Z will not stay calm; it will take to the streets. Or if you allow the kilogramme of sugar to reach Sh9,000, [youth] won’t stay calm; no, they won’t.”

It remains to be seen if the administration is taking additional measures backstage to dissuade Gen Z in Tanzania from staging anti-government protests. However, some also believe that Samia’s decision to fire Nape Nnauye from her cabinet after his controversial election-rigging remarks could have been borrowed straight from the strategy to avoid anything that would trigger such an outcome. 

This was the first time President Samia commented on the Gen Z protests. However, her remarks came against the backdrop of concerted efforts from ruling party officials, government-linked activists, and influencers to dismiss youth-led demonstrations from across the globe to prevent Tanzanian youth from considering a similar move.

On June 24, 2024, for example, CCM secretary for publicity and ideology Amos Makalla told Clouds FM that the second longest-ruling party in Africa notes with interest the anti-government protests that were rocking Kenya at the time, saying that the party has something to “learn” from the developments in Tanzania’s neighbour, Kenya.

“If you see something happening to your neighbour, you must learn from it,” Mr Makalla said during the station’s morning show, PowerBreakfast. “But we’re proud of our peace and stability in Tanzania because it is the foundation of all developmental works. That’s what CCM is striving to guarantee.”

Pessimism

Opposition parties’ reactions to the wave of Gen Z protests globally have been somewhat bleak. Some opposition leaders blame the youth of Tanzania for failing to stage similar demonstrations against their government. Perhaps no one exhibits such pessimism as clearly as CHADEMA national chairperson Freeman Mbowe does.

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In his rallies across the country, Mr Mbowe has always expressed his disappointment with the Tanzanian youth over their perceived inability to hold the government to account, including their participation in anti-government protests. During a Haydom, Manyara rally on June 27, 2024, Mr Mbowe repeated his call to the youth to actively determine their country’s affairs.

“[Tanzanian youth] face so many problems that they’ve get used to them, becoming too numb to do anything,” Mr Mbowe remarked. During another rally in Himo, Kilimanjaro, the CHADEMA leader repeated this assessment: “Look at the Kenyans [where] youth are angry against their government that it reached a point where they said ‘enough is enough.’ I pray for the same to happen in Tanzania.”

For its part, the opposition ACT-Wazalendo party warns that Tanzania risks experiencing youth-led anti-government protests if the government fails to address the issue of youth unemployment, which the party has described as a “time bomb.” ACT-Wazalendo also warns that the outcome would be unstoppable if authorities don’t cease their abuse and mistreatment of small traders commonly referred to as Machinga.

ACT-Wazalendo party leader Dorothy Semu told rally-goers in Singida on July 26, 2024, that the two issues that the government has failed to resolve threaten the country’s peace and stability. She blamed the CCM-led administration, whose policies she alleges have led to the growth of the informal sector in the country, with many youths being uncertain about their future.

During the same rally, former ACT-Wazalendo party leader Zitto Kabwe said: “Given how big the issue of unemployment is in Tanzania, let’s not fool ourselves that we’re immune to Gen Z protests. The youth will get tired of empty promises and finally rise to demand their rights.”

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Or have they already risen up? A group of youth held a press conference in Dar es Salaam on August 5, 2024, announcing nationwide protests to oppose what they described as economic hardship and reports of forced disappearances that have been dominating headlines recently. Deusdedith Soka, the group’s leader, told journalists that authorities have failed to address the issues, and their protests aim to force them to do so.

Public accountability

Dr Ananilea Nkya has been active in Tanzania’s social and political movements seeking public accountability and has participated in several protests demanding legal and political reforms. In an interview, she told The Chanzo that people who dismiss youth threatening to protest can do that at their own risks, describing the situation in Tanzania as “volatile.”

“The only way Tanzania can avoid being affected by this [wave of anti-government protests] is by establishing mechanisms that would ensure public accountability,” Dr Nkya analysed. “That’s why we’re very serious about demanding constitutional changes; that will be one step ahead.”

Said Msoga, who analyses local and international politics for several media outlets, told The Chanzo that anti-government protests in Tanzania are possible. He said the issues protesters elsewhere complain about also affect Tanzanian youth, who have access to the medium used to organise the protests, the internet.

“We can prevent that from happening here if we emphasise the need to ensure just, fair and equitable utilisation and distribution of national resources,” Mr Msoga commented. “The use and allocations of these resources should happen in a way that all of us can confidently describe as fair.”

“That means we have to crack down on corruption and mismanagement,” he added. “Without that, you cannot guarantee that all your people benefit from the national cake. And once you have such sentiments, you’re one step closer to chaos, which, I should say, you’ll never know how and when exactly it’ll happen.”

Additional reporting by Modesta Mwambene.