Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on September 24, 2025.
Tanzania High Court to Rule on Luhaga Mpina’s Presidential Bid on Sept. 29
Tanzania’s High Court has scheduled a pivotal hearing for Monday, September 29, 2025, to determine whether opposition figure Luhaga Mpina can be restored to the presidential ballot, after rejecting a government request for additional preparation time in a move that underscores the urgency of the electoral dispute.
The three-judge panel comprising Justices Frederick Manyanda, Sylvester Kainda, and Abdallah Gonzi dismissed the government’s request for a 14-day extension on Monday, September 22, granting only four days for the respondents to prepare their response to ACT Wazalendo’s constitutional challenge.
The hearing, to be conducted in person at the High Court’s Main Registry in Dodoma, will address Constitutional Case No. 24027 of 2025, in which ACT Wazalendo and Mpina are seeking a court order declaring the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) disqualification decision “null and void.”
The September 29 hearing represents one prong of ACT Wazalendo’s two-track legal strategy. In parallel, the party awaits a ruling on preliminary objections in Case No. 23617 of 2025, which challenges the Registrar of Political Parties’ decision to nullify Mpina’s nomination. That ruling is expected to be delivered online on Thursday, September 25, following a hearing before Justice Wilbert Chuma on September 22.
Read the full story here.
Tanzania-Flagged Ship Reported Sinking Near Iran’s Kish Island
A vessel flying the Tanzanian flag has been reported partially submerged near Kish Island in Iran. According to a Reuters report on Wednesday, the incident occurred around 13:00 local time. The ship had departed from Ras Al Khaimah port in the UAE and was en route to Shuaiba Port in Kuwait.
This is not the first time a Tanzania-registered vessel has been involved in an incident in Iranian waters. In 2023, another Tanzanian-flagged ship sank at a jetty in Iran’s Assaluyeh Port. Reports indicated that the vessel, owned by Iranian national Amir Kashiani, submerged due to improper container loading.
In April 2025, two oil tankers, Sea Ranger and Salama, were intercepted by Iranian authorities near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf for allegedly carrying 1.5 million liters of smuggled oil. Tanzanian authorities later clarified that both vessels had been deregistered prior to the incident and were no longer linked to the country.
Back in 2018, President John Pombe Magufuli halted the registration of foreign vessels under the Tanzanian flag and ordered an investigation into the 470 ships already registered. He cited multiple controversies, including cases of vessels being impounded for drug smuggling. At the time, he confirmed that at least five Tanzania-flagged ships had been seized for involvement in narcotics trafficking.
Can Tanzania Deliver a Credible Election?
Globally and regionally, democracy is under increasing strain, with trends showing a steady rise in authoritarian practices, shrinking civic space, and manipulation of electoral processes.
Across Africa, many ruling parties have entrenched themselves through restrictive laws, judicial capture, digital repression, and the instrumentalisation of state institutions to suppress dissent. Freedom House has consistently reported declining trust in democratic institutions, weakened opposition parties, and a growing gap between formal democratic commitments and people’s lived realities.
Regionally, in East and Southern Africa, elections are increasingly characterised by overwhelming victories for incumbents, often raising questions about fairness and the authenticity of multiparty competition.
Elections are moving away from serving as mechanisms for accountability and peaceful alternation of power instead turning into rituals of legitimisation for ruling elites and the domination of a single party system. The menu of tools in the ritual involves the abuse of regular elections, parliaments, the judiciary and rule by law diminishing thereby substantive meaning of democracy.
Read the full analysis here.
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