Dar es Salaam – John Heche, CHADEMA’s deputy chairperson (Tanzania Mainland), was arrested on Wednesday morning and subsequently transferred under police escort to the distant region of Mara, his lawyers have confirmed.
Heche was apprehended in the early hours of Wednesday, October 29, 2025, as he arrived at the Dar es Salaam sub-registry of the High Court in Kivukoni. He was there to follow a separate treason case involving the party’s national chairperson, Tundu Lissu.
According to Gaston Garubindi, a legal representative for CHADEMA, the police informed them that Heche was being taken to Tarime in Mara Region to “answer charges” against him. However, the authorities failed to specify the nature of these allegations or provide any formal documentation.
“Police say, in their own words, that they have already transported him,” Garubindi told journalists at the court. “It appears they had already arranged the logistics to move him, and they said they have taken him, although they did not specify the means of transport — whether by air or by road.”
The police have not issued any official public statement regarding Heche’s arrest or transfer.
This detention is the latest in a series of confrontations between Heche and state authorities. It follows an incident on October 18, 2025, when immigration officials blocked him from crossing the Sirari One-Stop Border Post as he attempted to travel to Kenya to attend the funeral of former Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga. He was to be accompanied by other senior party officials.
Speaking from the border at the time, Heche lamented the lack of formal justification for the travel ban.
“I am at the Isibania One-Stop Border, and they have stopped me from travelling without any valid reason. They claim that I have a case in Tanzania, so I am not allowed to travel,” Heche stated. “I asked if they have the case number, but they don’t. I asked if they have any letters from the court, but they don’t have.”
The border stoppage sparked an impromptu protest, with a group of citizens accompanying Heche away from the Tanzania side in a show of solidarity.
In a statement released later that night, Tanzania’s Immigration Authorities claimed Heche had in fact crossed the border illegally into Kenya—an assertion CHADEMA immediately rejected as “misleading,” insisting he never left the country.
Further escalating the situation, CHADEMA’s spokesperson, Brenda Rupia, highlighted in a statement on October 19, 2025, that the passports of other party officials, including her own, were confiscated when they attempted to travel.
She forcefully defended the party’s right to movement, stating, “We are not captives, we are not prisoners, we have not broken any law, regulation, or procedure of this country that would prevent us from going outside the country. Therefore, we want the CCM government to see us as citizens who also have the right to enter and leave the country like any other citizens. Being members of CHADEMA is not a crime in this country.”
Rupia also revealed that during the Sirari incident, Heche’s vehicle was shot at and later towed to a police station, and his driver was arrested.
In response to his transfer to Tarime, CHADEMA has now mobilised its legal team.
Garubindi confirmed on Wednesday that the party has instructed lawyers from the Mara region and others from Mwanza to proceed to Tarime immediately to provide Heche with the necessary legal assistance.
