Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Thursday, December 4, 2025.
Global Condemnation Mounts Over Tanzania’s Post-Election Crackdown As U.S. Promises ‘Comprehensive Review’ of Bilateral Relations
International pressure on Tanzania is intensifying following a deadly crackdown on opposition protests that erupted during and after the country’s disputed general election on October 29, 2025.
The United States has initiated a “comprehensive review” of its bilateral relationship with the East African nation, while United Nations human rights experts have condemned what they term “widespread and systematic human rights violations.” In a significant move, Ghana has become the first African state to independently and publicly call for a credible investigation into the violence.
U.S. State Department statement noted that Tanzania’s ongoing repression of religious freedom and free speech, the presence of persistent obstacles to U.S. investment, and disturbing violence against civilians in the days leading up to and following Tanzania’s October 29 elections, “required this reconsideration of our ties.”
“These actions have put American citizens, tourists, and U.S. interests in Tanzania at risk, and threatened to undermine the mutual prosperity and security that have defined our partnership for decades,” the statement added.
The US review puts a substantial and long-standing partnership at risk. The United States is Tanzania’s single largest development partner, with total annual contributions estimated at US$2.8 billion between 2012 and 2022, a figure that includes approximately US$1 billion in direct aid annually.
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Minister Warns Youth and Activists Against Violence, Cites DRC Conflict as a Lesson
Kigoma. Tanzania’s Minister for Home Affairs, George Simbachawene, has urged young people and activists to use lawful and peaceful means when demanding their rights, warning that violence and unrest have never resulted in solutions but instead destroy peace and stability.
Speaking during the Second Tripartite Meeting involving the Government of Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Simbachawene stressed that dialogue remains the only way to safeguard the nation’s peace.
He cited the Democratic Republic of Congo as a cautionary example, noting that the country has endured more than 30 years of conflict and is still struggling to restore stability.
“Those who think violence will give them rights must think again. Congo has been unstable for more than 30 years, and peace has still not returned. If we destroy our peace today, we will suffer in the same way,” he warned.
The meeting, held in Kigoma, saw the three parties sign documents outlining a plan to repatriate 86,256 Congolese refugees currently living in Tanzania. The event was attended by DRC Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Shabani Bihango, and UNHCR Representative in Tanzania, Barbara Dotse, both of whom expressed appreciation to Tanzania for hosting Congolese refugees for more than three decades.
Simbachawene statement comes amid post October 29 election in Tanzania where there has been an ongoing plan for another demonstration on December 9, 2025 at Tanzania Mainland independence day commemoration, organized online by youth and activist.
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Mange Kimambi: Pressure Mounts on Meta for Banning Tanzanian Activist’s Socials as Court Adjourns Case Against Her to 2026
Pressure has been mounting on Meta after the company deactivated the social media account of influential U.S.-based Tanzanian activist Mange Kimambi on December 3, 2025. Meta later released a statement saying the account was banned for violating the platform’s recidivism policy.
The ban came as a case filed by the Tanzanian government against Kimambi was adjourned on Thursday to January 28, 2026. Registered under Economic Crime Case No. 000021172/2025 before Resident Magistrate Hassan Makube, the case was postponed because investigations were still pending.
State prosecutors allege that between March 1 and March 31, 2022, Kimambi was involved in laundering Tsh 138.5 million. They argue that she earned the revenue through unaccredited journalism and intimidation.The period cited corresponds to the early days of the Mange Kimambi App, a gossip application she operated from the U.S. The app became highly popular and, like its owner, very influential, attracting hundreds of thousands of paying users, mostly ordinary citizens, within its first months of launch. It became the first successful pay-to-read gossip and news app in Tanzania.
Mange announced in June 2025 that she was ceasing entertainment-related work to focus on activism, citing an urgent threat of democratic decline. She also stated that she had realized her focus on celebrity gossip had contributed to distracting Tanzanians from important national issues.
Mange has been using her Instagram page as a platform for activism and is considered one of the driving forces behind the planned October 29 demonstration. She set the date and called for a peaceful protest, which was later amplified by other activists. Her accounts have also shared various leaks related to corruption and other public-interest matters.
“My social-media platforms were essential tools for communicating with supporters, organizing peaceful civic action, and documenting human-rights abuses in real time,” Mange wrote on her X page, addressing President Donald Trump following deactivation by Meta.
CNN journalist Larry Madowo reached out to Meta for clarification on the ban, and the company cited policy violations as the reason.
“While we believe freedom of expression is a fundamental right and that our platforms should be a place where users around the world can exercise this right, we have strict rules about what is and isn’t allowed on our platforms,” a Meta spokesperson said.
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Rwanda, Tanzania Reaffirm Joint Border Security Efforts at Ngoma Meeting
The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation in maintaining security along their shared border, following the conclusion of the 14th Proximity Commanders’ Security Meeting held in Ngoma District, Eastern Province.
According to a statement from Rwanda’s Ministry of Defence, the three-day meeting, which took place from 2–4 December 2025, brought together senior commanders from both countries to review progress on joint security initiatives and strategize on countering emerging cross-border threats.
The Proximity Commanders’ Security Meetings, held quarterly, serve as a formal platform for military officials to assess previous action plans, examine current security dynamics, and coordinate efforts against illicit activities such as smuggling, illegal crossings, and other threats affecting border communities.
During this 14th session, delegates evaluated progress made since the previous meeting in September, which was held in Ngara, Tanzania. Discussions focused on the implementation of shared border security measures, enhanced patrol operations, and improved mechanisms to protect residents in frontier regions on both sides.
Major General Ruki Karusisi, Commander of the RDF 5th Infantry Division, commended the ongoing collaboration between the two forces, noting that it reflects the strong bilateral relationship between Rwanda and Tanzania.
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Op-Ed: Tanzania’s Day of Violence: The Collapse of Conscience and the Reckoning of October 29
It is difficult to speak about October 29 without first acknowledging a deeper wound: the sense that something fundamental broke in the soul of the nation. A government can lose an election and recover. It can lose a policy battle and adjust.
But when a government loses its moral centre, when it becomes willing to harm the very people from whom it derives its power, something far more dangerous begins—the slow corrosion of trust, dignity, and belonging. Tanzania, a country long defined by its peace, awoke to a violence that neither fits our history nor reflects our aspirations.
Tanzania’s general election of October 29, 2025, was marked by unprecedented violence, which resulted in an unaccounted loss of life, the destruction of property, and a total disregard by the government for its citizens. Even the number of losses remains indeterminate.
The shared images tell of the dark acts of the state when it untethered us from the rest of the world. We struggled even to comprehend what had happened in our darkest hour.
Despite the loss of life, the winner was declared to have garnered 97.3 per cent of the vote, a resounding victory. But it is not clear against whom exactly, since the credible opposition did not participate in the election, and their apex leaders were all locked up months before the election.
A victory won with such margins is not a sign of democracy but rather a convergence towards a totalitarian state like North Korea. Indeed, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has fostered a culture of political unanimity within itself, locally referred to as uchawa, failing to realise that this only serves to distance it from the truth.
The CCM regime is mortgaging the future to save itself in the present, but at what cost?
Even those in CCM who believe it is their birthright to rule ought to keep in mind the Kantian categorical imperative principle—“that one should only act according to a maxim that they can also will to become a universal law”—for in the long arc of history, the law’s delays are not always prejudicial to the cause of justice.
Tanzania can either focus on protecting what it is or focus on reflecting what it ought to be. The concern is whether it even has such aspirations.
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