African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
Africa InsidersTanzania
Home›African Arguments›Africa Insiders›Insiders Insight: Tanzania’s LGBTQ crackdown

Insiders Insight: Tanzania’s LGBTQ crackdown

By Africa Insiders
November 6, 2018
2498
0
Tanzania LGBTQ: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Credit: Babak Fakhamzadeh.
Tanzania LGBTQ: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Credit: Babak Fakhamzadeh.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Credit: Babak Fakhamzadeh.

If you haven’t subscribed to the Insiders Newsletter, you’re missing out on the juiciest insights from our top journalists and analysts. To subscribe, click HERE. It only takes as moment.

Below is a list of the sections that you’re missing out on, but below that there’s a preview section to whet your appetite.


  • The follow-up: South Sudan celebrates after all
  • Despite experimental treatments, Ebola crisis worsens
  • What everyone is talking about: Is China buying Africa?
  • ELECTION WATCH: Keep up to date with all Africa’s elections
  • Tweet of the week: In Uganda, ghosts are everywhere
  • WTF of the week: How Trump’s rhetoric translates to justifications for actual violence
  • Report of the week: Africa’s “lost decade”
  • End matter: What else you should be reading

SUBSCRIBE NOW


Tanzania cracks down on LGBTQ community

On 31 October, Dar es Salaam’s Regional Commissioner Paul Makonda announced the creation of an anti-gay surveillance squad. He simultaneously called on the public to report members of the LGBTQ community, promising his team would “get their hands on them”.

In Tanzania, homosexual acts are punishable by up to 30 years in jail.

In the days since his announcement, Makonda said he has received more than 5,700 messages with the names of more than 100 people. Activists in Tanzania said there are reports that members of the LGBTQ community have already been arrested and they worry that Makonda’s announcement will spark anti-LGBT violence throughout the country.

The national government has taken some steps to distance itself from Makonda, pledging to respect the international treaties on human rights it has signed on to.

But President John Magufuli’s government has not actually condemned or halted the effort. In a country that was once at least semi-tolerant toward the LGBTQ community, Magufuli has resurrected anti-gay rhetoric since he took office in 2015. Administration officials have threatened to prosecute or deport LGBTQ rights activists and the government has shut down HIV programmes aimed specifically at supporting gay communities.

Most tellingly, 12 people were arrested last year after the government accused them of participating in a gathering to promote same-sex relationships.

Activists have encouraged people in Tanzania worried about their safety to reach out to organisations like Rainbow Railroad, which can help extricate them from dangerous situations.

  • Tanzanian leader launches anti-gay crackdown (NPR)
  • Thousands ‘living in fear’ after Tanzania calls on public to report gay people (The Guardian)
  • Tanzania government clarifies gay crackdown report (The Citizen)
  • The EU is reviewing its relations with Tanzania over the issue (Reuters)

Compiled by @_andrew_green

This week’s editorial team: @PeterDoerrie, @_andrew_green, @jamesjwan


To get the full newsletter every week, subscribe now: SUBSCRIBE NOW

Previous Article

The Biafra separatist leader is back from ...

Next Article

A woman online, in Tanzania

mm

Africa Insiders

The Africa Insiders Newsletter is a weekly newsletter brought to you by African Arguments. Written by leading journalists and analysts, it it made up of snappy, insightful updates on the major developments that have hit the week's headlines, and those that should've.

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Age of Agitation SeriesDebating IdeasPodcasts

    Podcast: From Below, New Youth Politics in Africa

  • Debating IdeasSudanTINAC

    “This Is Not a Coup”: Burhan the Autocrat

  • Politics

    External Mission: The ANC in exile, 1960-1990, by Stephen Ellis – Review by Denis Herbstein

Subscribe to our newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • 81.7K+
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Recent Posts

  • Oligarchs, Oil and Obi-dients: The battle for the soul of Nigeria
  • Of cobblers, colonialism, and choices
  • Blackness, Pan-African Consciousness and Women’s Political Organising through the Magazine AWA
  • “People want to be rich overnight”: Nigeria logging abounds despite ban
  • The unaccountability of Liberia’s polluting miners

Editor’s Picks

Editor's PicksPoliticsZambia

An assessment of President Hichilema’s first year in Zambia

The new president came to power promising widespread change. A year on, his supporters see him as a saviour, his critics as an abject failure. Nothing demonstrates Zambia’s political polarisation ...
  • Don’t just vote. Mobilise. (Aka Why elections won’t change Nigeria)

    By Ayo Sogunro
    January 29, 2019
  • Rasha Mekky with her adopted son Mostafa. Credit: Rasha Mekky.

    “People said it’s haram”: Happy mums show reality of adoption in Egypt

    By Lara Reffat
    May 25, 2022
  • Nigeria: The cautionary tale of the fateful 2020 strike that never was

    By Immaculata Abba
    February 22, 2022
  • Bobi Wine and supporters at a rally this September don the red beret . Credit: Bobi Wine.

    To beat or not to beat: Museveni’s big Bobi Wine problem

    By Michael Mutyaba
    October 31, 2019

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • en English
    am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies.
en English
am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu