Tanzanian opposition leader takes inspiration from ANC and calls for sanctions after John Magufuli’s election victory

Former Tanzanian opposition presidential candidate Tundu Lissu has called for international support, including sanctions against his country’s government leaders and funders, after an election which the opposition has refused to recognise. It has blamed widespread fraud and irregularities on the landslide win for President John Magufuli and his governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi, and said it would also seek recourse from the International Criminal Court.

Lissu has likened his struggle to that of South Africa’s ANC leaders when they were in exile. Lissu returned to Belgium two weeks ago where he first fled in 2017 after he was shot multiple times in his car in an alleged assassination attempt. On Monday he addressed his first press conference aimed at the international media after his failed presidential bid.

About his fleeing the country again after being questioned by police, he said: “You cannot be suicidal, lose your life in the process and that is the end of the story.

“You have to protect your life in order to be able to continue the struggle, and that is precisely what I have done. And what I have done is what has been done literally by every freedom fighter, by every fighter for justice and democracy and rights.”

He mentioned the example of the ANC, which was a banned organisation for three decades.

“Its leadership, OR Tambo, Thabo Mbeki and thousands of others went into exile, spent decades in exile, while continuing the struggle, and that’s always been the case in this kind of situation, and therefore my being in exile does not preclude me from continuing the struggle from where I am. As long as I’m alive the struggle continues.”

He said lessons from the ANC’s history was important, because even though its leaders were imprisoned for life, hundreds were killed and many exiled, “the ANC remained in the hearts and minds of millions of South African people”. He warned: “The days, weeks and months ahead will be very difficult. They will be terrible because [Magufuli] has nothing to offer but violence and suppression, but we will survive him.”

The opposition was no longer confined to opposition parties like Chadema, of which he is a leader, and ACT Wazalendo, but it “has become generalised in the Tanzanian population amongst the people of Tanzania”, Lissu said. 

He said obstacles for the opposition, such as deregistration, being prevented from entering parliament, imprisonment, threats of death and exile, would not destroy them because the opposition “is now in the breast of millions of men and women of Tanzania”. Opposition leaders say they have grown their support since the first multiparty elections were held 25 years ago, especially in the past five years of Magufuli’s presidency, but this wasn’t reflected in the election results.

We have to bear in mind that the ANC and CCM are buddies, and they used to be exchanging strategies, even supporting each other during elections.