One year after Tanzania’s October 29, 2025 election was followed by days of deadly violence, families of those killed or missing are still waiting for answers, and no official has been criminally investigated over the security forces’ conduct. “Not a single official has been criminally investigated, let alone prosecuted and punished for the excessive force that Tanzanian security forces used against protesters,” Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa, said on Wednesday.
A government appointed commission recorded 518 deaths during election related violence across 11 regions, while warning the figure might not be conclusive. The commission presented its findings to President Samia Suluhu Hassan on April 23, 2026, but its full report remains unpublished, and it recommended further investigation without identifying security bodies, officers or commanders who may have been responsible. A second inquiry, chaired by retired Justice Shaban Ally Lila, began gathering evidence in August 2026 and its findings are still pending.
Deutsche Welle spoke to families who say the inquiries have not restored trust. One woman, identified by a changed name for safety, said her brother and her son were killed and asked why the government had not visited affected families. DW put the allegations of excessive force to the Tanzanian government: the Ministry of Home Affairs declined to comment, saying it would interfere with the legal process, and the police had not responded by publication.
The accountability gap runs alongside a continuing crackdown. Human Rights Watch noted that the treason trial of Tundu Lissu, leader of the main opposition party CHADEMA, continued this year, and that on October 21 authorities charged another CHADEMA official, John Pambalu, with treason, an offence carrying the death penalty, for allegedly intending to persuade the public to obstruct the elections through protests. Lissu’s verdict is due on November 6.
President Hassan has described the unrest as an attempt to overthrow the government. The two accounts, a state describing a coup attempt and rights groups describing unpunished lethal force against protesters, remain unreconciled a year on, and the unpublished commission report is the document that would narrow the gap.