VIDEO: Pretorians call for release of activists jailed in Tanzania

A South African, Sibongile Ndashe, was one of the 13 who were arrested.

October 25, 2017

Liam Ngobeni 1 minute read

Activists protested the arrest of 13 human rights activists in Tanzania outside the Tanzanian high commission in Pretoria last Tuesday.

A South African, Sibongile Ndashe, was one of the 13 who were arrested.

She is the founder and executive director of the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA).

Ndashe and her comrades were arrested at a meeting in the capital Dar es Salaam where they planned a court bid to force the Tanzanian government to reopen HIV care centres.

The government of president John Magufuli recently banned the care centres.

The 13 were denied bail last Friday.

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Different organisations have called on the government to release the activists. An online petition has also been launched.

Picket organiser Phumi Mtetwa said the objective of the picket was to show solidarity with the incarcerated activists.

“We hear that they were promoting homosexuality – a charge which does not exist in that country. This is just a mask for government’s irresponsibility in providing health care for their people,” said Mtetwa.

Among the picketers was Ndashe’s mother, Winnie Ndashe, who called for the release of her daughter, saying she had done nothing but actively fight for the human rights of all to be observed.

“That doesn’t warrant her arrest.”

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Sharon Ekambaram of Lawyers for Human Rights said she was pleased with the picket turnout.

“We are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the unlawfully detained activists in Tanzania.

We are also planning a march in a week’s time to keep up the pressure and various other initiatives to find out why they are being incarcerated and what the charges are,” said Ekambaram.