Anti-Gay Crackdown in Tanzania
Tanzanian President John Magufuli, pictured in 2015. Wikimedia Commons.
Paul Makonda, regional commissioner of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, declared a crackdown on homosexuals on November 5 in a video on YouTube. He said a 17-member committee would be set up to identify and arrest them by observing people’s social media habits. The committee is meant to consist of police officers, psychologists, and telecoms and film regulators. Makonda called on anyone that knows gay people to report to him. At a news conference the next day, he claimed that he had received thousands of tips and messages of support from the public, whom he said are “disturbed by moral erosion.” Mokanda argued that this showed how much people “hate gays.”
Mokanda claims that gay people are “advertising and selling their services on the internet.” He warned that locals had four days to “make sure that they have deleted pornographic pictures from their phones because [he] wouldn’t like to see a public figure arrested due to photos included in his or her phone. Another framing of the anti-gay campaign is that “gay issues are against [Tanzanian] norms, against God, against both beliefs, Islam and Christianity.”
Despite the public announcement, Tanzania’s Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement that, although it did not condemn the crackdown, said that the government will “continue to respect all international human rights conventions which it subscribes to.” However, the LGBT community has criticized the administration for its slow response and for failing to condemn the commissioner. Physical attacks are also reported to have continued.
Nonetheless, an activist claimed that the atmosphere was “more calm” since the government announcement, in belief that authorities had “bowed down to pressure.”
Ten men were arrested for allegedly conducting a same-sex marriage ceremony on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, and they are to face a forced anal examination intended to discover evidence of homosexual activity. The UN Committee against Torture has said such examinations “have no medical justification,” and LGBT activists say they violate international law. Amnesty International established that the men arrested were suspected because police found them sitting in pairs. “The police clearly have no grounds to file charges against these men in court, despite arresting them three days ago,” said Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s deputy director for East Africa, the Horn, and the Great Lakes.
Since Magufuli came to power three years ago, LGBT rights campaigners say the little protection, representation, and freedom LGBT people had is now being slowly eroded. On June 28, 2017, Magufuli, who had been leading a crackdown on LGBT rights in the county, said he believes that “even cows disapprove” of homosexuality. He criticized foreign NGOs that campaign for gay rights, saying, “those who teach such things do not like us, brothers.” Although there is no death penalty in Tanzania, life is increasingly difficult for the LGBT community. Magufuli vowed that “if we establish that any organization registered in our country is campaigning for gay rights...I will deregister that organization.” Tanzanian Home Affairs Minister Mwigulu Nchemba added that “if a Tanzanian national is doing that campaign, we will arrest him and take him to court ... and if it is a foreigner, we will immediately order him to leave the country.”
Further, the deputy health minister, Hamisi Kigwangalla, said he supports anal exams, which he said would prove Tanzanians’ sexuality. The test, however, is widely considered a violation of human rights by medical experts and activists. This year, dozens of men have been arrested and taken to the hospital for examinations. To make matters worse, the Tanzanian government shut down 40 private health centers that were providing HIV/AIDS treatment. The government argued that the health centers were helping promote gay sex. It even shut down U.S.-funded programs providing care for LGBT individuals. Neela Ghoshal, a senior researcher in the LGBT rights division of Human Rights Watch (HRW), an American NGO, noted, “Until recently, there was an acceptance in African governments, even if they were homophobic and transphobic, that dealing with HIV in relation to men who have sex with men was a priority.”
The implications of the public declaration are vast. Gay and transgender people have gone into hiding, fearing for their lives, some afraid to leave their homes at all and other fleeing their houses in case of search parties or vigilantism. LGBT individuals reflect that the community in Dar es Salaam is one that tends to “take action on [its] own.” The LGBT community in Tanzania is calling on foreign donors to pressure the government. Anti-gay prejudice in Tanzania is already causing Canada to reassess relations with one of its biggest aid recipients.
Tanzania’s reputation is further tarnished in the European Union, which has recalled its ambassador from Tanzania over “the deterioration of human rights and rule of law” and said it would be conducting a wide review of its relations with the African nation amid fears of increased persecution of gay people. The community in Tanzania has received support from its neighbors. The Refugee Coalition of East Africa, a registered LGBT community organization in neighboring Kenya, called the committee "an anti-LGBTQI surveillance squad" and sent a message to sexual and gender minorities in Tanzania by saying, "We understand your plight, and we have lived through your fear. If you choose to flee to Kenya, please know that we are here for you, and we highly encourage you to reach out to any of our member organizations for support.”
Tanzania has earned a reputation for homophobia, and Makonda is known for being one of the most outspoken homophobic officials in the country. “It’s almost a chicken or egg environment," Ghoshal said. "It is so hostile that people do not come out, so people don’t have a basic understanding of the issue.” Tanzanians, she added, "just absorb the hate speech of religious leaders and politicians” because "there is no counter-narrative.”