Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has promised Constitutional reform in response to last year’s post-election violence that left hundreds of people dead.
A commission established to investigate the crisis announced on Thursday that at least 518 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured during the violence. However, opposition groups dispute the figures, claiming the true death toll runs into the thousands and dismissing the report as an attempt to cover up state abuses.
President Hassan said the Commission’s findings would guide planned Constitutional amendments and confirmed the creation of a ‘national reconciliation commission to address grievances.’
Criminal investigative body
She also announced the formation of a criminal investigative body tasked with identifying those who planned, financed, or participated in acts such as looting and destruction of infrastructure during the unrest.
“What happened in October 2025 did not resolve the challenges facing our country. Instead, it worsened them,” President Hassan said, stressing the need for accountability and reform.
The investigative body will also examine allegations of enforced disappearances and missing bodies. More than 200 people remain unaccounted for, while several families report that the bodies of relatives seen in morgues later vanished.
The violence erupted on October 29, 2025, when youth-led protests broke out over claims of political repression.
Demonstrators accused the government of silencing opposition voices, as a key opposition leader remained imprisoned on treason charges and another prominent presidential candidate was barred from contesting the election.
Authorities also imposed a nationwide internet shutdown during the crisis, a move President Hassan later apologised for to the international community, promising it would not be repeated.
The President, who assumed office after the death of former president John Magufuli, secured re-election with 97% of the vote. However, some international observers said; “the poll did not meet standards for a free and fair election.”
Africanews