Tanzania: Second opposition official charged with treason

John Pambalu, a member of the national council of Tanzania’s main opposition party Chadema and a former leader of its youth wing, was charged with treason on Wednesday, an offence punishable by death. The indictment accuses him of seeking to incite the public to obstruct the 2025 general election and of organizing protests to intimidate the executive. He is the second Chadema official charged with treason, after party leader Tundu Lissu. Vice-president John Heche said at a rally in Arusha that the party would not flee and would fight to the end; Chadema was excluded from the election, which Samia Suluhu Hassan won with 98% of the vote.