Four years on: End silence on Gwanda probe

Dar es Salaam. November 21 marks four years since journalist Azory Gwanda mysteriously disappeared with stakeholders pressing for authorities to disclose the progress of investigations regarding the matter.

Mr Gwanda is believed to have been taken away by unknown people at the height of a mop-up operation in Kibiti District four years ago where killings were taking place.

He was a correspondent with Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL), publishers of Mwananchi, The Citizen and MwanaSpoti, when he disappeared. He had been reporting cases of unexplained killings in Kibiti in the months leading up to his disappearance. The government has claimed time and again that it was investigating his case and that of other reported missing individuals, but there have not been any substantive updates.

“There is no report which is separately prepared on Azory Gwanda,” government chief spokesman Gerson Msigwa was quoted as telling journalists on October 18, 2021.

But, yesterday, speaking to The Citizen’s sister newspaper, Mwananchi, Tanzania Editors Forum (Tef) chairman Deodatus Balile said police should now disclose the progress of investigations on the matter.

“The public should be informed as demanded by Article 18 (d) of the United Republic of Tanzania Constitution instead of the usual statement that investigations were incomplete without detailing levels of investigations reached,” he said over the phone.

He said even if the probe has failed to establish anything, it was the right of Mr Gwanda’s family (wife and children) to be told, said Mr Balile calling on Tanzanians to intensify the search and provide any information that could shade light into the matter.

But, Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) executive director Anna Henga said she was disappointed with the government’s failure to put tangible efforts on the search for Gwanda.

“We shouldn’t give up. However, the public should be told if he is dead because by doing so we will be dispensing justice to his families,” she said.

MCL managing director Bakari Machumu said security organs entrusted with maintaining the security of the country, citizens and their properties should bring the matter to closure especially for relatives.

“Being Mr Gwanda’s workmates and colleagues in the fraternity, we hope that responsible organs will fulfil their responsibilities,” said Mr Machumu who doubles as Tef vice chairman.

He described disappearance as a puzzle to the company, the media community and the nation at large.

However, Gwanda’s disappearance ignited pressure from rights activists, journalists and media organisations like the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calling on Tanzanian authorities to make Gwanda’s case a priority and to provide answers about his fate with hashtags #WhereIsAzory and #MrudisheniAzory trending on social media.

His case featured in public forums on civil rights, and in 2018 he won the “Daudi Mwangosi Prize” in absentia to honour his work and courage.

The prize by Union of Tanzania Press Clubs is in remembrance of a TV reporter who was killed by police while covering a public rally in Iringa Region in September 2012.

In May, Mr Gwanda made the list of top “10 Most Urgent” cases compiled by One Free Press Coalition, a united group of over 30 pre-eminent editors and publishers including Reuters, Quartz, The Financial Times, India Today, TIME, and Washington Post.

The CPJ and the International Women’s Media Foundation are also partners in the coalition. By making the latest “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases, the One Free Press Coalition is raising the spotlight on Mr Gwanda to press authorities to account for his whereabouts.

The list is of journalists whose press freedoms were being suppressed or whose cases were seeking justice.

In an interview with the BBC’s ‘Focus on Africa’ on July 10, 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Palamagamba Kabudi said that Gwanda had “disappeared and died” in the eastern area of Rufiji, adding that the government has since “been able to contain that kind of extremism” in the region.

This prompted the CPJ to call on the government to provide a detailed public account of Gwanda’s fate. Prof Kabudi later retracted his statement.

by saying that it was misinterpreted and that what he meant was that what happened in the region was painful experiences which led to several people disappearing and others dying.