Dar es Salaam. Chadema Mainland Vice Chairman John Heche has recalled in court the alleged abduction of former Tanzanian Ambassador to Malawi and later Cuba, Mr Humphrey Polepole.
Mr Polepole announced his resignation from the diplomatic post in a letter to the authority that appointed him, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, on July 13, 2025.
He is alleged to have been abducted by unknown people on the night of October 6, 2025, after individuals raided his home in Ununio, Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam.
Mr Heche recalled the incident on Monday, September 14, 2026, while being cross-examined by the prosecution in the treason case facing Chadema Chairman Tundu Lissu at the High Court of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam Sub-Registry.
During the questioning, Senior State Attorney Ignas Mwinuka asked Mr Heche various questions about evidence he had presented, including the September 7, 2017 attack on Mr Lissu in Area D, Dodoma City.
Mr Lissu, who is also a lawyer, is facing a treason charge alleging that he committed an offence of threatening the government, contrary to Section 39(2)(d) of the Penal Code, Chapter 16, as amended in 2022.
He is alleged to have, on April 3, 2025, while a Tanzanian citizen, acted with seditious intent by influencing the public to prevent the holding of the 2025 General Election through words uttered and published online that allegedly pressured a senior government leader.
The case is being heard by a three-judge panel comprising Dunstan Ndunguru, James Karayemaha and Ferdinand Kiwonde, and is currently at the defence stage.
Mr Heche, the fifth witness in the case, began his cross-examination today on various matters covered in his testimony.
Participation in elections
During questioning about his participation in elections, State Attorney Mwinuka asked Mr Heche how many elections he had contested as a candidate supervised by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
Attorney: Witness, please tell the court how many elections you have participated in as a candidate supervised by NEC?
Heche: I have participated in three.
Attorney: Would I be correct to say that out of those three elections, you won two?
Heche: That is true.
Attorney: Out of the ones you won, one was a councillorship election in 2008, and the other was a parliamentary election in 2015?
Heche: That is correct.
Attorney Mwinuka asked whether the police had been involved in stuffing ballot papers into boxes to help Mr Heche win.
Heche: Police cannot help the opposition.
When asked whether opposition agents had been barred from participating at polling stations to enable him to win.
Heche: No.
Regarding the 2020 General Election, Attorney Mwinuka asked whether Mr Heche claimed the NEC had not declared him the winner.
Heche: That is true.
Attorney: Do you know that parliamentary results can be challenged in court?
Heche: I am aware.
Attorney: Did you go to the High Court to challenge those results?
Heche: I did not go.
Mr Lissu attacked
In another part of the questioning, State Attorney Mwinuka asked Mr Heche about leaders who issued statements after Mr Lissu was shot on September 7, 2017.
When asked whether then-President John Magufuli had issued a statement expressing sadness and condemning the attack, Mr Heche said he did not remember.
State Attorney Mwinuka also asked whether he remembered if then-CCM Ideology and Publicity Secretary Humphrey Polepole had issued a statement condemning the incident.
Heche: Is this Polepole the Ambassador who was abducted?
The attorney replied that it was for Mr Heche to remember or not remember, prompting the witness to say:
Mr Heche: I do not remember.
Mr Heche, however, said he remembered that former Speaker of Parliament Job Ndugai had issued a statement about the incident and formed an investigative committee led by Adadi Rajabu.
Regarding former Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan visiting Mr Lissu while he was undergoing treatment, Mr Heche said: “I remember she went to a meeting, she passed by.”
State Attorney Mwinuka asked Mr Heche if he was at the scene when Mr Lissu was attacked.
Mr Heche: I was not at the scene.
When asked about the statement that a car was being followed by Mr Lissu’s car, Mr Heche said the statement had been given by Mr Lissu himself.
State Attorney: Would I be correct to say you heard it from the accused?
Heche: That is correct.
The attorney also asked Mr Heche whether he followed up to establish if the justice Mr Lissu said he deserved had been granted.
Mr Heche: I did not explain that.
When asked whether some of the information he provided was hearsay from other people, Mr Heche said he had been on a Chadema committee following up on the matter.
Regarding killings
Attorney Mwinuka also questioned Mr Heche about various killings he had mentioned in his testimony, seeking to establish whether he had witnessed any of them personally.
State Attorney: Out of those killings, how many did you witness with your own eyes?
Mr Heche: I did not explain that.
Regarding killings during the Arumeru by-election, Mr Heche mentioned Msafiri Mbwambo.
However, when asked whether he had been at the scene when the killings occurred, he said: “That day I was not there.”
Regarding the Tarime incident, Mr Heche mentioned Nyantega Wenje as the deceased.
State Attorney: Did you witness those killings?
Mr Heche: I was not there.
Mr Heche agreed with the attorney that a death must be professionally confirmed, but said he had not discussed medical reports concerning the deaths he mentioned in his testimony.
Abductions and disappearances
State Attorney Mwinuka also asked Mr Heche whether he had ever personally witnessed someone being abducted.
Mr Heche: With my own eyes, I have never witnessed it.
When asked whether he had ever witnessed any of the people he named disappearing.
Mr Heche: No.
Justice Chande’s Commission report
State Attorney Mwinuka asked Mr Heche about Chadema’s position on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Incidents of Breach of Peace During and After the October 29, 2025 Election, led by former Chief Justice Mohamed Chande.
Mr Heche said Chadema did not trust the commission because, from the party’s perspective, it could conceal the truth.
State Attorney: Due to that stance, the party did not cooperate with Justice Chande’s commission. Is that true or not true?
Mr Heche: That is correct.
Reports by election observers
State Attorney Mwinuka also questioned Mr Heche about reports by international observers of the 2025 General Election that he had submitted to the court.
Mr Heche said he obtained the reports through the media.
The state attorney wanted to know whether he had used the Google network to obtain them.
Mr Heche: No.
During the questioning, the attorney asked him about the languages used in reports by various observers, mentioning Thabo Mbeki, the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth, the European Union (EU) and SADC.
Mr Heche said the reports were written in English and admitted that he was the one who translated them from English into Swahili.
State Attorney: Now you will agree with me that in your primary testimony you did not explain your proficiency in the language?
Mr Heche: That is correct, I did not explain.
The state attorney asked whether, when translating languages, the meaning of a report could be distorted because of the translator’s proficiency.
Mr Heche: I do not know.
The attorney also asked Mr Heche whether he was the one who requested the reports to be submitted in court.
Mr Heche: It is not my duty to produce them.
Following the questioning, State Attorney Mwinuka concluded his part of the cross-examination.
Mr Heche is expected to continue being cross-examined by another State Attorney.
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