http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rwnqc7u934Dar es Salaam. Police yesterday announced a Sh5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of people who seriously wounded Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) chairman Absalom Kibanda on Tuesday night.Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone Commander Suleiman Kova told The Citizen that he hoped the reward would help to speed up investigations into the attack.
“We will immediately give the reward to whoever offers accurate information that will enable us to arrest those behind the attack...our aim is to speed up investigations,” he said.
Mr Kova added that a 12-member team will investigate the attack. The team comprises senior officers from police headquarters, Dar es Salaam Special Police Zone and Kinondoni Special Police Region.
“Investigations have already started and we expect them to be completed as soon as possible,” he said, adding that no arrest had been made in connection with the incident.
Mr Kibanda was brutally attacked outside his house in Mbezi Juu, Dar es Salaam, at around midnight as he was waiting for the gate to be opened, and was flown to South Africa for further treatment on Wednesday.
Reports from Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg yesterday said he was responding well to treatment.
Journalist Eric Kabendera, who accompanied Mr Kibanda to South Africa, told The Citizen that a specialist was expected to determine the extent of damage to his left eye.
Initial tests revealed that Mr Kibanda, who is also the Group Managing Editor of New Habari Corporation, suffered a skull fracture between the mouth and nose and six of his teeth were loose. He lost two teeth in the attack in which the assailants descended on him with machetes and iron bars.
Meanwhile, the motive for the attack remained a mystery. The attackers fled without taking anything from Mr Kibanda, who was carrying in his car a laptop, iPad and expensive mobile phones.
“As far as I’m concerned, my husband had no enemies, and this brutal attack has come as a shock,” said his wife, Angela Semaya.
In another development, the Tanzania Centre for Democracy (TCD) called for those responsible to be swiftly brought to justice.
TCD chairman James Mbatia said yesterday that such cases were on the increase, and urged the government to take measures to arrest the situation.
“When people live in constant fear, then the government must do something as a matter of urgency,” he said. The Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC), Media Institute of Southern Africa Tanzania Chapter (Misa-Tan) and Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC) called for thorough investigations.
“We urge the police to conduct thorough investigations which will lead to the arrest of those responsible. It is worth noting that about ten journalists and human rights activists have been assaulted in as many months,” the organisations said in a joint statement signed by THRDC coordinator Onesmo ole Ngurumwa. Mr Kibanda is the fifth journalist to be attacked in the past six months. Two journalists were killed and three others were seriously injured during the period.
Last September, TV reporter David Mwangosi was killed by police in Iringa as he covered a political rally.
In November, an editor with Business Times Limited, Mr Mnaku Mbani, was shot and seriously injured by robbers who had attempted to hijack the vehicle he was riding in.
The following month, Mr Shabaan Matutu, a journalist with Free Media Group, was shot at his home by police, who later said it was a case of mistaken identity.
In January, this year, Mr Issa Ngumba – a correspondent with Radio Kwizera – was found dead in a forest with gunshot wounds on his body.
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