Legality of breast implants

My boyfriend wants me to have a big chest before we marry and has requested that I get breast implants at a private hospital in Dar. Is this legal in Tanzania?
HG, Dar

We have personally never heard of any doctors or hospitals in Dar es Salaam who have the capacity to perform breast implants. We stand to be corrected though. The doctrine of the state trying to protect you from undergoing a change of body structure because it has an interest in you is unheard of. Yours is a surgical intervention leading to this structural change. It is not an operation for abortion.

This is an operation that you want to undergo for a cosmetic change and as long as it is safe and not against public policy, we don’t see a problem. The States interest is primarily your safety. What your lawyer might be saying is that you can only undergo such procedures at hospitals that have accreditation and a licence. The implant itself must also be approved by the Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA).

Appearance of advocate in primary Court

I have a matrimonial case in a primary Court and want to engage an advocate to represent me. Some people are telling me that advocates are not allowed to appear in the primary Court? Is this true? 
AM, Moshi

Section 33(1) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act [Cap.11 R.E 2019] bars advocates and prosecutors from appearing or acting for a party to the proceedings in a primary Court. However, in 2021, the Parliament through the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No.5 of 2021 amended section 33 by inserting a new subsection (4) to allow advocates and prosecutors to appear or act for parties in primary Courts where the proceedings are presided over by a resident magistrate. Therefore the right to a legal representation in primary Court is limited by qualification of the judicial officer presiding over the proceedings. Where the status of judicial officer presiding over the proceedings is a primary Court magistrate, parties to the proceedings cannot be represented by an advocate or a prosecutor. However, where the presiding magistrate is a resident magistrate, parties have the right to legal representation. Short of that, only in civil proceedings the primary Court may allow a party to be represented by a relative or a member of the household.

Jurisdiction of ward tribunals on land matters

Last week I referred a land dispute to a ward tribunal but the secretary of the tribunal rejected my complaint on the ground that the tribunal does no longer have the power to receive and decide land disputes. Does it mean that the ward tribunals have been abolished? 
HS, Kibaha

Ward tribunals are established under section 3 of the Ward Tribunals Act [Cap.206 R.E 2002] and the said provisions have not been repealed. It is the jurisdiction of the ward tribunals over land matters which is now limited to mediation and that has all along been the primary function of the ward tribunals. Power of the ward tribunals to hear and decide land disputes was removed through amendment made to the Land Disputes Courts Act [Cap.216 R.E 2002] by the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act No.5 of 2021.

Before this amendment, ward tribunals had the power to hear and decide land disputes provided the value of the disputed land did not exceed TZS 3,000,000. Following the amendment, ward tribunals have only retained their primary function to secure peace and harmony by attempting to mediate land disputes referred to them by the parties before the dispute is referred to the District Land and Housing Tribunal for adjudication.

The District Land and Housing Tribunals are not allowed to hear and decide a land dispute unless the Ward Tribunal has attempted to settle the dispute amicably and failed, and it has issued a certificate that mediation has been attempted but it failed. Where a party to the dispute refers a land matter to the ward tribunal but the tribunal fails to settle it within 30 days, the party who referred the dispute to the ward tribunal may take the matter to the District Land and Housing Tribunal without a certificate of non-settlement issued by the ward tribunal provided that he will have to prove that the ward tribunal failed to mediate the dispute within 30 days after receipt of the complaint.

Expatriates married to Tanzanians

I am an expatriate married to a Tanzanian and have been working on a work permit for six years. My current work permit is about to expire and I am told by the HR Manager that the Company will not apply for renewal of my work permit because I have exhausted the period allowed to work in Tanzania on a work permit. Since I am married to a Tanzanian and I am not expecting to leave in the near future, what can I do to get another renewal of my work permit? 
LK, Dar 

Prior to 11 October 2021 when the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No.6 of 2021 which amended among others, section 12(4) of the Non- Citizens (Employment Regulation) Act, 2015 came into force, the total period of validity of a work permit was 5 years. After the amendment of the said provisions, the aggregate period of validity of a work permit was enhanced to 8 years. A foreigner who is married to a Tanzanian who wishes to be exempted from eight years ceiling fixed by the Act can apply to the Minister responsible for labour under regulation 13(1)(5)(c) of the Non- Citizens (Employment Regulation) Regulations, 2016 (GN No.331 of 2021) for exemption from the ceiling on the ground of marriage to a Tanzanian. However, for the Minister to grant exemption from the 8 years ceiling prescribed under the Act on the ground of marriage, the marriage must be a valid and legally recognised marriage that has subsisted for not less than 3 years. Please note that the Minister for Labour has power under regulation 13(4) of the Regulations to amend or withdraw such an exemption from the 8 years ceiling after consultation with the Commissioner for Labour.