Conducting religious activities without registration
I own a registered church outside Tanzania and want to come to Tanzania early next year on an evangelical mission. Does the law allow foreigners to preach in Tanzania?
FJ, Unknown
The Societies Act [Cap.337 R.E 2002] allows foreigners to preach in Tanzania but for the priest to lawfully preach, his church must to be registered first. It is not the preacher who has to be registered. It is the church that has to be registered for its foreign priest to conduct lawful religious meetings. It is an offence under section 7 of the Societies Act as amended by Act No.9 of 2019 for a priest of a foreign registered church to conduct religious activities in Tanzania without his church being first registered in Tanzania. Running an unregistered church or preaching gospel without the church being registered is an offence which attracts a penalty of not less than TZS 1M but not exceeding TZS 10M. The registration of a church in a foreign country does not automatically authorise a priest of the foreign registered church to conduct religious activities in Tanzania.