Q&A – 21 December 2020

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.

Use of water for unauthorised purposes

I am getting water supply from a water authority for domestic use. I have established a small industry near my home and now want to hire a plumber to connect water pipes from my home to my industry. Of course I will pay for the consumption. Is this legal?
YU, Dar

Since you are licensed to use water for domestic purpose only, it is wrong to use water supplied to you for industrial needs. According to section 65 of the Water Supply and Sanitation Act, 2019 it is an offence to use water for purpose other than domestic needs for which you are licensed by the water authority. You must get permission of the water authority first before your plumber connects the pipes to your industry. If you connect and use water supplied for domestic needs for industrial purpose, you will be committing a crime and in case you are convicted you will be sentenced to a fine not exceeding TZS 5M or imprisonment for a term not less than 6 months. Apart from the fine, the water authority will be entitled to recover from you the value of water improperly used as water charges vary depending on the purpose for which water is supplied.

Hazardous work for pregnant woman

I am a technician in a company where I have been working for about four years now. Although the foreman knows that I am presently expecting and my due date is in the next two months, he has been assigning very hard jobs to me where I have to stand for long hours. I know he is intentionally doing this as my sister had turned down his proposal to marry him. Is there anything I can do to address this?
CM, Dar

We wish to point out that the Employment and Labour Relations provides clearly that no employer shall require or permit a pregnant employee or an employee who is nursing a child to perform work that is hazardous to her health or the health of her child.

The test above is subjective and depends on what exact job is assigned to you. All in all, if the assignments given to you are hazardous to your pregnancy then that is against the law and the foreman needs to desist from such behavior.

As a matter of creating a good atmosphere at work place and preventing abuse of powers, you may report this to your superior otherwise the matter is actionable under the law above.

On a different note if you expect to deliver in one month we wonder why you are still at work. The same law has given you an option of commencing your maternity leave any time from four weeks before the expected date. You may hence also ask your employer to start maternity leave. Your lawyers can guide you further.

Husband with ponytail

I married a man whom I dated for more than ten years. We married 18 months ago and suddenly he decided to grow a ponytail, which is unattractive and displeases me. Initially I thought this was a joke but it is now clear that he will not budge. This is shocking but it is the plain truth. I have now come to terms with it and what to get on. My lawyer says getting a divorce at this stage and on such grounds is not possible. However this is the same lawyer who my husband has been using and might be conflicted. Can this lawyer’s guidance be true? Can I secretly cut his ponytail at night? Kindly guide me.
EP, Moshi

The Law of Marriage act of Tanzania is indeed outdated and does not provide for consensual divorce. The law provides that there must be reasons inter alia adultery, sexual pervertness to mention a few that are valid grounds for divorce. Looks or rather change in looks, as is the case here, is not a solid ground for divorce and may not hold under our laws.

Moreover, since you are only married for less than two years, unless you can prove exceptional hardship, our law disallows divorce within that period. There is a kind of cooling off period which is, in todays era, perhaps quite outdated.

There are initiatives of changing our marriage law but for now the above holds true. We suggest you meet a marriage counselor who might be able to talk the two of you through this.

On cutting the hair, we cannot see how you can do this cutting ‘secretly’ and how it will help you. Moreover, cutting someone’s hair without consent can likely amount to an assault under our penal statutes and you could be fined or imprisoned or both. Hence move with caution.