CHADEMA chairman Tundu Lissu has returned to the High Court in Dar es Salaam seeking to join an ongoing case over alleged unequal distribution of party resources between Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Lissu filed a fresh application at the High Court’s Dar es Salaam sub-registry, marking his second attempt to be included in the civil case involving the internal management of CHADEMA resources.
The opposition leader’s earlier request was dismissed after the court ruled that he had failed to show a direct personal interest in the matter. According to the ruling, his initial application had been submitted in his individual capacity rather than as chairman of the opposition party.
The civil case, registered as case number 8323 of 2025, was filed by former CHADEMA vice chairman Said Issa Mohamed alongside two former members of the party’s Board of Trustees from Zanzibar, Ahmed Rashid Khamis and the late Maulida Anna Komu.
The petitioners accuse the party leadership of unfairly managing and distributing party resources between Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, a dispute that has exposed internal tensions inside the country’s main opposition party.
Komu, one of the original petitioners in the case, died earlier this year before the latest proceedings continued in court.
Lissu has argued through his lawyers that, as CHADEMA national chairman and a long-serving party member, he has a major interest in the outcome of the case. Court proceedings earlier this year indicated judges were considering his inclusion before the application was later rejected.
The latest court move comes while Lissu remains one of Tanzania’s most closely watched opposition figures following his separate treason proceedings linked to the party’s “No Reforms, No Election” campaign ahead of the 2025 General Election.
Lissu, who survived an assassination attempt in 2017 after being shot multiple times in Dodoma, has repeatedly accused authorities of targeting opposition politicians through the courts, claims the government has denied.
The High Court is expected to decide whether his renewed application will allow him to formally participate in the resource allocation case or remain only a witness in the proceedings.
