ONE year into the 2025 general election in Tanzania, incidents of abduction and torture of civilians are becoming a commonplace. Some rogue elements of the state are implicated. Despite open complaints by good citizens, police and security forces are turning a deaf ear. In one of the most recent incidents , government-critic Edgar Mwakabela a.k.a Satva was abducted, handcuffed, tortured, gunshot, and dumped in a the wilderness. He survived miraculously..Fellow critic MARTIN MARANJA MASESE interviewed him at his hospital bed, a few hours after he had been rescued. This article is Masese’s narrative on the tragic incident, translated from its original Kiswahili text:
All details come from the mouth of Edgar Edson Mwakabela, @Sativa255, who was abducted on Sunday, 23.06.2024, in Dar es Salaam and found on 27.06.2024 in Katavi.
The events began on Sunday, 23.06.2024, in the Ubungo area. Edgar Edson Mwakabela bid farewell to his brother Patrick and began his journey back to Kimara.
They both had left Coco Beach. After some time, Patrick asked if he had arrived safely, but his message went unanswered, and Sativa’s phone became unreachable.
Sativa was looking for a room and had agreed with an agent that the place he wanted to move to would be available in October.
Shortly after, the agent called Sativa back, informing him that the tenant had moved out, so he could make his payment.
At that time, Sativa had bid farewell to his friends and took a motorcycle taxi. When the agent called, he switched to another motorcycle taxi.
While he was getting off to find another motorcycle taxi to meet the agent, three men intercepted him. They handcuffed him and threw him into their vehicle.
The abductors took all three of his phones. They turned off two and left one on briefly before it too became unreachable.
They took him to the Oysterbay Police Station in the Kinondoni Police Region. There, they brought him to the back of the station, a place they called “the workshop.”
At around 8 PM, while at the workshop, they continued questioning him: “What is your crime? What did you do to upset the big people to warrant your arrest and torture?”
It appears the abductors had instructions only to abduct Sativa but didn’t know why. Sativa told them he had no idea.
However, they continued to ask fundamental questions: “Are your friends Martin Maranja Masese and Boniface Jacob? Where do you meet to plan your activities?”
While in the vehicle workshop at Oysterbay Police Station, a man arrived in a VX V8 car, wearing a Simba SC team jersey and khaki shorts. He appeared fit, of average height, and not very light-skinned.
When this man got out of the car alone, the others saluted him. He went directly to Sativa, who was handcuffed.
He asked Sativa his name and his social media handle. Sativa provided the information. After that, he pulled the other men aside and gave instructions that others would come to take Sativa, who should be held at the Oysterbay workshop. He then left.
That night, Sativa was handcuffed to one of the poles in the Oysterbay Police Station workshop, as they continued to question him about his crime.
They were surprised that a senior official had come to the workshop to question Sativa, something that was unusual for them. They wondered about his crime.
They questioned why a high-ranking official would leave his duties at night to come there. Sativa told them he didn’t know what he had done wrong.
Sativa said that the three men who initially captured him didn’t beat him but kept asking about his crimes to warrant his detention there.
Since he was brought to the Oysterbay Police Station at 8:25 PM, he was handcuffed to the poles in the workshop until the following morning.
At 6 AM, a car without Tanzanian license plates arrived. Sativa was taken and placed in this car, where he met new faces.
The men who had initially captured him had completed their duty, and he was now with people assigned to torture and kill him.
Surprisingly, Sativa’s relatives and friends went to the Oysterbay Police Station, only to be told that no such person had ever been brought there.
The police received a missing person report for Sativa, and a file was opened at the Gogoni – Kimara Police Station, with an RB number issued.
Still, his relatives and friends continued searching at all major police stations and hospitals, even mortuaries, but Sativa was nowhere to be found, and the police claimed ignorance.
Sativa said they embarked on a long journey, with him blindfolded. From their conversations, they mentioned heading towards Arusha.
Since his capture the previous day, Sativa hadn’t eaten or drunk anything. When they reached Arusha, he asked for water.
In the car, before getting out, they changed their speech patterns to confuse Sativa. For instance, they referred to ‘ugali’ (a type of maize porridge) differently and used other coded terms.
In Arusha, they took him to a cell in an unidentified police station, where he was held for two days (25.06.2024 and 26.06.2024). On the second day, they removed him from the cell.
They then took him as if heading to one of the borders between Tanzania and Kenya. They continued questioning him there and returned to Arusha town at around 1 PM.
They then embarked on a long journey. At an unknown forest location, the car stopped, and they started hitting him with the flat side of a machete.
Throughout their beatings, they asked if he was sent by Boniface Jacob and Martin Maranja Masese. Sativa denied knowing these people and insisted he had never met them.
Sativa’s back was heavily bruised. He was also struck on the head, thighs, and legs with the flat side of the machete, causing severe pain.
They kept beating him, asking who sent him to criticize the CCM government and insult national leaders.
Their questioning focused on whether Martin Maranja Masese and Boniface Jacob were the ones instructing him to criticize their government.
After severe torture, the leader of the group ordered them to finish him off quickly. By that time, it was around 10 PM, deep in the forest.
They blindfolded him, put him back in the car, and started driving, discussing that Katavi had dangerous animals and dense forests, so they should head there.
They arrived in Katavi around 5 or 6 AM. They entered Katavi National Park near the Ikuu River, known for its many hippos and crocodiles.
They parked the car and took him into the forest, towards the Ikuu River. There, the questioning continued while he was beaten with the flat side of the machete.
According to Sativa, he was handcuffed and blindfolded. They told him his life would end in Katavi National Park’s forest.
The leader of the executioners instructed one of them to shoot Sativa. A shot was fired from behind, passing through the left side of his head, shattering his jaw twice, and spilling blood as he fell.
He heard them saying that there were many wild hyenas in the area and that he would be eaten by hyenas or the many crocodiles and hippos in the river.
After about two minutes, he heard them leave, start the car, and drive away. He lost consciousness but later felt the cold and began crawling.
He crawled towards the road, where he met TANAPA wildlife rangers who questioned him to verify his consciousness.
The wildlife rangers and other officials found Sativa and, after brief questioning, took him to Kibaoni Health Center on the way to Majimoto.
From there, the rest of the story is known. This is how our friend Edgar Edson Mwakabela, Sativa, was abducted by bandits, tortured, and survived.
NB: Remember, Katavi National Park is home to 5,400 hippos, 190 lions, 750 hyenas, wild dogs, and an uncounted number of crocodiles. It’s intense.
