MBEYA — In the wake of his abduction on a highway in Tanzania's main city Dar es Salaam, social media activist Edgar Mwakabela, better known as Sativa, says he came close to death.

He describes in an interview with the BBC how, after kidnapping him on 23 June last year, his captors interrogated him and then ferried him across the country to the remote Katavi region near the Congolese border, more than 1,000km (600 miles) away.

Sativa says he was handcuffed, blindfolded and brutally beaten, including being struck repeatedly on his head, back and legs with the flat side of a machete.

"It was extremely painful."

He tells the BBC that those who abducted him wanted to know who was facilitating his activism, and why he was criticising the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, in power since 1977.

Sativa believes those who held him were police officers or other operatives linked to the authorities.

However, the government denies that it targets critics of the state.

Sativa says that on the fourth day after being taken, the violence continued as his captors transported him to the Katavi National Park, full of dangerous wild animals, and dragged him towards a river.

He believes it was clear that his captors had no intention of letting him live.

Then, he says, came the chilling order shouted from a vehicle behind them: "Shoot him!"

A trigger was pulled. A bullet went through his skull. His jaw was shattered.

Sativa's captors left — he thought he had been left for dead.

As October's general election edges closer, abductions have become more common, mostly targeting anti-government critics and opposition voices.

Every other week, police or social media posts announce a missing person. Some are never found and others reappear with disturbing accounts of violence or torture – and some have been found dead.

Sativa's case offers a rare account from a survivor.

Despite suffering life-threatening injuries, he regained consciousness and crawled to a road where wildlife rangers rescued him.

He would require long and specialised treatment, and his survival has been described as "extraordinary".

The police did not respond to BBC requests for an interview, but in a video statement released to media houses in June, their spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner David Misime, said they do act on information about those missing and conduct an investigation.

The BBC has spoken to families of people reported missing and those who have died, and they have relayed their agony over missing loved ones.

Portrait artist Shedrack Chaula, 25, is among those still missing.

He has not been seen or heard from in over a year. In June 2024 he posted a TikTok video that went viral of him burning President Samia Suluhu's photo and insulting her.

He was arrested, convicted of cyber-harassment and released after paying a fine. A month later, he was abducted by unknown individuals.

"We don't know when or if he will be found. When he was arrested, at least we knew where he was. Now, even the authorities say they don't know," his father, Yusuf Chaula tells the BBC.

He says that in August 2024, three men arrived in a car with tinted windows and seized him. They did not identify themselves or explain why or where they were taking him.

"We have made every effort. We are exhausted. We visited every detention facility. We went to prisons and police stations at different levels — local, district and regional," he says.

The police have insisted that an investigation is in progress.

"If we knew where he is, or where he is being held, or even if we knew he had died and been buried somewhere, at least we'd have a grave to visit," Mr Chaula says mournfully, grappling with the torment of unanswered questions and the absence of closure.

In June, UN experts reported that over 200 enforced disappearances have been recorded in the country since 2019.

They expressed alarm over the "torture to silence opposition and critics" ahead of the elections, and called on the government to "immediately" stop it.

Rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch recently accused the government of being behind arrests, abuse and forced disappearances.

The authorities have denied the allegations.

The police have identified at least a dozen abduction cases since last year some of which have since been resolved, with many going back to 2019.

On 18 June, the police announced that investigations had led to the discovery of some victims who were still alive.

They added that some cases involved self-staged abductions, while others arose from romantic relationships gone sour, superstitious beliefs and property disputes.

"The police force urges relatives, friends and the public to remain calm as security forces continue their investigations to uncover the facts surrounding these incidents," Deputy Commissioner Misime said.

The president has urged the police force to end the troubling incidents of people going missing – a directive many Tanzanians hope will lead to justice.

In May, activist and opposition politician Mpaluka Nyangali, widely known as Mdude, was abducted from his home in Mbeya, southern Tanzania, in a violent incident witnessed by his wife and young child.

There were blood stains at the scene, showing the brutality of the attack.

Since then, members of the main opposition Chadema party have launched a search across Mbeya and have held prayer vigils demanding answers from the police, whom they suspect to be complicit in the incident.

To date, Mdude's wife, Siji Mbugi, has not heard from him.

"I beg for the release of my husband, I believe he is being held by police and the authorities. Mdude has done nothing. He has never stolen anything from anybody, I beg for his release. If he had issues then take him to court," she says.

On 9 July, the High Court in Mbeya dismissed a case that she filed over her husband's disappearance.

She had testified that armed individuals identifying themselves as police officers had stormed their home late at night and assaulted Mdude, before taking him away.

During the proceedings, Mbeya police admitted they were investigating the possibility that one of their officers may have played a role in the abduction of Mdude.

Activists have described the dismissal of the case as a major setback in the continuing struggle for justice for Tanzania's embattled opposition.

No arrests or prosecutions have been made in connection with incidents, although the police say investigations are under way.

Some activists from other countries in the region have also accused the Tanzanian authorities of targeting them.

Kenyan Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan Agather Atuhaire, have said that they were detained and sexually tortured after they arrived in Tanzania on 19 May to observe the trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who faces treason charges.

Mwangi's and Atuhaire's whereabouts were unknown for several days. Both were abandoned near their countries' borders.

But Jumanne Muliro, the commander of the Dar es Salaam police special zone, told the BBC at the time that their allegations were "hearsay" and asked them to present evidence for investigations. They have since filed a case at the regional East African Court of Justice over the matter.

Their ordeal cast a spotlight on the issue of forced disappearances of government critics, opposition figures and human rights defenders in Tanzania.

"No-one is providing answers," says Maduhu William, an activist at the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), adding that security agencies routinely promise to conduct a thorough investigation but the matter ends there.

"At the end of the day we do not get feedback on what is happening to those [cases]," he says, citing the example of Ali Kibao, a senior Chadema official, who was killed last year after being kidnapped, beaten and doused with acid.

"Even President [Samia] ordered security forces in Tanzania to conduct a thorough investigation and submit a report to her for further action. But up to now, nothing has been heard," he says.

Boniface Mwabukusi, the president of the Tanganyika Law Society, says many people are afraid to come out and share their stories for fear of victimisation.

He says there is no free, independent system that can ensure proper justice.

"If you are in police custody and the same officers ask you to give a statement about your abduction, can you really go to them? You can't," he says.

"Most people, they leave it to God. They are afraid. They say if they pursue the matter, things will get worse". — BBC