ZNZist Weekly — 25 October 2026

Alia: Hello and welcome to ZNZist Weekly, your Zanzibar News Digest. I am Alia. Badru: And I am Badru. Let us get straight into today's story. Alia: Daily News reports that Zanzibar's Ministry of Health has been meeting with a World Bank delegation to review progress on health projects funded under the first phase of their partnership. Badru: According to the report, the two sides also discussed the possibility of securing an additional one hundred million US dollars for priority projects going forward. Alia: Zanzibar's Health Minister, Nassor Ahmed Mazrui, said that funding under the first phase has made a meaningful contribution to strengthening healthcare services across the Isles. Badru: That support reportedly included ambulances, equipment for the Central Medical Stores, medicines, and construction of health facilities. Alia: Daily News notes specific achievements, including new health centres built in Fuoni and Jang'ombe, plus ongoing construction of housing for healthcare workers in Kivunge and Micheweni, Pemba. Badru: If completed, that housing could help address staffing challenges in those areas, since better living conditions for health workers often support retention in harder-to-reach locations. Alia: Among the priorities now being considered is construction of a Mother and Child Hospital in Kilimani. Minister Mazrui said this facility is expected to expand government capacity for maternal and child healthcare, covering pregnant women, childbirth services, and specialised care for children. Badru: Strengthening safe blood services was also mentioned as part of the potential next phase of funding, according to the report. Alia: The World Bank's regional manager for health policy in East Africa, Ernest Massiah, said the institution is encouraged by the steps the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar has taken to improve health services for the public. Badru: Massiah added that the World Bank intends to keep working with the Zanzibar government to strengthen the health sector, with projects shaped around existing needs and established priorities. Alia: It is worth noting that the additional one hundred million dollars is still described as a possibility under discussion, not a confirmed commitment at this stage. Badru: So while the first phase appears to have delivered concrete infrastructure and equipment, the next phase, including the Kilimani hospital, still depends on further decisions between Zanzibar and the World Bank. Alia: We will be watching to see how those talks develop as projects like the Mother and Child Hospital move forward. Alia: Let's turn to education funding in Zanzibar, where President Hussein Ali Mwinyi has announced a major boost to student support. Speaking on October twenty first, at a State House event honoring top performers in the twenty twenty four, twenty five, and twenty six national Form Four and Form Six exams, he said the government has raised the higher education loan budget to forty five billion shillings for the twenty twenty six, twenty seven financial year. Jamhuri Media reports that's up from thirty five billion the previous year, an increase of roughly twenty nine percent. Badru: That's a meaningful jump, and it signals where priorities sit. President Mwinyi framed it as reducing the financial barriers that keep capable students from continuing their studies. According to the reporting, the government will also fund undergraduate scholarships for one hundred forty three top Form Six performers this year through the SMZ Scholarship Program. Alia: And looking ahead, starting with this year's results, Jamhuri Media reports that students earning a First Division with points between three and five will qualify for full government funding, easing the cost burden so academic merit, rather than family finances, determines who continues on to higher education. Badru: The President also pushed beyond public funding, calling on financial institutions, companies, and development partners to increase their own contributions, particularly for academically strong students coming from difficult economic backgrounds. That's a recognition that government budgets alone may not cover every deserving case. Alia: On the other end of the performance scale, he directed the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to develop a specific strategy addressing students who scored Division Zero or Division Four, calling for closer analysis of results, identifying why students underperform, and strengthening teaching in subjects where students struggle most. Badru: He also praised teachers for their role in improving results and urged parents and guardians to supervise their children more closely, building habits of study and discipline at home. As reported, Education Minister Leila Mohd Mussa said her ministry already has strategies in place aimed at reducing, and eventually eliminating, Division Zero results, while increasing the number of students reaching Division One. Alia: Together, these moves suggest Zanzibar's government is trying to widen access to higher education for top achievers, while also confronting the harder question of why some students are being left behind academically. Alia: President Hussein Mwinyi has renewed his call for more investment in Zanzibar, speaking after returning home from official visits to Qatar, Spain and Armenia. Badru: According to Daily News, he made these remarks at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport, where he said those overseas trips focused on investment, development cooperation and environmental conservation. Alia: His central message was that Zanzibar's economic growth depends on attracting both local and foreign investors, and that government has a responsibility to create conditions that make that possible. Badru: He warned that without deliberate steps to draw investors into different sectors, the economy could slow down, limiting jobs and broader development efforts. Alia: Daily News also reports that Mwinyi addressed a sensitive issue, public frustration over compensation for land and property affected by development projects. Badru: He said the government is setting up a special team to look into compensation complaints, identify where things have gone wrong and propose solutions, with an assurance that no one will be treated unfairly. Alia: At the same time, he cautioned residents against planting trees or putting up buildings on land simply because they expect a future investment project there, saying that kind of anticipatory action can complicate development plans. Badru: On conservation, the President pointed to a notable milestone, Tanzania has already surpassed the international target of protecting thirty percent of its territory by 2030, with around thirty two point five percent currently under conservation. Alia: He argued that countries contributing this much to protecting wildlife and natural resources deserve stronger international financial backing, since he framed conservation as a global responsibility rather than Tanzania's alone. Badru: For Zanzibar specifically, Mwinyi highlighted marine conservation areas set up to protect fish breeding grounds, with fishing restricted in designated zones to let fish populations recover. Alia: Taken together, this points to a government trying to balance two pressures, opening the door wider to investors while also managing the real costs that development can bring to communities. Badru: The promised compensation review team will be worth watching, since its findings could shape how future investment projects are received by residents who feel they lost out previously. Alia: For now, these remain commitments rather than completed actions, and how they translate into concrete outcomes will likely surface in future reporting from Zanzibar. Alia: Daily News has a detailed report this week on efforts to protect girls in Zanzibar, tied to this year's International Day of the Girl Child on October eleventh, observed under the theme End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls Rights. Badru: The paper describes seminars organized by the Tanzania Media Women's Association in Zanzibar, known as TAMWA dash ZNZ, working alongside government ministries and gender based violence network officers. Alia: Daily News highlights one pupil, Maryam Omar, a Standard Six student at Bambi Primary School, who said learning about girls rights to leadership and education strengthened her resolve to stay in school and resist early marriage. Badru: According to the report, schools reached included Dunga, Bambi, and Kinyasini, where more than eight hundred pupils received lessons on self awareness, abuse, children's rights, and inclusive education. Boys were included too, since the association argues protection depends on educating children of both sexes. Alia: The numbers behind this campaign are sobering. Daily News cites the Office of the Chief Government Statistician reporting two hundred ninety five cases of gender based violence and abuse in Zanzibar during July and August this year. Badru: Of those, two hundred fifty four victims were children, and two hundred eleven were girls. That works out to roughly eighty three percent of all child victims recorded in that two month period. Alia: TAMWA dash ZNZ programme officer Sophia Ngalapi is quoted saying that despite government and activist efforts, challenges remain and require collective action, not just statements or one day events. Badru: The report also notes global context, citing an estimated twelve million girls married before age eighteen each year worldwide, and about six hundred fifty million women and girls alive today who were married as children. Alia: Abeida Rashid, Permanent Secretary in Zanzibar's Ministry of Community Development, Elderly, Gender and Children, is reported saying government initiatives need support from parents, teachers, and communities to keep children safe. Badru: Daily News frames this as an ongoing commitment rather than a single campaign, arguing that success would mean girls attending school without fear and free from forced marriage. Alia: If the statistics from July and August hold as a pattern, they suggest child protection gaps persist in Zanzibar even as awareness campaigns expand, which is likely why advocates are pushing for stronger laws and reporting systems alongside education efforts. Alia: A court ruling out of Dar es Salaam is giving CHADEMA some breathing room, though the underlying fight over party resources between the mainland and Zanzibar is far from settled. Badru: Right. The Chanzo reports the High Court has refused an application that sought to stop CHADEMA from using its assets or carrying out political activities. Justice A. A. Mbagwa delivered that decision on Wednesday, in a case brought by Said Issa Mohamed and Ahmed Rashid Khamis against the party's trustees and secretary general. Alia: This stems from a dispute over how party resources have allegedly been distributed between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. CHADEMA's chief legal counsel, Dr Rugemeleza Nshala, told reporters the applicants had only proven one of three legal conditions needed for an interim injunction. Badru: He argued that freezing buildings, vehicles and other assets would have hurt CHADEMA and its members more than it would have helped the applicants. According to Nshala, the court found no sufficient basis to bar the party from political activity for now. Alia: It's worth being clear this is only a temporary order being refused, not a final verdict. The question of whether resources were unequally distributed still goes to a full hearing, after the court in August rejected CHADEMA's attempt to dismiss the case outright. Badru: And this isn't CHADEMA's first brush with this kind of restriction. An earlier case, brought by the same two applicants along with the late Maulidah Anna Komu, led to a June 2025 injunction that froze the party's political activity for three hundred and nine days. Alia: The Court of Appeal quashed that order in April, finding the High Court had pressed ahead after CHADEMA's lawyers withdrew, without resolving a key legal question first. Then in May, a separate petition on the same resource dispute was struck out because it failed to clearly state when the alleged issue arose. Badru: So this week's ruling keeps CHADEMA operating while the core allegations are tested in court. The Chanzo notes it comes alongside unrelated legal pressure on the party, including a treason charge this week against organising director John Pambalu, and a verdict due November sixth in national chairperson Tundu Lissu's own treason case. Alia: Those cases are separate from the resource dispute, but together they show why CHADEMA has been fighting hard to avoid any fresh interruption to its work right now. Alia: This is ZNZist Weekly, and we are turning now to Zanzibar's political ties with China. Daily News reports that CCM Zanzibar's Deputy Secretary General, Abdi Mahamoud Abdi, met with a delegation from China's Communist Party, the CPC, earlier this week at CCM headquarters in Kisiwandui. Badru: According to the report, the talks covered leadership, infrastructure, trade, and what both sides described as efforts to promote unity and solidarity between the two parties. Alia: Abdi told reporters after the meeting that CCM has built a practice of sending its leaders to China specifically to learn from its development experience, touching on leadership and business sectors. Badru: He also singled out Chinese support for Dambwe Training College, saying that assistance has been important to the institution's growth. That is a concrete example of the kind of cooperation these party-to-party exchanges are meant to produce. Alia: On the Chinese side, Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian stressed the importance of deepening cooperation between Zanzibar and China. He said the CPC intends to keep offering CCM leaders opportunities to visit China for knowledge and experience exchanges across different sectors. Badru: Chen also pointed to improvements in Tanzania's road infrastructure, linking better roads to economic growth and improved living standards for citizens, according to Daily News. Alia: The meeting brought together a fairly senior lineup. Daily News lists UWT Zanzibar's Deputy Secretary General Khadija Nassor Abdi, and Khadija Salum Ali, who heads CCM Zanzibar's special committee on politics and international relations. Badru: On China's side, attendees included the Consul General in Zanzibar, Li Qianghua, along with embassy officials Peng Yongjia and Zhang Lianchuang. Alia: It is worth being clear about what this meeting actually was. This is a party-to-party exchange between CCM and the CPC, not a government-to-government agreement, so any commitments discussed sit at that political level rather than as formal state policy. Badru: Still, these exchanges matter because they shape how Zanzibar's ruling party approaches development thinking, and they build on an existing relationship, including support for institutions like Dambwe Training College. Alia: Whether this translates into new trade or infrastructure outcomes for Zanzibar remains to be seen, since the report describes intentions and ongoing cooperation rather than any new concrete deal. Badru: For now, both sides have signaled they want the relationship to continue, with more leadership visits and knowledge sharing expected ahead. Alia: Zanzibar's skies are about to get a lot busier. New tourism intelligence released by the African Travel and Tourism Association at the Essence of Africa buyer forum, held in Zanzibar from October twentieth to twenty second, forecasts a thirty three percent jump in available airline seats over the next six months. Badru: The data, compiled through the Data Appeal Mabrian Travel Intelligence platform, shows inbound air capacity already grew eleven percent between October 2025 and October 2026, with long haul seats up twenty six percent. Looking ahead, domestic capacity is projected to rise thirty six percent and international capacity thirty one percent year on year, with forward bookings through global distribution systems up ten percent for travel through March 2027. Alia: The Gulf is driving much of this. The UAE, already Zanzibar's fourth largest international market, is expected to see a fifty seven percent capacity increase, Qatar seventeen percent, and Oman more than doubling its seats at one hundred eight percent. Badru: European demand remains strong too, with UK bookings up fifty one percent, Germany fourteen percent and France eight percent. Russia stands out as well, with bookings up ninety eight percent year on year, following the launch of direct Moscow to Zanzibar flights back in July. Alia: But more flights do not automatically mean more prosperity. The report also found that average hotel room rates advertised online fell roughly eighteen percent over the twelve months to October 2026, across every category, suggesting growing competition as accommodation supply expands. Badru: ATTA chief executive Virginia Messina was quoted saying that growth in seats and bookings must translate into sustainable returns and benefits for local communities, not just rising visitor numbers. Alia: Zanzibar's tourism authorities say they are trying to manage that balance. Minister of State Shariff Ali Shariff was reported saying the ambition is for every visitor to contribute more to the economy, not simply to increase arrival numbers. Badru: That comes as officials push diversification beyond beaches, into culture, wellness and sport, and look to direct new investment toward Pemba rather than concentrating growth on Unguja. Alia: Industry voices quoted in the reporting also flagged a heritage concern, warning that converting residential buildings into hotels in Stone Town risks hollowing out its historic character if left unmanaged. Badru: So while the aviation numbers point to a strong half year ahead, the reporting suggests the real test will be whether that growth translates into steadier revenue and visible benefits for Zanzibaris themselves. Alia: Tanzania's Wildlife Management Authority, known as TAWA, is exploring whether golf tourism could become part of the proposed Zanzibar Wildlife Park, inside the Jambiani Muyuni Forest Reserve. Badru: According to Jamhuri Media, TAWA board chairman, retired Major General Hamis Semfuko, spoke on October 21st during a visit by experts from Troon International, a United States based company that manages golf courses and clubs around the world. Alia: Semfuko said the visiting team came to see the site firsthand and gather information that could guide advice on developing an international standard golf course there. Badru: He described golf as a sport that draws large numbers of tourists, and said TAWA wants to combine golf tourism with the park's existing wildlife and photographic tourism to widen the range of activities on offer. Alia: Troon International's executive vice president, David Jonathan, said placing a golf course within a wildlife area could give Zanzibar a distinctive attraction for players who enjoy combining the sport with other tourism experiences. Badru: He suggested this could encourage visitors to extend their stay, enjoying the beaches, wildlife, culture and food Zanzibar offers, while an international standard course could also attract tournaments that help market the destination to golf tourism markets abroad. Alia: TAWA engineer Samuel Hagu said the proposal involves what is known as a championship course, intended to add another feature to the wider Zanzibar Wildlife Park project and give visitors more to do. Badru: Hagu said the plan would still include the presence of various wildlife and activities suited to people of all ages, with the forest reserve remaining under conservation throughout. Alia: For now, this remains at an early assessment stage. Discussions between TAWA and Troon International are expected to continue, focusing on technical requirements, investment possibilities and the next steps before any decision is made. Badru: If it does move forward, it would mark a notable diversification of Zanzibar's tourism offering, though much depends on the outcome of those ongoing talks. Alia: That brings us to the end of this week's ZNZist Weekly Zanzibar News Digest. Badru: Thank you for listening, and we will be back with more updates from across Zanzibar and Tanzania next time. Alia: Until then, take care.