AN IMPORTANT VICTORY FOR THE MAASAI: High Court of Tanzania rules Pololeti Game Reserve illegal

October 02 2023

In 2022, the Tanzanian Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism announced the demarcation of 1,500 hectares of Maasai land for the Pololeti Game Management Reserve. The announcement led to major protests in the Loliondo/Ngorongoro area of northern Tanzania, and on June 10th 2022, the Tanzanian police used force to evict the Maasai from their land.

The result was dozens of people injured and thousands seeking shelter in the nearby forest. Arbitrary arrests of community leaders were also reported, including Village Councillors and Chairpeople, in clear violation of the Maasai’s human and collective rights. The protests arose due to the government’s plans to lease the legally registered village lands to the Otterlo Business Corporation, (a Dubai company linked to that country’s royal family), for tourism and hunting.

One year later, however, after a judicial review that challenged the Minister’s decision as based on illegalities, the absence of consultation, and carried out with violence, the country’s High Court decided in favor of the plaintiffs, ruling the Game Management Reserve illegal. The Court stated that in view of the lack of consultation, the entire process for the establishment of the Pololeti area was null and void. On the other hand, the court stopped short of assigning blame for the ensuing violence.

Whether this is the end of the affair, is another matter: harassment of the pastoralist Maasai, whose grazing land is essential to their survival, is ongoing. In 1992, the Tanzanian government authorized the OBC to take over four hundred thousand hectares of land for game hunting and a private airport, land that was home to over fifty thousand Maasai. In 2009, the government forcibly displaced over three thousand Maasai at gunpoint. From 2015 to 2017, Serengeti Rangers set fire to over two-hundred eighty homes), leaving over twenty thousand Maasai homeless.

The High Court’s decision represents a highly positive act for the Maasai People , and will hopefully be accepted by the Tanzanian authorities without reprisals. The sustained pressure exerted by international and Civil Society organizations has no doubt had an effect, and will need to be continued if the Maasai are to stand a chance of surviving the assault on their communities and their lands.

Fotos: Land is Life

Land is Life applauds the High Court’s decision, and calls on the Tanzanian government of Samia Suluhu Hassan to accept the ruling, and to respect the rights and needs of the pastoralist Maasai People. Indigenous Peoples are the best protectors of the land on which they depend, and although tourism may be an important contributor to Tanzania’s economy, it cannot be promoted at the cost of the lives and welfare of Indigenous People who are also the country’s own citizens.