An overwhelming majority of Tanzanians maintain deep trust in their judicial system, yet widespread concerns over systemic corruption and long court delays continue to block equal access to justice.<\/p>\n
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According to a new Afrobarometer report released by researchers Jacqueline Mwaipopo and Brenda Mshumbushi, 84% of citizens say they trust the country’s courts. Furthermore, 71% feel confident that an ordinary person who has been wronged can successfully obtain justice through the legal system.<\/p>\n
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However, this high baseline of public trust is marred by serious concerns over institutional integrity. A solid 63% of respondents believe that “some, most, or all” judges and magistrates are corrupt. Additionally, nearly a third of the population complains about unequal treatment under the law, pointing out that public officials who break the law frequently go unpunished, while 27% believe powerful individuals regularly receive lighter sentences than they deserve.<\/p>\n
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The data also exposes major structural and financial barriers within the system. While over half of Tanzanians believe they can afford legal advice or the costs of bringing a dispute to court, less than half (47%) are confident that their case would be resolved within a reasonable timeframe. Compounding this, only 35% of citizens are even aware that legal-aid services exist in their local communities.<\/p>\n
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Faced with steep costs and a staggering court backlog, illustrated by the Court of Appeal sitting on nearly 6 000 pending cases, everyday citizens are bypassing the legal system entirely. The survey reveals that a striking 60% of Tanzanians would rather turn to a local political leader to resolve a legal dispute, compared to just 12% who would approach the police and a tiny 5% who would choose to go to a local court.<\/p>\n
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Despite these daily frustrations, Tanzanians remain fiercely committed to the rule of law. A dominant 76% of citizens maintain that the president must always obey the law and court orders, with more than 80% expressing confidence that the current executive branch respects judicial independence and parliamentary authority.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15324,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-38711","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Tanzanians trust courts but fear corruption, new survey shows","published_date":"2026-07-03 13:07:29","news_description":"Tanzanians trust courts but fear corruption, new survey shows","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38712,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38711\/revisions\/38712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}