The mother of missing former Tanzanian diplomat Humphrey Polepole has made an emotional appeal for police to help bring him home.
“If he is alive, return him to me. If he is not, bring his body and let me bury my child myself. They should not go and throw him into the sea,” Annamary Polepole said, in an interview with the BBC about her son’s disappearance.
The ex-ambassador to Cuba, who had become an outspoken critic of the government, was abducted from his home in Tanzania’s main city Dar es Salaam in the early hours of Monday, according to his family.
Local police confirmed on Tuesday that they were investigating the incident.
Humphrey Polepole’s brother, Godfrey, said he had found the door to the house broken and a large amount of blood spilled.
The day before, the city’s police chief appeared to question whether the attack had really happened, telling the BBC that the former ambassador “often claimed to be out of the country”.
“So how could this happen at his home in Tanzania?” Jumanne Muliro had asked.
Humphrey Polepole’s mother said her son’s kidnapping and his sister’s reported abduction in July had caused her untold sorrow, and she feared for the state of Tanzania.
“As a woman who struggled to raise children as a widow, it is very painful for such things to happen,” she told the BBC.
“They are hurting people as if they were hurting buffaloes or elephants. It is very sad for our country. [The] founding father of the nation Mwalimu [Julius] Nyerere never raised us that way.”
Humphrey Polepole stepped down from his diplomatic post earlier this year after publicly criticising the Tanzanian government.
He stated he could no longer be part of an administration that, in his view, disrespects justice, the rule of law and constitutional principles.
He was later formally stripped of his diplomatic status after President Samia Suluhu Hassan revoked his appointment.
Reflecting on her son’s life so far, Ms Polepole said he was a determined and “very special child”, whose dreams of becoming a pastor or a pilot went unfulfilled because of the family’s limited financial means.
“Imagine seeing someone you raised from infancy, someone who had reached a stage where he could support the family, and now he is suddenly taken away. It is painful indeed.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Tanzanian police said they were seeking another brother of the ex-diplomat, Augustino, to provide clarification regarding allegations he reportedly made on social media claiming a police officer was involved in the abduction.
Tanzania is due to hold a general election on 29 October amid a tense environment.
President Samia is running for a second term, having taken over in 2021 following the death in office of John Magufuli.
She was initially praised for giving Tanzanians greater political freedom but has since faced widespread criticism for a crackdown on political parties and civil society.
Humphrey Polepole had recently questioned the process by which Samia was nominated as the governing CCM party’s presidential candidate.
As well as accusing government institutions and officials of corruption and misuse of public funds, he also alleged that armed individuals had been seen loitering near his home and had harassed his family.
He claimed his residence had been raided twice, with statements taken by the police but no progress made in investigations.
Last month, the police opened a file against him, stating that the allegations could amount to criminal offences, without specifying what they were.
He was also ordered to report to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to assist with investigations.
While many Tanzanians praised his courage, others said he had no moral authority to speak out given that he was previously part of the government under both Magufuli and Samia.
His mother, however, said Polepole had always been a man of integrity.
“He was a person full of great love – no matter if he didn’t know you, he would greet you kindly, full of warmth and affection.”
