DEFAMATION IN TANZANIA
Defamation
is the injury to a man’s reputation. The right to reputation is the
absolute right in rem and anyone who lowers the reputation of another is
said to do so at his peril. According to Dixon v. Holden (1869)7 Eq 488, it
was noted that a man’s reputation is his property and if possible more
valuable than other properties.A defamatory statement is the one which
injures the reputation of the plaintiff by its tendency to lower him to
the estimation of right thinking members of the society to shun or avoid
him. Defamation does not only consist of connected words or sentences
but may for instance be carving, painting and gestures.In Tanzania
defamation is governed by the Newspaper Act of 1976, sections 38 to 47. And in the Tanzanian context it was defined in the case of Hamis v. Akilimali (1971) HCD No. 111,
where the court defined same as communicating to the mind of another,
matters which are untrue and likely in the natural cause of things
substantively to disparage the reputation of third person(s).For the
words to be defamatory the court must construe the words according to
their fair and natural meaning which would be given to them by
reasonable persons of ordinary intelligence.
Defamation
may be libel or slander and for defamation to occur the following need
to be proved, the statement must be defamatory, have intention to injure
the person’s reputation, the statement must refer to the plaintiff,
must be published by the defendant, false and in case of slander there
need to be proof of the special damages.
Mtani
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