According to a recent report, the Tanzanian government has removed the Ngorongoro division from the voters’ register, denying over 100,000 Maasai pastoralists their right to vote.
- The Ngorongoro division is home to thousands of Maasai pastoralists and is conspicuously absent from the roster of polling centres released by the National Electoral Commission (NEC), says the report.
- The region has become a flashpoint in the conflict between the government and local communities.
- The government accuses the Maasai of destroying wildlife habitats, which is allegedly being used to justify restrictive measures against them.
- In 2023, the Hadzabe ethnic group, Tanzania’s last remaining hunter-gatherers, boycotted the presidential election in protest against the encroachment on their land.
- The Ngorongoro Conservation Area spans vast expanses of highland plains, savanna, savanna woodlands and forests.
- Established in 1959 as a multiple land use area, with wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists.
- Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact caldera is also located in this area. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
(News was updated on 5 August)
