Individual Corruption

According to Afrobarometer 2008, a great majority of Tanzanians perceive the judicial system to be affected by corruption. This perception is supported by the US Department of State 2010, according to which, the Tanzanian judiciary remains underfunded, corrupt, and inefficient, especially in the lower courts. Court clerks take bribes to decide whether or not to open cases and to hide or misdirect the files of those accused of crimes. Furthermore, magistrates of lower courts occasionally accept bribes to determine guilt or innocence, pass sentences, or decide appeals of cases.

Business Corruption

According to World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011, the surveyed business executives do not consider the Tanzanian legal framework for settling disputes and for challenging regulation to be sufficiently efficient. Companies should be aware that the corrupt and inefficient judiciary poses a hindrance for settling commercial disputes in the country, according to the US Department of State 2011.

According to the Legal and Human Rights Centre Justice Watch Annual Report 2007, corruption and bribery are widespread at all levels of the judiciary. Court clerks often demand facilitation payments in order to perform their duties and can be bribed to hide files, thus delaying a case to such an extent that the case might end up being dismissed, while judges and magistrates receive bribes in order to deliver favourable verdicts. The US Department of State 2009 reports that in May 2009 a district magistrate was found guilty in soliciting a TZS 5 million bribe from a businessman in return for a favourable judgment.

Political Corruption

According to Bertelsmann Foundation 2010, the Tanzanian judiciary is a relatively independent institution and Freedom House 2010 reports that judges are promoted and dismissed in an unbiased manner. In contrast to this, however, the US Department of State 2010 outlines that the judiciary remains highly corrupt and subject to executive influence. This is further supported by Global Integrity 2010, according to which, political interference, bribery, cronyism and other flaws are often factors in judicial outcomes in Tanzania. Similarly, according to the report, national-level judges may sometimes be influenced by political incentives in their judgements.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2011:
- Enforcing commercial contracts requires a small or medium-sized company to go through 38 procedures, taking an average of 462 days at an average cost of 14.3% of the claim.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011:
- Business executives give the Tanzanian judiciary's level of independence from influences of government, citizens, or companies a score of 3.5 on a 7-point scale (1 'heavily influenced' and 7 'entirely independent').

- Business executives give the efficiency of the legal framework for private companies to settle disputes and to challenge the legality of government actions and/or regulations a score of 3.7 and 3.5 respectively on a 7-point scale (1 'extremely inefficient' and 7 'highly efficient').

The Bertelsmann Foundation: Transformation Index - Tanzania 2010:
- Only 5% of corruption cases reported to the Prevention of Corruption Bureau from 2000 to 2005 were heard by a court of law.

Afrobarometer: Summary of Results Tanzania 2008:
- 55% of citizens responding to a survey believe that 'some' judges and magistrates are corrupt, 25% state that 'most or all' of them are corrupt and 8% state that 'none' of them are corrupt.

The World Bank & IFC: Enterprise Surveys 2006:
- 47% of companies believe that the court system is fair, impartial and uncorrupted.

- 6% of companies identify the functioning of the courts as a major business constraint.