The admissibility of electronic evidence in Tanzania: new rules and case law

Abstract

A decade or so has passed since the High Court of Tanzania ruled that a computer print-out is admissible evidence. That decision, which is considered in this article, was decided in the context of the admissibility of electronic records in banking at the time when no statute on electronic evidence existed. A number of evidentiary issues remained uncertain. Subsequent legislation regulating electronic evidence was passed by Parliament through the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2007, and Electronic Transactions Act 2015. The aim of this article is to critically analyse the case law prior to and after these enactments to establish the extent to which the new rules have succeeded in filling the legal gap as far as electronic evidence is concerned in the Tanzanian legal system.

Index words: Tanzania; electronic evidence; legislation; admissibility; case law; new rules