Author Archives: editor

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by Martin Walsh

THE ART OF THE ZARAMO: IDENTITY, TRADITION, AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN TANZANIA. Fadhili Safieli Mshana. Mkuki na Nyota, Dar es Salaam, 2016. xiv + 190 pp. (paperback). ISBN 9789-9987-75-356-7. £28.00.

Mkuki na Nyota’s 2016 edition of The Art of the Zaramo: Identity, Tradition and Social Change is a well-produced (and more affordable) paperback edition of Fadhili Mshana’s doctoral dissertation, which he completed in 1999 with the original title Art and Identity among the Zaramo of Tanzania (State University of New York at Binghamton). Mshana is a professor of Art History at Georgia College and State Universty in Milledgeville, GA, in the USA. Although he completed his art historical education in Dar es Salaam, East Anglia and the US, Mshana started his career as a school teacher in Tanzania. Not only is he a visual art practitioner himself, he can also claim descent from a venerable blacksmithing lineage, so his identification with Tanzanian artistry runs deep and it is not surprising that his book is written in the voice of a culturally committed Tanzanian.

The Art of the Zaramo follows a standard dissertation format, with the first couple of chapters devoted to situating Zaramo wood carving practices within an historical and sociological framework. But the book also celebrates the resilience of these practices, and their responsiveness to new influences over time, within the rich cultural ‘mix’ of Dar es Salaam and of the wider Uzaramo area. At its core the book presents three themed essays on three respective forms in the Zaramo sculptural corpus. The first themed essay, on mwana hiti trunk figures, is presented in Chapter Four and deals with the way these remarkable, stylised, ritual artworks have retained their relevance as foci for female identification and articulation of female potency within the changing parameters of Zaramo female initiation rites. The second essay on figurative grave markers is covered in Chapter Five and discusses the role that widespread cultural change has had on memorial practices, focusing especially on the impact of the spatial and ideological upheaval instituted as part of the ‘villagisation’ programme which underpinned Tanzania’s post-Independence socialist policies. Mshana seems to suggest that the continuing survival and variety of figurative memorial sculptures in a context of spatial upheaval and, latterly, in contexts of proliferating cultural choices, is linked to the personalised forms of honouring ancestors and the continuing strength of family and ancestral ties. Chapter Six incorporates an engaging and enlightening discussion of Nyerere’s canny appropriation of the kifimbo (a short staff widely used by elders in many Tanzanian ethnic groups) to communicate and enhance his political authority.

But following this insightful discussion, Mshana’s cautious conclusion, with his predominantly object-focused approach, appears to leave more questions than answers on issues such as how individual Zaramo sculptors in Tanzanian contexts responded to new influences and experiences and how their artworks may accrue complex biographies and take on significances beyond the original contexts of their creation.

The Art of the Zaramo makes a welcome contribution to the field of East African art studies, but it can be over-cautious in places and sometimes seems averse to engaging in theoretically-informed interpretive analysis in favour of making ‘safe’ (p. 158) pronouncements that avoid, rather than engage with, complex realities. There is also relatively little in the way of direct Zaramo voices or voiced experiences in the book. Indeed ‘the Zaramo’ are referred to throughout as a homogenous block inhabiting an undifferentiated ‘Zaramo lived reality’

(p. 154). The author also defaults to other forms of generalisation at times and frequently seems to invest concepts of ‘modernity’ and ‘modernisation’ with active historical agency rather than human actors. Similarly, the author’s concepts of ‘tradition’ and ‘identity’ remain unspecified and un-problematised, which leaves them open to Frederick Cooper’s critique of being ‘putative’ and too ambiguous for rigorous analysis (Colonialism in Question, 2005, pp. 59-60). Finally, this reviewer cannot help noting that Mshana’s book perpetuates an old bias in African art studies in considering only the art of wood sculpture as a worthy object for study in a book about The Art of the Zaramo. Zaramo women’s ceramic arts are not considered in the book and other creative forms, like the commercialised blackwood genres, for example, are only briefly discussed.
Zachary Kingdon

Zachary Kingdon is Curator of the African Collections at National Museums Liverpool. He conducted his doctoral research among Makonde sculptors in Tanzania and holds a PhD in Advanced Studies in Non-Western Art from the University of East Anglia. He is the author of A Host of Devils: The History and Context of the Making of Makonde Spirit Sculpture (Routledge, 2002). He also coedited East African Contours: Reviewing Creativity and Visual Culture (HornimanMuseum, London, 2005).

FLYING SNAKES AND GREEN TURTLES: TANZANIA UP CLOSE. Evelyn Voigt. GSPH, Ottawa, ON, 2014. xii + 410 pp. (paperback). ISBN 978-1-77123-055-1. $30 Canadian, plus shipping and handling (to order copies please contact Gordon Breedyk, breedyk14@yahoo.ca)

I’ll admit that when this 400-page tome landed through my letterbox, I had doubts. Biographies can go so wrong, and was the Fox story genuinely print-worthy?

As it turns out, it’s a real page-turner. Anyone who has spent time in Iringa will probably know of the Fox family and their thriving safari enterprises. If you have, you will marvel at their full life story. Even if you haven’t, this book is a fascinating window into pre-independence Tanganyika and the pioneering spirit of (exceptional) expats of the time. Accompanying the narrative are relevant text boxes with historical summaries (think Lonely Planet, but better). This worked really well, and I was grateful to finally know about Mkwawa and other parts of Tanzanian history that I should have read about years ago, presented in a personal and interesting way.

The book tells of Geoff and Vicky Fox’s incredible adventures in Tanzania from the late 1950s to the present day. Geoff arrives in Tanzania as an eager Brooke Bond bachelor and throws himself into tea plantation work and Mufindi social life. Vicky joins him, and they enjoy regular walking safaris around Mufindi and into Ruaha, which they continue even as they bring up their four children. The book is rich in anecdotes that make even the most adventurous parent look risk-averse. Baby Bruce bouncing out of the car boot on their road trip to South Africa, to be retrieved only when a passing car alerted them… their children diving into crocodile-infested waters to retrieve valuable fishing hooks, the thousand-bee attack, pregnant Vicky floating down the Ruaha river on logs back to their camp… and many more. Life must have been tough, but the Foxes’ quirky humour and Evelyn Voigt’s wonderful retelling of their escapades evoke idyllic family life with the children learning freedom, independence and appreciation of nature in the Tanzanian bush. I felt nostalgic for a life that was never mine.

The book will leave you full of admiration for the Fox family’s ingenuity and resourcefulness. Of course, this is Tanzania Up Close from a distinctly expatriate perspective. But there is no doubt that Geoff and Vicky, and subsequently their sons and daughters-in-law, have made a tremendous contribution to Tanzania, investing in its economy, creating significant employment, and succeeding in protecting precious wildlife, forests and reefs in the face of formidable challenges. I found myself getting nervous as their community development work approached in the story, especially with the mention of an orphanage. But their work was appropriate, very integrated with the local community, and seemed to be making a profound and sustainable impact.

It feels mean to critique this generous, heart-warming love story – any criticisms are minor. The slightly dated front cover is a bit off-putting. I wasn’t convinced by the poems (the narrative was richly descriptive enough as it was) and there was repetition that could have been better edited. However, overall, this was a great read and is highly recommended.
Naomi Rouse
Naomi Rouse has worked in education in Tanzania since 1998, initially in HIV/AIDS prevention, and then specialising in girls’ education. She advises NGOs and major agencies on girls’ education programming and Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as directly managing a pilot of digital learning in rural secondary schools in Iringa for Lyra (www.lyrainafrica.org).

TIME PAST IN AFRICA: MERVYN SMITHYMAN AND FAMILY RECOLLECTIONS. Anne M. Chappel. CreateSpace, 2015. 222 pp. (paperback). ISBN 978-1517172275. £7.85.

ZANZIBAR UHURU: A REVOLUTION, TWO WOMEN AND THE CHALLENGE OF SURVIVAL. Anne M. Chappel. CreateSpace, 2015. vi + 314 pp. (paperback). ISBN 978-1505511840. £10.00.

Anne Chappel, the author of these two self-published books, is the daughter of Mervyn Vice Smithyman (1911-2008), best known to historians for the way in which his all-too-brief tenure as a Permanent Secretary came to an abrupt end on the day of the Zanzibar Revolution, when he was forced to flee by swimming out to a boat in the harbour. In their very different ways, both of these books, one a memoir and the other a historical novel, help put that unforgettable incident into proper perspective, not least by providing the personal details and context, real and imagined, that are absent in the cursory published accounts. For Mervyn Smithyman was not alone that day, but before making his own escape, made sure that his family and others were safe offshore, among them the 16-year-old Anne. These complementary works of fact and fiction can be read as her own reckoning with the past and the shocking events of that day. The first embeds it in family history; the second is a sensitive reflection on its consequences for the lives of others, including those less fortunate than herself.

As a memoir, the richly-illustrated Time Past in Africa is also much more than this. Its first half traces Mervyn’s family roots and early life in South Africa, where he was born, and Nyasaland, where he spent the second half of his childhood. His parents, Fred Milner and Catherine Jessie Smithyman (neé Vice) worked their way up in colonial society from relatively inauspicious beginnings; the last of their ten children was born in 1933 and by the start of the Second World War they owned both a large family house with stables and a separate holiday home, and were running a hotel, a mineral water factory, and a brewery in Zomba. Mervyn had a job as a junior clerk in the Department of Agriculture, and repaired typewriters for the government in his spare time, work which gave him the time and means to travel around the world in the year before the outbreak of conflict. During the War itself he served as an officer in the King’s African Rifles, rising to command a battalion in India, and this experience stood him in good stead when he applied to join the British Colonial Administration.

The second half of the memoir details his subsequent career in Tanganyika and Zanzibar. His first posting was as Assistant District Officer in Mwanza; he went there in 1947 with his wife Audrey and son Michael, and they were soon joined by baby Anne. He was then posted to Bukoba and soon after to Biharamulo, where he was District Commissioner. In 1949 he was transferred to Same in Pare District, and stayed there until moving to the Secretariat in Dar es Salaam in 1953, where he worked in the District Administration Department and got to know the Governor, Sir Edward Twining. In 1955 he was appointed Senior District Officer in Mbeya, and that was his last tour on the mainland before being offered the post of Senior Assistant Commissioner in Zanzibar, a job he began in September 1956 by serving for six months as District Commissioner of Pemba, based in Wete. In early 1957 he moved to Zanzibar town, and began the period of his career that has attracted most scrutiny by researchers, coinciding as it did with the zama za siasa, the ‘time of politics’ and series of hotly contested elections that preceded Zanzibar’s Independence in December 1963. Smithyman agreed to stay on for a time as Permanent Secretary under the new Prime Minister, Mohammed Shamte. But, as we now know, this lasted for little more than a month.

The most gripping parts of this memoir are his and other family members’ recollections of what happened on that fateful day. They differ somewhat from previously published accounts, and add new details, for example about the disagreements between different expats and members of the government over how they should respond to the rapidly evolving crisis on the morning of 12 January 1964.

The novel, Zanzibar Uhuru, takes off from a fictionalised version of the same events. Like the memoir, it is written in different narrative voices. The first section, which focuses on the first weeks of the Revolution, even includes a few harangues and mad rambles in the hectoring and self-justifying tones that were typical of the speeches and writings of the self-styled Field Marshal John Okello. But the real stars of the story are two women who relate their struggles with the myriad consequences of the events that Okello set in train. The suffering of the first of these, a Zanzibari Arab orphaned during the Revolution, is very persuasively told in the middle section of the book, and carries the tale. The third and final section takes us back to the life of the daughter of a British official whose flight from Zanzibar recalls that of the real-life Smithyman, and brings us forward to the present, when the lives of the two women become intertwined again. Like all good historical novels, Zanzibar Uhuru leaves you wanting to know more about the events it is based on, and which of them might be true. It has been carefully researched, and includes references and a list of further reading for good measure. I only noticed a few minor slips.

Zanzibar Uhuru is boldly conceived and compellingly written. Critics aware of Time Past in Africa and the author’s background will accuse her of reproducing the worldview and political prejudices of her own family and class. But as a survivor of the Zanzibar Revolution herself, she has every right to tell and re-imagine her tale. Although more than half a century has now passed since the Revolution, the wounds it opened are still raw, especially for the women who live with painful memories of the brutality they and their loved ones suffered when their worlds were turned upside-down. Anne Chappel is to be congratulated for bringing part of that story to us, and I hope it will encourage others to do the same, in whatever narrative or creative form.
Martin Walsh

DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH

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by Hugh Wenban-Smith

This compilation of articles, culled from journals in the LSE library, covers July to December 2016. The abstracts are abridged versions of those published by the author(s)

“Village land politics and the legacy of ujamaa” Greco E Review of African Political Economy 2016 (Supp. 1).
The paper explores the legacies of ujamaa for Tanzanian village land management through the analysis of ethnographic data. The first section considers the ujamaa legacies for Tanzanian village administrative and political institutions and the weight of past top-down politics. In the second section, village land politics are investigated in the light of the reform of the land laws in order then to underline the role of village authorities in collective land claims and to illustrate how village land allocations occur in practice. The third section analyses data from three villages to reflect on the salience of village land politics and Village Land Use Plans. Ujamaa leaves its legacy in the continuity of a potential for democratisation from below resisting the continuity of authoritarianism and centralised decision-making from above.

“Cotton and textiles industries in Tanzania: The failures of liberalisation” Coulson A Review of African Political Economy 2016 (Supp. 1).
The article uses the story of cotton cultivation in Tanzania to analyse critically the processes of liberalisation and expose the failure of markets to reward quality production. It starts by summarising the technological requirements to grow the crop. It then shows how cotton was central to industrialisation in Britain and elsewhere. In Tanzania, cotton is grown on small farms and so the article then summarises how small farmers make choices and minimise risks. This creates the context for outline histories, first of cotton growing, and then of textile industries in Tanzania, before turning to the impact of structural adjustment and liberalisation in the late 1980s and 1990s which led to increases in production but losses in quality and price. The article draws conclusions from this about the role of agriculture in processes of economic transformation and the need for institutions which represent the economic interest of small farmers.

“‘How come others are selling our land?’ Customary land rights and the complex process of land acquisition in Tanzania” Locher M Journal of Eastern African Studies 10(3).
The recent increase in transnational land acquisition of agrarian land raises concerns about rural people’s inadequate involvement in the decision-making process, and violations of their land rights. Tanzania’s statutory land laws are comparatively progressive in terms of recognising customary land rights. According to legislation, transferring ‘village land’ to an investor requires villagers’ approval. It is therefore revealing to focus on the acknowledgement of customary rights in land deals in Tanzania. This study analyses the land transfer process of a UK-based forestry company that has acquired land in seven villages in Kilolo district. In the case of the village presented here, the investor seems to have followed legal procedure regarding decision-making for the land deal in a formally correct way. Yet, interviews with various stakeholders revealed flaws at village and district government level that have led to a conflict-ridden situation, with numerous affected villagers having lost their land rights – thus the basis for their livelihoods – against their will. Among those affected are several households from a neighbouring village, whose customary rights date back to the period before the resettlements of the 1970s (‘villagisation’). Employing the concepts of property rights and legal pluralism and unbundling the role of different actors in the host country government, this article analyses the decision-making process that preceded this land transfer. It illustrates how unequal power relations lead to unequal recognition of customary and statutory law. The study concludes that even under comparatively favourable legal conditions, there is no guarantee that local land rights are fully protected in the global land rush.

“Food security in Tanzania: the challenge of rapid urbanisation” Wenban-Smith H, Fasse A & Grote U Food Security 8(5).
Urbanisation in Tanzania is proceeding apace. This article seeks to identify the challenge posed by rapid urbanisation for food security in Tanzania to 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals horizon. It is hypothesised that urban food security largely depends on the food supply systems and the rural food production potential. The analysis of these interlinkages is based on secondary macro data and own primary micro data. Tanzania has done well to achieve broad self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs to date, but rapid urbanisation will pose a severe future challenge as regards food security, particularly for the disadvantaged poorer people of the towns and cities in terms of food affordability, stability and food safety. Whether Tanzania can avoid future deterioration in urban food security will depend on how responsive and resilient the urban food supply systems prove to be in the face of continuing urban growth, changing consumption patterns, weak rural-urban food supply linkages and production constraints in the smallholder farming sector.

“Small price incentives increase women’s access to land titles in Tanzania” Ali DA, Collin M, Deininger K, Dercon S, Sandefur J & Zeitlin A Journal of Development Economics 123.
We randomize the price urban Tanzanian households faced to purchase a land title. Price discounts increase the rate at which households adopt titles. Some discounts are conditional on registering a woman as co-owner. These conditional discounts have roughly the same effect on adoption. Conditional discounts ensure very high co-titling rates without hurting take-up.

“‘You have hands, make use of them!’ Child labour in artisanal and small-scale mining in Tanzania” Potter C & Lupilya AC Journal of International Development 28(7).
This paper examines child labour in artisanal mining through ethnographic research in Tanzania. The poverty hypothesis argues that households send children to work to bolster household income. The socio-cultural approach suggests that child mining offers valuable vocational training. This paper builds on a growing literature that complicates these approaches straightforward claims by illustrating how household fragmentation is generated through the encounter of traditional cultural practices with mining’s culture of consumption. This encounter exacerbates household fragmentation, which in turn increases child poverty and labour. These findings suggest policy interventions should also address these mediating factors rather than poverty per se.

“Artisanal and small-scale mining as an informal safety net: Evidence from Tanzania” Aizawa Y Journal of International Development 28(7).
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is an important means for diversifying economic activities to sustain people’s rural livelihoods in mineral-rich African countries. To pursue the economic benefits, ASM workers often take physical and legal risks in mining activities. However, a question arises as to whether the economic benefits are sufficient for explaining their engagement in risky mining activities. This article examines whether ASM functions as an informal safety net that brings social benefits to ASM workers and motivates their engagement in mining. To examine an informal safety net, the article analyses the case of artisanal mining in Geita, Tanzania. The result of the analysis states that social benefits are, in association economic benefits, motivating factors for continuing the ASM activities. The analysis implies that in ASM, the more impoverished the sites are, the more functional they are in regard to exerting an informal safety net.

“‘Ulinzi Shirikishi’: Popular experiences of hybrid security governance in Tanzania” Cross C Development and Change 47(5).
This article explores the implementation of community-based or participatory policing (ulinzi shirikishi) in Tanzania. Through ulinzi shirikishi citizens are encouraged to form local security committees, organise neighbourhood patrols and investigate reported crime. In contrast to earlier forms of state-sponsored sungu sungu vigilantism in Tanzania, community police are expected to cooperate with the Tanzania Police Force and to adhere to state law. Based on 11 months’ fieldwork in three sub-wards of the city of Mwanza, this article argues that community policing has been fairly effective in improving residents’ perceptions of local safety. However, two important concerns emerge that may compromise the sustainability and legitimacy of community policing in the future. First, organising local policing entails considerable costs for communities, which disproportionately disadvantage the relatively poor. Secondly, controlling local service provision can enable individuals to pursue private gains, at the expense of the production of public goods.

“Youth poverty, employment and livelihoods: Social and economic implications of living with insecurity in Arusha, Tanzania” Banks N. Environment and Urbanization 28(2).
The youth employment crisis in sub-Saharan Africa’s towns and cities is among the region’s top development priorities. High rates of youth under- and unemployment create significant obstacles to young people’s ability to become self-reliant, a crucial first step in the transition to adulthood. It is important to explore how local and global structures and processes create the hostile economic and social environment in which urban youth search for livelihoods. Only then can we identify the ways in which urban poverty brings insurmountable constraints on youth agency. We must understand the multitude of obstacles facing youth in their quest for decent work and secure livelihoods, how these differ by gender and educational status, and the implications of this for longer-term social and economic development. This paper attempts such an exploration in the context of Arusha, Tanzania.

ASANTE DAVID !

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Left is the cover of Issue 19 (1984), the first issue edited by David, covering the death of Edward Sokoine in a car crash. To the right is the familiar green cover David introduced a year later which many readers will remember.

As the incoming editor of Tanzanian Affairs, I feel very lucky – and a little daunted – to be able to follow in the footsteps of David Brewin, who has done a fantastic job editing the journal for more than 30 years. Over that time, Tanzanian Affairs has evolved and grown under his stewardship into the engaging, informative and highly respected publication that it is today. I am sure you will all join me in thanking him for his remarkable work.

David has now decided it is time to step back from the editorship, though I am delighted to say that he will continue to be involved as a contributor.

I promise to do my best to protect David’s wonderful legacy and to maintain the high regard in which TA is held by its readers.

Ben Taylor Incoming Editor, Tanzanian Affairs

ONE YEAR INTO MAGUFULI’S PRESIDENCY

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by Ben Taylor

Since coming to office, the pace of President Magufuli’s activity has surprised many observers. In government, the phrase – HapaKaziTu! (Work and nothing else!) – rapidly evolved from a campaign slogan into a philosophy for governance. Whether it comes to economic policy and taxation, public services and public administration, corruption or the media, business as usual is no more.

The president’s early actions against corruption, tax avoidance and waste drew praise and popularity from many quarters. With the Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, he led concerted efforts to clamp down on corruption and raise revenues at Dar es Salaam port, and with the Minister of Education, Prof Joyce Ndalichako, to stop abuse of the higher education and student loans systems. Tight restrictions on foreign travel for public officials and on the use of hotels and conference centres for government meetings were introduced, and the President took a high-profile decision to replace expensive public celebrations of Independence Day in December 2015 with a national exercise to cleanup public spaces. Campaign promises to put an end to school fees and to reduce the basic rate of tax were acted upon. And over 300 public officials have been fired, suspended or reassigned, under the slogan of “tumbua majipu” – “piercing the boils”. Those who have been lost their positions include the heads of the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), the Prevention and Combatting of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Dar es Salaam City Council, and the Chief Secretary (the country’s most senior civil servant). (For further details, see previous issues of TA). This is coupled with a campaign to root out so-called “ghost workers” – civil servants on the government payroll but who do not in reality exist. Over 16,000 “ghost workers” have reportedly been removed from the payroll.

“What would Magufuli do?” asked Twitter users around the world, celebrating the new president’s parsimonious approach to public spending, and comparing him very favourably with other heads of state. Forbes Africa magazine named him on their shortlist of five for Person of the Year (though he eventually lost out to South Africa’s Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela).

More recently, the president has announced that the long-standing intention to shift the site of government from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma would now be fast-tracked. The initial decision was made by President Julius Nyerere in 1973, but had thus far translated into little beyond the relocation of parliament twenty years ago. President Magufuli announced the move would happen before the end of his first five-year term, and Prime Minister Majaliwa swiftly followed this up with a tighter timetable: that he would move by September, to be followed soon after by all other ministers.

Further, he has purchased three new aircraft for the struggling national airline, Air Tanzania, and suspended the import of sugar and coal in an effort to support local producers.

An opinion poll survey published by Twaweza in September 2016 found the president had the approval of 96% of Tanzanian citizens on the mainland, higher than any approval rating for any African head of state ever reported by Afrobarometer, an Africa-wide opinion polling initiative. The same survey found high levels of support for the president’s actions against corrupt public officials, against ghost workers, and for the removal of school fees. The president has positioned himself as being on the side of the ordinary citizen, taking on big business, corruption and waste, and his actions and slogans have captured the public imagination.

At the same time, however, other aspects of President Magufuli’s style of leadership have increasingly drawn criticism – most particularly his attitudes to business, to the civil service, and to democracy.

Investors in the tourist industry have complained that removal of VAT exemptions for many tourism-related goods and services will have a negative impact on their businesses and on the economy as a whole. Importers have argued that heavy-handed enforcement of tax regulations – including moves to charge import duties on goods in transit – will lead to a drop in revenues as transporters take their business away from Dar es Salaam to ports in Kenya, Mozambique or South Africa. Debates about whether or not tourist numbers, hotel bookings, port and transit volumes and tax revenues have declined continue to rage.

A disagreement over Tanzania’s largest cement factory – see also the economics and business section in this issue – is illustrative of these complaints. Ahmed Salim, an analyst at Teneo Intelligence, told Quartz, an online magazine, that the situation “paints an unfavourable and unpredictable outlook for investors looking at the Tanzanian market.” Coupled with a perception that businesses are being subjected to sudden changes in tax policy, investors are reportedly concerned.

Other observers are concerned that the new HapaKaziTu! culture in the civil service has spilled over into a climate of fear. Coupled with tight controls on expenditure and increased scrutiny of their past and present actions – see also the education section in this issue – this has left many civil servants reportedly feeling untrusted and undervalued, and afraid to make decisions.

The Shadow Minister for Public Service Management and Good Governance, Ruth Mollel, herself a former Permanent Secretary, warned the government that its disregard of the rule of law would backfire. “This country cannot be governed through personal opinions and decisions while there are laws set to be adhered to,” she said. “We have been witnessing cases of civil servants being fired and demoted without being given the opportunity to be heard, and this has created fear and demoralised the majority of the workers.” Trade Unions, including the Tanzania Teachers Union and the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania (TUCTA), have also questioned the apparent lack of adherence to proper disciplinary procedures.

Finally, a third set of complaints relate to democracy and human rights. In December, Maxence Melo, one of the founders and owners of Jamii Forums, a popular online discussion forum, was arrested. He was later charged with two counts of obstructing police investigations under the Cybercrimes Act – for refusing to reveal the names of whistle-blowers using the site – and one count of operating a website that does not use the “dot-tz” top level domain.

This was the latest in a series of moves that leave the media, opposition politicians and human rights’ activists feeling vulnerable. A number of journalists and politicians have been arrested and/or charged with sedition. Live TV and radio broadcasts of proceedings in parliament – previously very popular – have been stopped. The Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) has raised the question of whether public officials dismissed for wrongdoing were given a fair opportunity to defend themselves. Since the 2015 elections, several arrests have been made under the Cybercrime Act for insulting the president on social media.

In June, the President announced a ban on political rallies, on the grounds that the elections were over and the government and the public needed to stay focussed on delivering development. The ban was later extended to cover indoor party meetings. Leaders of the opposition parties, Chadema and ACT-Wazalendo, denounced the move as unconstitutional, and Chadema planned a nationwide “day of defiance” on September 1st, under the banner Umoja wa Kipinga Udikteta Tanzania (UKUTA) – Alliance Against Dictatorship in Tanzania. The police announced that the protests did not have permission, and for a few days in late August the rhetoric on both sides grew increasingly aggressive. Tensions were raised further by the murder of four police officers in a probably unconnected incident in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam. “If anyone complains about human rights, send them to me,” said the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Paul Makonda, while directing the police to show no mercy in response. A confrontation was avoided when Chadema postponed the planned demonstrations.

More recently, the enactment in November of the Media Services Act has attracted criticisms that the government is clamping down on freedom of the press. Among other controversial provisions, the bill introduces a requirement for all media to publish or broadcast news “as the government may direct,” along with a system of government-controlled accreditation for individual journalists. The opposition argued in parliament that this enables the government to screen journalists so that only those who report favourably are allowed to continue.

“This bill is a clear and present danger to the independence of Tanzania’s media, to our collective struggle against corruption and to our young democracy,” wrote Aidan Eyakuze, Executive Director of Twaweza. “Passing it without fundamental changes will cast a long shadow over all the good that President Magufuli’s anti-corruption efforts have achieved.”

President Magufuli has shaken up Tanzania in his first year in office. His supporters would argue that taking on such ingrained problems cannot be done without upsetting some people, and that his opponents are determined to oppose him whatever he does. His critics point to a growing list of concerns.

President Magufuli is set to remain in office until at least 2020. Maintaining this level of activity for that length of time will not be easy. He has already shown, however, that he is up for a challenge.

KAGERA EARTHQUAKE

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An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale struck on September 10th in Kagera region, in the far north-west of the country. Reports vary on the precise extent of damage caused, but at least 19 people died as a result, and over 500 were injured, the majority in and around the town of Bukoba or in Missenyi District to the north. Over 2,000 buildings were destroyed and thousands more were damaged. Damage and deaths were also reported in neighbouring Uganda, though the effects of the quake there were smaller.

The Kagera regional commissioner, Major General Salum Kijuu, described the quake as a “major disaster. … We have never seen anything like this before … this is the first time in history that an earthquake has caused so much damage and loss of life in Tanzania.”

“Thousands of people who have been left homeless after this earthquake are being sheltered in schools, while we try to mobilise tents to accommodate them,” he added.

The government quickly established a response fund and encouraged public donations, with around TSh 5bn raised within four weeks. This includes contributions both from within and outside the country. Significant donations came were provided by the business and media tycoon, Reginald Mengi, (TSh 110m), the Chinese embassy in Dar es Salaam (TSh 100m), Mohamed Enterprises Limited (TSh 100m), Tanzania Breweries Limited (TSh 100m), and several oil marketing companies.

A particularly generous donation came from the government of India: TSh 545m. The Indian ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Sandeep Arya, read a message to President Magufuli from India’s Prime Minister Mahendra Modi. In the letter, Mr Modi said he and people in India “pray for patience among families which have lost their loved ones. We are assuring them that we are together with our friends in Tanzania especially during this hard time.”

There was criticism later in parliament that some aspects of the government’s response had been slow, with less than 20% of the funds raised having been spent by the end of October.

There were criticisms too of the country’s preparedness for such disasters. “The nation faces a huge problem with regard to disaster management funding and other challenges. Instead, we’re developing a culture of fund-raising even in areas that the government is required to pick the bill,” said Tanzania Human Right Defenders Coalition (THRDC) national coordinator, Mr Onesmo Olegurumwa. “The donated [funds] will help in addressing the immediate problems on the ground, but the government should now start to build its own capacity as well.”

President Magufuli also had to move quickly to prevent some from taking advantage of the quake. According to a statement from his office: “The President has revoked the appointment of Kagera Regional Administrative Secretary and Bukoba Municipal Council Executive Director after he learnt that the two opened a bank account which bears the same name as the one which was opened by the government.” The statement explained that they intended to use the account to collect money for their own benefit. (The Citizen, Daily News, The Guardian)

MURDERS

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Three separate incidents involving brutal murders shocked Tanzania in the second half of 2016.

First, in late August, when tensions were already high due to a verbal standoff between the police and opposition leaders in Dar es Salaam, four police officers were shot dead by gunmen riding motorcycles outside a bank on the outskirts of the city. A shootout took place a few days later in the village of Vikundu in Mkuranga district to the south of Dar es Salaam, in which the police battled with the alleged bandits for 6 hours, according to news reports. Fourteen “bandits” were shot dead, along with one senior police officer, and some members of the group were reportedly captured.

“We started hearing gunshots from 2am on Friday. We thought that armed bandits had raided our village, but the gunshots continued uninterrupted until daybreak,” one Vikundu villager told The Guardian. “Most of the villagers could not dare come out of their houses. Shops and food-stalls remained closed. Everything was at a standstill,” said another.

The reasons for the apparently targeted initial murder of the four police officers remain unclear, and the police have released very little information following the events in Mkuranga.

A few weeks later, on October 1st, two soil scientists and a driver of the Arusha-based Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) were killed while conducting research in Dodoma Rural District. George Mzuri, a local government representative in the area, said the researchers had arrived at the village for their work but did not report to the local government authorities there. “They later lost their way and when they tried to ask, one woman suspected them to be vampires and raised an alarm,” Mr Mzuri explained.

According to reports, the news spread rapidly in the village, fuelled further by a pastor at the Christian Family Church in the village who used the church’s public address system to inform the villagers that there was a raid by ‘vampires.’ A large group of villagers headed to the researchers’ vehicle, attacking the victims with traditional weapons and setting them ablaze. Thirteen people have been charged with murder in connection with the case.

Finally, in early December, seven bodies of unidentified men in their 20s or 30s were discovered floating in the Ruvu river. The bodies were wrapped in polythene bags filled with rocks. Acting Director of Criminal Investigations, Robert Boaz, confirmed that doctors conducted post-mortem examinations on the bodies before they were buried.

There is no suggestion that these three sets of killings are in any way connected.

Opposition leaders questioned whether the police were according sufficient effort to the Ruvu river case, and to another that arose at the same time: the disappearance of Chadema advisor Ben Saanane. Mr Saanane, the policy and research advisor to Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe, was last seen on November 18. Chadema’s chief legal officer Tundu Lissu told journalists that Mr Saanane had received death threats from unknown individuals and reported it to the police.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Mwigulu Nchemba, directed the police in the country to effectively deal with all sorts of crime that pose threat to the peace, security and cultural values of Tanzania. He said terrorism, homosexuality, killings and armed robbery cannot be tolerated.

ZANZIBAR – CUF POWER STRUGGLE

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The main opposition party on Zanzibar, the Civic United Front (CUF) has become embroiled in a power struggle, after Prof Ibrahim Lipumba announced he was reversing his resignation as party chair. On at least two separate occasions, the fight has turned physical, with punches thrown outside the High Court in December and earlier in the year at a party meeting.

In August 2016, a year after his resignation as party chair in the wake of the selection of Edward Lowassa as the UKAWA coalition’s presidential candidate, Prof Lipumba announced that he was returning and sought to be recognised again as party chair. He claimed the right to do so as his resignation had never been formally recognised by the party’s governing bodies. The party’s supreme governing council, however, voted unanimously against this move.

Prof Lipumba responded by requesting the Registrar of Political Parties to resolve the issue. The Registrar ruled in the professor’s favour, saying that he was still the official chair of the party.

Seif Sharif Hamad, the CUF Secretary General and the party’s candidate for the Zanzibar presidency on numerous occasions, leads the second faction, which largely consists of the party’s Zanzibari contingent.

In October, the struggle extended to include control of the party’s finances, with Seif warning banks of “imposters” who may try to open accounts in the party’s name, following claims that Lipumba’s supporters had tried to do so.

Meanwhile, the party has continued to appeal for international attention and support for their cause in relation to the 2015 Zanzibar elections. Seif visited the US, Canada and Europe to meet with various parties, democratic institutions and prominent personalities, and visited the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to claim that the party had compiled evidence of government abuse of democracy and human rights.

President Magufuli, on a visit to Pemba and Unguja islands in September 2nd, called on CUF to put an end to their complaints. “The next General Election in Zanzibar will be held in 2020. This is the truth and nothing will change it,” he said. “People need to move forward and not backwards. Thanks God you have a good leader, Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, who has proved that he loves his people. It is unfortunate that some people are not happy with the prevailing peace and instead parade uncultured behaviour.”

Universal pension scheme launched
2016 saw the introduction of a universal pension scheme on the islands of Zanzibar. Under the scheme, all citizens aged 70 or above will receive Tsh 20,000 per month (approximately £6 at current exchange rates).

Amleset Tewodros, the HelpAge International Country Director for Tanzania, described this as welcome news. “It will help to reduce poverty and inequality among older people on the island, providing a small but stable income for many who are extremely poor,” she said.

Research has shown that the majority of older people have never been in the formal labour market and therefore do not receive a pension from the Zanzibar Social Security Fund.

TANZANIA & MOROCCO

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by David Brewin

The main event in the diplomatic calendar in Tanzania recently has been the three-day State Visit of King Mohammed VI of Morocco accompanied by a large delegation from October 24th, 2016.

From the Moroccan point of view, the aim was to step up support for this country to re-join the African Union (AU), from which it parted company some years ago, following the recognition by all African states of the Sahrawi Arab Republic, as the legitimate successor to the former Spanish protectorate of Morocco.

The withdrawal of Spain from all but two small enclaves in Morocco has been the subject of repeated tensions between the AU and Morocco ever since Morocco seized most of the country the country in the 1970s following the end of the Spanish Protectorate. President Nyerere had been a staunch opponent of Morocco’s actions in the region, and personally led diplomatic efforts to reached a negotiated settlement in the 1980s that culminated in Morocco’s departure from the OAU. As recently as 2013, Tanzania’s position remained largely unchanged, with Foreign Minister Bernard Membe urging the Moroccan government to return to the negotiating table and conduct a long-promised referendum on the region’s future.

From the current Tanzanian point of view, the Government was happy to sign 21 agreements in such areas as agriculture, natural gas, energy, minerals, science and technology, tourism, insurance and export processing zones.

The Moroccan Monarch promised to support Tanzania’s renewable energy sector, private partnerships and the tourism sector.

The King asked if he could extend his visit by one night, during which he visited a national park. The newly re-established Air Tanzania Limited will also have permission to launch direct flights between Dar es Salaam and Casablanca.

MISCELLANY

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UN award for gender rights activist

Rebeca Gyumi


Rebeca Gyumi, the founder and executive director of Msichana Initiative, has won the UNICEF Social Change Award for her work fighting child marriages in the country, alongside two other winners. The Msichana Initiative won a landmark case in July this year after the High Court ruled that two sections of the Marriage Act were unconstitutional.

Miss Gyumi said changing the law was one step towards ending child marriages in Tanzania, but called for a wider campaign to change inhuman acts against children. “I would like to dedicate this award to all girls in Tanzania and every girl around the world who escaped child marriage in search of freedom. You are my true motivation,” she said.

Solar eclipse
A rare annular solar eclipse was witnessed in in Mbeya and Njombe regions on September 1st, attracting thousands of Tanzanians and international visitors. The event lasted for close to three hours, during which time the air went very cold, according to local reports.

Mbeya Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Amos Makalla, told reporters the event had “attracted many people, including scientists, researchers, students, teachers and other people to witness how the sun’s disk changes to a ring and it has been beneficial to students who have been learning about solar eclipse theoretically.”

The eclipse was also visible elsewhere in the country – including as far away as Mwanza – though less dramatically.