TALES FROM THE KING’S AFRICAN RIFLES. John Nunneley Cassell & Company. £16.99 and THE AFRICAN RANK AND FILE. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF COLONIAL MILITARY SERVICE IN THE KING’S AFRICAN RIFLES 1902-1964.
Timothy H Parsons. James Currey (UK), Heinemann (USA) and other publishers. £15.95

“In dreams,” the Irish poet, W.B. Yeats, wrote, “begins responsibility.” As a boy, John Nunneley, the author of Tales From the King’s African Rifles, sourced his dreams from the African stories of H. Rider Haggard and John Buchan, narratives of exploration, and the military history of the British empire, particularly those late nineteenth­century campaigns in the southern part of the African continent, the Zulu Wars, and the South African War of 1899-1902, in which his own father served. He read with, “bug-eyed enthusiasm”, of the heroism at Rourke’s Drift and Ulundi, as well as the appalling debacle of lsandhlwana and the personal disasters that, deservedly and undeservedly, fell upon Lieutenant Carey of the Royal Engineers who, in 1879, was given charge of the young Prince Imperial of France, the only son of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie, and Lieutenant Hayward, whose charges were his own men. Both officers faced courts martial for abandoning those they had a duty to remain with after coming under attack from the Zulus. Nuuneley writes, “These were perplexing questions I wrestled with and I was coming to understand that duty is a hard taskmaster.” Other questions, such as “the rights and wrongs of Britain’s colonial policy” were left alone, being “too deep a subject for a 12-year-01d.” Dreams. Responsibilities.

In 1941, Nunneley was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry. He was nineteen years of age. His first experience under enemy fire, during a strafing attack on an airfield in the southeast of England, was “Boy’s Own Paper stuff’ and it was desire for more of the same that led him to seek a posting to the Middle East. Chance took him instead to service with a Tanganyikan battalion of the King’s African Rifles. Set to guard some of the large numbers of Italian military prisoners and civilian internees that had fallen into British hands following Wavell’s campaign in the Horn of Africa, he worked hard to turn himself into an officer equal to the responsibilities of command of the African soldiers he had been put in charge of, but all the time continued to hope for transfer to the Middle East and a hot war.
In the end, though, Nunneley got his war. The KAR were to see action again, not this time on their own continent, but in Bunna, where the Japanese, defeated at the battles of Imphal and Kohima, were in retreat. Following a period of training for jungle warfare in Ceylon, these African soldiers were committed to the field in Burma’s Kabaw valley, during the monsoon season; their task to pursue the retreating Japanese and prevent them reaching the Chindwin River.
Nunneley conducted reconnaissance patrols behind Japanese lines, his face blackened with a cream reputedly concocted by Elizabeth Arden, because the Japanese, once they had recovered from the shock of being attacked by black African troops, made a habit of shooting the white officers at the very earliest opportunity. One such patrol, when he led a string of his Tanganyikans out to establish the strength of the Japanese on a dominant hill, mixed farce with the terrors of combat. Nunneley decided that the information he required would be best gathered by killing a Japanese sentry with a burst of fire from his Sten gun, followed by “five rounds rapid” from the accompanying askaris. With the Japanese response thus elicited, it then remained for the patrol to extricate itself from the ensuing informative predicament. During the retreat, Nunneley was overcome by a searing pain between his legs, as if his genitals were on fire. Forgetting all about the pursuing Japanese, he sought temporary relief by, first, ripping open the flies on his trousers and emptying the contents of his water bottle over the affected parts of himself. The second time he was forced to stop, he lay down while two of the askaris emptied their bottles over him. The third time, while his soldiers provided covering fire, Nunneley immersed his afflicted parts in a stream, firing away with his Sten, until the pain was gone. The cause of the endangering discomfort turned out to be an insect repellent, aptly named Skat, which had leaked from its container down the front of his trousers. After the patrol got back to the British position safely, which, perhaps surprisingly, it did, Nunneley was known as Bwana Moto Sana, Mr Very Hot.

John Nunneley appears from his narrative to have been a very brave officer, one who had his own very clear and strong ideas of his duty and his responsibilities. It is a pity then that his writing does not give better testimony to his feelings for the soldiers he undoubtedly served so well. For this reader, at least, Nunneley’s sympathies are more clearly demonstrated when he writes of his brother officers and of his former enemies, the Japanese, rather than those he led. Even the element which is meant to serve as a unifYing element in this extremely episodic and often rudely disjointed narrative, Nunneley’s relationship with his personal servant, Tomasi Kitinya, a Luo tribesman from the Kenyan shore ofLake Victoria, is, for me, curiously flat.

John Nunneley’s name appears in the Acknowledgements of Timothy H. Parsons’ book, The African Rank-And-File. Parsons, an American university professor, presents British colonialism, as reflected in the KAR, as a thoroughly Bad Thing. The book takes as its central idea the contradictory nature of existence for those caught up in any authoritarian regime. In terms of the KAR’s askaris, this contradiction has to do with “… soldiers who were simultaneously coerced and coercing, who enforced the will of the elite yet made demands themselves.”

The African Rank-And-File covers its chosen field (covering mainly Kenya and Nyasa KAR battalions) with exhausting thoroughness. It presents a depressing and, for the British, a shaming argument; one that the example of John Nunneley can qualify but not, finally, refute.
Clive Collins

Other publications

THE SUCCESS OF NEWLY PRIVATIZED COMPANIES: NEW EVIDENCE FROM TANZANIA. A Temu and J M Due. Canadian Journal of Development Studies. XIX 2. 1998

Under pressure from the World Bank, the IMF and other lenders, Tanzania began to privatize in earnest in 1992 with the formation of the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission. Privatization was expected to reduce the huge state subsidies consumed by the parastatals, create additional revenue for the government and turn moribund enterprises into productive privately owned companies.

In this article, the authors explore the process, extent and success of privatization in Tanzania through the experiences of six agro-industrial enterprises in the Dar es Salaam -Morogoro region. Four characteristics were focussed upon: the identity of the majority stake holder, the source of the new management, the type of privatization and economic viability.
Access to capital is difficult and expensive in Tanzania, prolonging the length of the privatization process and favouring external buyers. Despite this, four of the enterprises in the sample were purchased by indigenous buyers (although non “indigenous African”). Management is entirely foreign for the sample, which is hardly surprising given the opportunities in Tanzania over the last 15 years to develop suitable experience. The type of privatization is mixed, and no specific conclusions are drawn from this.

Two interesting additional observations were made about the workforce: the former employees are a major source of recruitment for the new venture and privatization appears to have promoted gender equality

Economic viability is clearly subjective and based largely on interviews. The owners describe a harsh operating environment characterised by a lack of quality material and labour inputs, non or late payment by customers (often the government), and tax avoidance providing an unfair advantage to competitors. Despite this the authors have determined that the viability of the organization are, at the very least, fair.

Owners were also asked about the privatisation process: the length and complexity of the privatisation process was the biggest cause of complaint, with a key cost, both in terms of time and money, being cited as the International Accounting Firms. These firms are routinely commissioned by the PSRC to carry out pre-divestiture valuations of enterprises.

Findings are summarised below:

Enterprise | Majority Ownership | Management | Type of Privatisation | Economic Viability

Tanzania Cigarette Company Ltd. | Multinational | Expatriate | Joint venture | Good

Guled & Tanzania Shoe Co. Ltd. | Foreign private | Expatriate | Private sale | Fair

Africa Trade | Indigenous (Asian) | Expatriate | Joint venture | Partially in operation

New Msowero Farm | Indigenous (Asian) | Expatriate | Private sale | Fair

Noble Azania Food and Beverages Ltd. | Indigenous (Asian) | Expatriate | Lease | Leased enterprise not in operation

Bora Industries Ltd. |Indigenous (Asian) | Expatriate | Private sale | Fair

This paper undoubtedly adds to our understanding of privatization in Tanzania but the sample size is too small to generalise from. Valuations are difficult to make in the “developed” world, and much more so in the volatile and uncertain economic environment in Tanzania. This makes Tanzanian enterprises difficult to sell externally and makes the process more of a gamble than a calculated decision. Those that do enter the fray are either heroes, who risk great loss in order to establish productive and efficient enterprises in the most difficult of conditions, or opportunists who are eying the assets without any intent to operate a viable business. Time will tell who falls in which category, and will allow a fuller and more analytical debate on whether privatization has really proved of benefit to Tanzania.
Sam Baker

FREE COMPETITION WITHOUT SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT? TANZANIAN COTTON SECTOR LIBERALISATION 1994/95 to 1997/98. P Gibbon. Journal of Development Studies, 36, 1999,22 pages.

This is a thorough review of the impact of liberalisation on cotton in Western Tanzania with some general comments on the principle. Watson agrees with Gibbon’s findings and during a visit to Tanzania in late 1998 (after Gibbon’s data was collected), found the cotton industry in chaos with a shortage of planting seed, mixing of seed of different varieties, lack of insecticides and farmer loss of confidence. Two large ginneries had ceased buying seed cotton after local prices went above international equivalents (and were still closed in March 2000).
International pressure prompted some reforms from 1990 and full liberalisation began in the 1994-95 growing season when inputs distribution, seed cotton buying, ginning, sales of lint and seed were opened to private traders. From 1958 to 1990 the state Cotton Board had controlled seed cotton prices, input supplies and lint marketing but by 1990 was inefficient, with delays in paying farmers causing output decline.
The new liberalisation was far reaching. The existing co­operatives and emergent private traders took over exports, but all had difficulty in financing insecticides, so essential to productivity and fibre quality. By 1998 there were 33 buyers, with some villages served by more than 5 buyers. This proliferation of buyers had led directly to several ginnery take-overs and building of new ginneries, as the buyers needed guaranteed access to ginning. In consequence, by 1998 there was double the capacity needed to gin the quantity of seed cotton recently grown. Many ginneries were small and inefficient with only three new modern saw ginneries, of high capacity and high efficiency.
The 1997-98 crop was damaged by excessive rains and reduced to about 30,000 tonnes lint, less than half the previous season -which further aggravated competition between seed cotton buyers. This forced up prices and the ginneries had difficulty making a profit. The low crop led to seed shortages for the 1998-99 planting season, as some ginneries had sold all the seed for oil, and planting seed then had to be moved between districts.
Competition caused the buyers to abandon quality control and all seed cotton was bought as Grade A, whereas the lack of insecticide use had actually increased the proportion of Grade B. Lint quality was then low and export difficult and only at discounted prices. This contrasted with earlier years when good quality, hand-picked lint attracted premiums. A further deterioration in lint quality (noted during Watson’s visit) was caused by buyers visiting many regions and mixing varieties, previously kept in different planting zones and ginned separately.
Is such liberalisation sustainable? Will the target of higher seed cotton prices survive as the co-operatives withdraw and private operators take over completely? There is a limit on what producer prices can be paid, linked to quality and the world lint price, and there must surely be a need for increased scepticism of the principle of liberalisation, given these findings on the cotton sector.

Statistics (Tonnes):

Market Season Seed Cotton Lint
1995-96 250,000 85,000
1996-97 250,000 85,000
1997-98 190,000 65,000
1998-99 84,000 30,000
1999-2000 ? 34,000

The 1999-2000 market season is from the 1998-99 growing season. Similarly for earlier years.
Jim Watson

THE DAR ES SALAAM MILK SYSTEM: DYNAMICS OF CHANGE AND SUSTAINABLITY. J. Sumberg. Habitat International. 23 (2). 11 pages. 1999
This paper is concerned with the Dar es Salaam system for the production and distribution of milk for human consumption. It is presented as an example of urban systems in Africa against the background of current discussion in relation to poverty, the effects of economic and structural changes and the need for increased support to food production.
Economic hardship at national level has led to a programme of economic liberalisation. Structural adjustment, in parallel with falling incomes of urban middle-class residents, has led to a search for additional sources of income such as may be provided by milk production. Useful relevant information is provided in relation to land and population density, cattle distribution and characteristics, milk production, processing and distribution and upon the supply and consumption of milk.
Three systems of milk production are described:
-Small herds in urban or peri-urban areas where owners are predominantly middle-class and deliver milk directly to the consumer. Such suppliers are subsidised indirectly by the owners’ main employment and other related privileges;
-Larger specialised commercial herds; and, -Traditional cattle keepers such as the Maasai who sell their surplus milk.
The most important changes in the milk system are described as the large increase in the numbers of cattle kept in urban or peri-urban areas and the termination of direct government involvement in milk production, processing and distribution.
Attempts to increase milk production in peri-urban areas have failed due to diseases such as trypanosomiasis and to adverse climatic conditions which influence the quantity and quality of fodder. However, anticipated improvements in transportation may favour milk production in outlying areas. he author takes the view that support for urban and peri-urbanagriculture should not result in diversion of funds from agricultural activities which offer a greater long-term advantage. He concludes that neither the limited number of commercial milk producers in the peri-urban areas nor the recently expanded number of urban producers are likely to form the basis of sustainable locally based systems for the city.

Harnish Goalen EFFECTS OF AN ENTERTAINMENT-EDUCATION RADIO SOAP OPERA ON FAMIL Y PLANNING BEHAVIOUR IN TANZANIA. E. M. Rogers, P.W. Vaughan, R. M.A Swalehe, Nagesh Rao, P Svenkerud, and S. Sood. Studies in Family Planning. VoL 30 No. 3 September 1999.

Radio Tanzania had never produced a scripted serial drama before it undertook in 1993 the soap opera Twende na Wakati (Let’s Go with the Times). It found, says this detailed study, unique talents, and on meagre facilities and with a turnover of four producers, broadcast for four years a programme that significantly affected patterns of family planning. To an extent the progrannnes were about taking charge of one’s life. The message stressed control of family size by planning.
Listeners could identifY with positive, negative and transitional role models. Mkwaju, for example, is a promiscuous, alcoholic truck driver who steals to support his many girl friends. He lacks self-control and is punished by events. Many listeners identified with him at first, but then he develops AIDS. As one listener wrote: “Now I see the consequences … where will his seven children go? They will remain orphans. Who will take care of these children … ? You people with Mkwaju’s behaviour … change now.”
For listeners Mkwaju had become symbolic of a sexually irresponsible individuaL
The progrannne was first broadcast by seven mainland stations of Radio Tanzania in 1993 and from 1995-7 nationwide. It was highly popular and after a pause the series was resumed in 1999. The effects of the soap opera in its fITst years were gathered in five annual surveys of about 2,750 households and from a sample in 79 health clinics. They show, as this article explains in detail, that the progrannnes changed attitudes to family planning and encouraged listeners to talk about contraception.
They increased the ideal age at marriage for women, changed the ideal number of children and led to continuing planning visits to clinics. Word-of-mouth popularity of the programmes meant they reached less­educated, lower-income males -a prime target audience in Tanzania ­with a potential for high fertility and resistance to family planning.
The population of Tanzania was 27.4 million in 1992 -four times that in 1948. A growth rate of 3.5 per cent meant the population would double in 20 years. The 1992 fertility rate was 6.3 children per woman. In 1996 it was 5.8. The national population policy introduced in 1992 aimed to reduce population growth to less than 2 per cent by 2010.
The success of the soap operas was helped by the fact that the national programme was providing contraceptive service free in 2,700 clinics and 65 per cent of women lived within four kilometres of a family planning service provider.
Derek Ingram

ZANZIBAR AND THE GERMANS -A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP 1844-1966. Heinz Schneppen. Published by the National Museums of Tanzania 1998.

This book, according to a review by J P Mbonde in the Sunday Observer (February 13) covers relations between Germans and Zanzibar from January 7 1844 when, what the author believes was the date the fIrst German disembarked in Zanzibar harbour, to the troubled sixties when the two different German states were juggling for influence in both Zanzibar and Tanganyika. Zanzibar is described by the reviewer as the victim between British claims and German aims in the early years and it seems as though Zanzibar was the victim between the two halves of Germany in later years.

ENTERING THE FIELD: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON WORLD FOOTBALL. Oxford, New York: Berg. 1997. 319 pages.

Includes chapters on Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

READERS LETTERS

Posted on May 1, 2000 by editor

Reply

NYERERE’S ECONOMIC POLICIES
The letter on Nyerere’s Economic Policies (January-April, 2000) argues that they failed not because they were wrong but because they were poorly implemented.

Nationalization and putting the economy into the hands of parastatals failed, the letter says, because of “lack of attention,” “management inefficiencies,” an unfortunate need for imported inputs to production, “a severe lack of trained personnel,” and an excess of trnst in self-serving foreign sellers of technology and know-how.

The ujamaa villages were a good strategy for rural development, according to the letter, but failed because of “lack of attention” (again), elitist politicians who lacked respect for the rural people, and the failure of the central government to raise the prices for rural produce in line with inflation.

Anyone who has lived through the last decade should have learned that centrally planned and centrally run economies have failed everywhere. Perhaps it is because there can never be enough trained managers or because management inefficiencies creep into all governmental operations or because politicians are always elitist and disrespect the people being governed. Or perhaps there are other reasons.

I was present on the field in Dar es Salaam, heard Nyerere deliver the Arusha Declaration and had a certain amount of enthusiasm for the policies and great hope for the country. However, the lesson of this century has been that the economic policies that Nyerere chose have failed wherever they have been tried. They did not fail in Tanzania because of special circumstances or bad luck or bad timing. It would have been very hard to know it in the 1960s and 1970s, but they were just policies that don’t work.
Paul Sack, San Francisco

WILDLIFE
Can any readers of Tanzanian Affairs please tell me whether the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania is still functioning? I have been a member for the last ten years sending subscriptions and donations to their London bank account but have received no copies of their twice-yearly newsletter ‘Miombo’ since April 1998 and letters to the Society at P 0 Box 70919, Dar es Salaam have produced no reply. If you have any information please ring me on 01434 3445810r write to Primrose House, Bardon Mill, Hexham, Northumberland NE477HF.
M. H. Dorey

TA ISSUE 65

Posted on January 1, 2000 by editor

Reply

MWALIMU NYERERE 1922 -1999
EAST AFRICA TOGETHER AGAIN
ZANZIBAR TREASON TRIAL DELAY
A SIGNIFICANT COURT CASE
REFUGEE BURDEN
THE NEW NBC

MWALIMU NYERERE 1922-1999

Posted on January 1, 2000 by editor

Reply

Tanzanian Press coverage of Mwalimu's death

Former President Julius Kambarage Nyerere died at St Thomas’s Hospital in London at 10.30am on October 14 at the age of 77 following an 18 month battle with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. He had been in the hospital since September 24. There then began to arrive in Tanzania messages of condolence from Heads of State and others around the world and Tanzania witnessed an outpouring of national grief on a scale that the country had never seen before. Members of the United Nations stood for a minute’s silence in New York. Mourning continued in Tanzania for 30 days until November 12.

A biographical outline

JULIUS KAMBARAGE NYERERE was born in Butiama, Musoma Region in 1922, a younger son of Chief Nyerere Burite, chief of a small tribe, the Wazanaki. He first went to school at twelve years of age, but within three years he won a place at Tabora Secondary School, at that time the premier school of Tanganyika. In 1943 he went to Makerere College in Uganda to read for a teaching diploma and then went to teach at St Mary’s Roman Catholic School in Tabora. From 1949 to 1952 he was at Edinburgh University studying history, economics and philosophy and on his return took up a post at Pugu Secondary School, near Dar es Salaam. In 1953 he became President of the African Association of Tanganyika and in 1954 of its successor organisation, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). In 1955 he resigned as a teacher to devote himself full-time to the work of TANU. In that year, and again in 1957, he addressed the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations in New York. In 1957 he became a Member of the Legislative Council and in Tanganyika’s first elections in 1958 he was elected as a Member for the Eastern Province. In 1960 he was Chief Minister and in 1961-62 Prime Minister of Tanganyika. Tanganyika became independent in 1961. In 1962 Nyerere resigned as Prime Minister to devote himself to the work of T ANU and to build a bridge between the nationalist movement and the elected government. In December 1962 Tanganyika was declared a Republic within the Commonwealth and in 1964, after the violent revolution in Zanzibar, Nyerere was the architect of the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar and the setting up of the United Republic of Tanzania of which he was elected President in 1964. In 1963 he had tried to persuade the leaders of Uganda, Milton Obote and of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, to form with him an East African Federation but was not successful. The highlight of his attempt to build socialism in Tanzania was the Arusha Declaration of 1967 and he then nationalised the commanding heights of the economy. In 1971 he forced though a radical programme of villagisation (ujamaa). In 1978 Uganda’s ruthless dictator Idi Amin invaded Tanzania and Nyerere sent 45,000 Tanzanian troops to overthrow him. Mwalimu was one of the few to support Biafra in the Nigerian civil war. From 1964 he had invited the Organisation of African Unity’s Liberation Committee to establish its headquarters in Dar es Salaam and Tanzania soon became the training ground for African liberation movements from around the continent. He was Chairman of the Frontline states from 1975 to 1985 and Chairman of the OAU in 1985. He was also the driving force behind South-South cooperation and was prominent in the setting up of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Almost up to the time of his death he struggled as official mediator with the internal problems of Burundi. He retired voluntarily from the Presidency in 1985 but remained a power behind the scenes until his death.

The funeral ceremonies

On SATURDAY October 16th there was a Requiem Mass at Westminster Cathedral in London. Eirlys Park describes the scene: ‘They began to gather before ten and the cortege came, a dignified sad family dressed in black, with the flag draped over the coffin. I didn’t know we had so many Tanzanians in Britain. But those in the packed Cathedral (over 1,500) were by no means all Africans. The Britain Tanzania Society contingent, of about 20, sat together half way down the Cathedral but also there were grey-haired couples, nuns, missionaries, ex-civil servants, young and not so young hippies, solemn. All were there to pay their last respects, and were remembering. As the church filled I had not expected that Mwalimu would be with us and I caught my breath and suppressed a tear. Was it my imagination, or was even the flag looking sad too, limp, lifeless? So different from the young banner we watched rise in the independence stadium on the eve of uhuru. The reading – ‘Let us now praise famous men’ – was read by Charles, the youngest of the three sons. (The main address by Tanzanian High Commissioner in London Dr Abdul-Kadir Shareef was moving indeed – “We mourn the passing of a man we love, respect and admire”. The High Commissioner made it clear that this was a mourning ceremony for everyone and made specific reference to the presence of Muslims amongst us – probably for the first time in that place – Editor). As the coffin returned down the aisle, a European man ran across, touched the coffin and collapsed head down on his knees. We were all bereft. As the crowd waited to walk past the coffin a young girl began to sing. Her voice rose to the ceiling of that great building and echoed loud as it was joined by all the other members of the Furaha choir and other Tanzanian women there. An African lament in a London cathedral to a man who was small of build but great of stature. He had stood proud on the world’s stage and fought for freedom, rights and his beliefs but yet, he was man enough to say “I made mistakes”. May he rest in peace.’

On SUNDAY 17th the body arrived at Heathrow airport where the Air Tanzania plane was parked using the facilities usually employed for the British Royal family.

The plane arrived in Dar es Salaam at 9.03 am on MONDAY 18th and then began what the Tanzanian ‘Guardian’ described as the most emotional event ever in the history of independent Tanzania – a week­long series of funeral ceremonies. Millions were watching silently at the airport, in the streets and on TV as the coffin was driven on a gun carriage in a motorcade slowly through the streets of Dar to Mwalimu’s house in Msasani where many more were assembled to pay tribute. On TUESDAY 19th a Requiem Mass was held at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. At the National Stadium a huge and majestic air-conditioned glass structure to accommodate the coffin had been erected. It is to be moved to the National Museum later to house a Nyerere archive. Three million people are estimated to have filed past the body during the lying in state which continued day and night.

On WEDNESDAY 20th amidst another vast throng at the National Stadium the official funeral took place. Over 400 leaders from 61 countries and eight international organisations attended, including the Heads of State of almost all the countries in East and Southern Africa plus President Obasanjo of Nigeria, Vice-President Krishna Kant of India, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Princess Ann representing Britain and many others. Some 200 people collapsed on sighting the body of the Father of the Nation.

On THURSDAY 21st the Dar es Salaam ‘Daily Mail’ reported that, by l0am the streets of Musoma, on the shores of lake Victoria, were deserted as the population moved to the airport and lined the road to Mwalimu’s Butiama birthplace. It was a fiercely hot day and the plane bringing the body did not arrive until 4.50pm, two hours late. But people stayed where they were. There was total silence as the plane touched down and then the choir of St Cecilia Musoma Catholic Church broke into a sorrowful hymn. Young and old, men and women, were shedding tears. The cortege reached Butiama, 32 kms away, at 8pm and was received by members of the family and of the clan.

On FRIDAY 22nd the body lay in state at Butiama. The impressive series of commemoration ceremonies came to an end on Saturday 23rd when Mwalimu Nyerere was buried. Some half a million people from the surrounding areas had come to this small village of 50,000. Uganda and South Africa had provided planes to bring mourners from Dar es Salaam. He was buried about 10 metres from where he was born and about 20 metres from where his father and his mother had been buried. Mwalimu was laid on his side facing east. As his coffin was laid into the grave mourners wailed and many fainted. Speaking at the ceremony (his fifth major speech in as many days) President Mkapa, in the presence of President Museveni of Uganda and former President Kaunda of Zambia, gave thanks to all who had been involved in the funeral and in looking after Mwalimu in his final weeks and also to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair for his assistance.

Some individual tributes

“Africa has been orphaned by Mwalimu’s untimely death” – President Chiluba of Zambia.

“People can celebrate too. He was a person who had brought so much pride to Africa” President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana.

“… a world statesman and a truly revered leader who would forever be remembered for not only being father of the Tanzanian nation but also for having become the voice of freedom and unity of Africa -Vice-President Krishna Kant of lndia.

“Nyerere will be remembered for the good work he did, not only for Tanzania, but for the whole of Africa” -Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo.

” … Our political elder … ” -President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

“Recognised throughout Africa and the world for his dignity and intelligence and for his unquestioned personal and political integrity ­Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

“For the men and women who have served the great cause of development in the world, one of the lights of our lives has gone out … While world economists were debating the importance of capital output ratios, President Nyerere was saying that nothing was more important for people than being able to read and write and have access to clean water” James Wolfensolm, President of the World Bank.

‘ …. When he told his mother in 1985 that he had decided to retire as President her response, which he gleefully repeated, was “Julius, you are a silly boy”. But his decision to stand down only added to the high regard in which he was held. Nevertheless, from that day until his death, Nyerere remained the first among equals. His endorsement was to be a vital component of any contemporary Tanzanian politician for, in truth, he never ceased to be Tanzania’s leader … ‘ former Tanzanian journalist David Martin in the Dar es Salaam Guardian.

MWALIMU AND THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Posted on January 1, 2000 by editor

Reply

International Press coverage of Mwalimu's death

There can hardly have been a significant newspaper in the world which did not publish news of Mwalimu’s death and an appropriate obituary. The following extracts are selected at random. The majority of the obituaries were balanced, pointing out the weaknesses as well as the strengths of Mwalimu’s contributions to Tanzania and the world.

THE LONDON TIMES: … one of the most cultured and personable African statesman of his time but circumstances conspired to turn him into a nationalist campaigner, the leader of an emergent nation and the prophet of a revolutionary socialist philosophy for Africa… he achieved a reputation for personal incorruptibility and principled dealings which made him stand out among post-independence African leaders. But his experiment in agricultural socialism was over-ambitious and ultimately disastrous …. as his own political position became increasingly embattled, an instinct for survival conspired to make this once liberal and, by nature, gentle man become impatient and coercive in his dealings with those who rivalled or opposed him… In the field of international affairs Nyerere … earned a reputation for clear thinking, plain speaking and moral superiority ….

The WASHINGTON POST: … although Mr Nyerere’s economic programme had little success, his social policy is widely revered for having instilled a sense of African identity that cuts across ethnic lines ….

AFRICA TODAY: Why has Nyerere still got a grip on the collective imagination of Tanzanians and East Africans almost a decade and a half after he retired as President? The answer is simple. Mwalimu is Tanzania . … . Quite unlike the typical African leader he had better things to do than loot his country’s wealth. He achieved national unity …tribal and clan tensions tearing apart states all over the continent are insignificant in Tanzania.

THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: Idealistic, principled and some would say misguided …

The FRANFURTER RUNDSCHAU’S headline translates as ‘The Voice of Africa is Silent -Tanzania’s former President Julius Nyerere will be a loss not only for the black continent’.

The London INDEPENDENT: The Nyerere generation of African leaders espoused old-fashioned socialism, collectivism and even Maoism which now seem redundant and damaging but which were crucial in their day to nation-building. These concepts were certainly founded on more substance than the greed and power hunger which have discredited the ‘strong new leaders’ …. Nyerere’s triumph was to build a lasting physiognomy for a place which had no logical raison d’etre apart from in the pencil and ruler of a 19th century map-maker … his humility and honesty remain a guiding light for contemporary leaders …. Nyerere turned Tanzania into an economic desert but he never lost the affections of his countrymen -(in introducing his Arusha Declaration) he failed to understand that people were not made in his image ….

The DALLAS MORNING NEWS … Mr Nyerere was known as a benevolent dictator. He wasn’t known for harsh human rights abuses and he lived modestly … a charismatic presence …

ASIAN VOICE: Nyerere was a universally respected Mandela before his time ….

BBC FOCUS ON AFRICA: (The funeral) was perhaps the greatest outpouring of grief ever witnessed in sub-Saharan Africa … the tributes were sincere and heartfelt … here at last was an African leader worth mourning.

The Kenyan SUNDAY NATION: Humility, courage, universalism, support for man’s liberation, belief in human dignity … he has always stood taller than his compatriots in reputation, performance and respect …

The GLASGOW HERALD: He leaves behind a reputation for incorruptibility and principled leadership … he will be remembered – like Nelson Mandela – not as a great economist but as one of the key strategists behind Africa’s liberation from colonial rule and apartheid during a span of three decades …. family members who gathered around him during his last days say that he took great satisfaction from the success of the African liberation movements and he was also delighted that his lengthy and unceasing campaign for African debt relief had met with a fair measure of success at last. …

NEW AFRICA: Julius Nyerere will be remembered as an African hero, the father of his nation and above all as a warm, friendly person. A man of charisma and charm. He was as much loved outside his country as within. Throughout his life he occupied the moral high ground …. the plaudits still ring for him and yet, his one unique project, his great economic experiment of ujamaa and collectivisation, ended in failure. He took one step too far. He reached for the impossible and paid the price of failure …..

The WALL STREET JOURNAL wrote a highly critical article comparing Nyerere with the Chilean dictator Pinochet and the London SPECTATOR accused him of seriously damaging his country because of his disastrous economic policies.

In the TANZANIAN PRESS during the first week of mourning there was only one story. Two brief extracts from hundreds of thousands of words:

Under the heading ‘Even criminals respect Nyerere’ the GUARDIAN reported that the police recorded no incidents of crime in Dar es Salaam for a full week after Mwalimu’s death. And, under the heading ‘Why Mwalimu died in London’ the Guardian’s Lawl Joel wrote ‘ ….. In October 1949 he was in the UK for his degree …. the UK was the first overseas land he ever set foot on. No doubt he was right to call the Queen ‘Mama’. “Malkia ni mama yangu” he reportedly said. For in the land of Mama he reached the acme of his educational pursuit.. .. Then he got sick and was bedridden in October 1999. The race to save his soul ended in the land of Mama …. with October and a year of nine, 1999, Mwalimu reached some apogee here on earth …. .it was a pleasure to see the grandeur, the fanfare and the respect of (his) work before Mwalimu came home. The British were not a colonial power. They were brothers and sisters in grief. Even as they wept and grieved, they wept and grieved with us. A union of a kind … ‘

THE CONSTITUTION AND POLITICS

Posted on January 1, 2000 by editor

Reply

The Judge Robert Kisanga Committee considering the Government’s White Paper on constitutional change finished its work and presented its report to President Mkapa in early November. The report was published just as this issue of ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ went to press. There was much speculation on what it would say about the future of the union with Zanzibar.

The death of Mwalimu Nyerere had already rekindled the debate on the constitution of the United Republic. Mwalimu had always fought fiercely against any change to the existing two government structure (one government for the United Republic and one for Zanzibar). The ‘East African’ wrote in November however that it believed that the Kisanga Report would be likely to recommend the setting up of an interim government for Tanzania in 2000 pending further consideration of a new constitution. A proposal for a new federal structure with a government for Tanganyika, a government for Zanzibar and a Union government has attracted widespread support. But the policy of the Mkapa government was still to continue with the status quo. On November 2 opposition leader in the Union parliament, Ms Fauna Maghimbi (Civic United Front -CUF), who comes from Zanzibar, said that the present system had a lot of contradictions which should be addressed.

Meanwhile, the irrepressible opposition activist Augustine Mrema finally won what might be the final stage of his battle to be accepted as chairman of the Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) following a general meeting of the party. He had joined it (or ‘gatecrashed’ it as claimed by some of the former leaders of the party) in a surprise coup in mid-1999 (TA No 64). The result of a court case brought by these former leaders was that Mrema, the party’s former chairman and new Deputy Chairman, Leo Lakamwa, and the new Secretary General, Harold Jaffu, were recognised in their respective posts. The Judge said that the court had no power to grant an injunction against them -they would be be denied their rights to engage in the political life of the country because in Tanzania political life was not possible outside political parties. But the original leaders of the TLP who had taken the matter to court refused to accept the verdict and insisted that Mrema’s membership of the party was illegal. Later, following a speech in Moshi during which he was alleged to have insulted the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) leadership and the late Mwalimu Nyerere, Mrema was detained by the police for a short period and charged with sedition and defamation.

Many were surprised to learn on August 18 that in the by-election in the BUKOBA RURAL constituency where the CCM MP, former Minister of Labour and Youth Development Sebastian Kinyondo, had been removed from his seat by the court following allegations of corruption in 1968 (he had obtained 42,269 votes compared with CHADEMA’s 1 0,1 09 votes in the general election) had been re-elected unopposed. Apparently a CHADEMA candidate had collected a form but had managed to list only 23 referees instead of the 25 required under the rules. Two names on the list were apparently repeated. He then failed to appeal within the required time and Mr Sebastian Kinyondo was declared the MP again.

Meanwhile the former leading opposition party NCCR-Mageuzi took a further step in its decline when its outspoken Chairman of the Dar es Salaam branch, Dr Masurnbuko Lamwai, resigned. He complained that, although the party had received from the government Shs 500 million for its by-election expenses in the Ubungo and Temeke by­elections, he as one of the party’s candidates, had been granted only Shs 5 million and had received no support from the leadership in his campaign.

Opposition CHADEMA leader Bob Makani is reported to have said that the opposition parties had learnt from past mistakes and had begun to discuss closer cooperation in the future. But the CCM seems more certain than ever of winning the next elections later this year. President Mkapa seems to fear that he might be chosen unanimously as his CCM party’s candidate for the elections and has expressed a wish that somebody should stand against him so as to make for a real contest.