In November some 16,000 Government-sponsored University of Dar es Salaam students and most other university undergraduate students were suspended indefinitely following their boycotting of classes in protest against loan fund allocations. They demanded that the government, through the ‘Higher Education Students Loans Board’ give them 100% loans instead of basing the loans they get on the financial status of their families, parents or guardians. The government decided to be tough and the affected universities were then closed. This seemed to exacerbate the situation with opposition parties condemning the government’s actions.

Tony Zakaria, a columnist writing in the government-owned Daily News was not impressed by the behaviour of the students. Extracts: ‘The pictures of students and teachers (also threatening to strike) on TV screens and on newspaper pages in the past few weeks have been colourful to say the least. Students dragging others from buses or classrooms to force them to join the strikes amounts to violence. So does the action of striking teachers throwing chairs at their leaders in a meeting hall…. teachers have been going to school but doing zero teaching in class….. Are they being paid salaries at the end of each month to silently ‘teach’ from their offices? We have seen hordes of pseudo-intellectuals on TV… struggling to juggle TVs, DVD players, impressive music systems and their suitcases large and small, as they scrambled to leave campus after they were booted out…The defiant, fire-breathing future intellectuals have vowed to fight on and strike again upon being reinstated at some unknown future date. You want to know how they spend their money, loaned or otherwise? Visit Mabibo hostel or any other dormitories of these potential future servants of the public. TV antennae growing like a forest of potted plants on windows for all to see. A cacophony of sound that passes for music …. will assail your ears, unless you are deaf to the obvious…. When do they seriously study, these music and vision lovers?’

Tanzania did not do well in the preliminary rounds of the World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010. The results of the qualifying matches were as follows:
01-02/06/08: Tanzania 1-1 Mauritius
06-08/06/08: Cape Verde 1-0 Tanzania
13-15/06/08: Tanzania 0-0 Cameroon
20-22/06/08: Cameroon 2-1 Tanzania
05-07/09/08: Mauritius 1-4 Tanzania
This placed Tanzania in third place in its group and hence not eligible to continue in the competition. Teams have to be in one of the top two places to qualify. The group results were as follows:

Played W D L GF GA Pts
Cameroon 5 4 1 0 9 2 13
Cape Verde 5 3 0 2 6 5 9
Tanzania 5 1 2 2 6 5 5
Mauritius 5 0 1 4 3 1 2

An almost forgotten episode in Tanganyikan (and aviation) history was recalled by an auction in Shropshire on June 25 last year. Lot 42 was described as ‘the original Album of Captain F C Broome DFC covering the epic African Exploration Flight of January 1920 ……. including Broome’s original typed notes for his log of the flight.’ It sold for £700.
In 1919 there had been record-breaking flights across the Atlantic and to Australia by Vicars Vim aircraft and the South African government was keen to see a similar flight from London to Cape Town. Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Times newspaper, saw the chance of a scoop. On 4th February 1920 the Times announced in bold headlines that it was sponsoring a flight to Cape Town. This would not be a race, but a serious attempt to show ‘whether Africa can be traversed easily and safely from end-to-end by proper aircraft in ordinary conditions’.

The twin engined Vimy byplane, with two experienced RAF pilots (Captains Broome and Cockerel) and two mechanics on board, left England on 24th January and Broome’s logbook records their rather chequered progress. After leaving Brooklands aerodrome, he ‘nearly took the towers off Crystal Palace’; and having landed at Lyons to refuel, almost caused a strike by ‘asking for 600 gallons of juice’ on a Sunday night.

The plane also stopped at Naples, Malta, Tripoli and Benghazi and finally arrived at Cairo on 3rd February. There it was joined by Dr Charles Mitchell, Director of the London Zoo. who had been appointed Times Special Correspondent. Describing the hazards to be faced in Africa, the Times noted that the aircraft would fly along the east shore of Lake Victoria to avoid the ‘active volcanoes’ on the western shore which were ‘likely to cause atmospheric disturbances, which in their turn might bring about a forced landing among tribes addicted to cannibalism.’

On 5th February the Times revealed that another Vickers Vimy had set out from Brooklands aerodrome the previous day, piloted by two South Africans, Lieutenant Colonel van Ryneveld and Flight Lieutenant Brand. Their aircraft was imaginatively named ‘Silver Queen’.

The Times insisted that there was no race, noting that ‘it was of course never intended that the flight of the Times aero plane should be undertaken in a competitive spirit, but wholly for the purpose of scientific exploration and to test the route through Africa’. Nevertheless, Northcliffe wanted his plane to get to the Cape first.

The Times aircraft left Cairo on 6th February encouraged by a message from Queen Alexandra, and arrived at Khartoum on February 8th after two forced landings. It left Khartoum on February 10th but did not reach Jinja in Uganda until 22nd February. Repeated engine troubles caused more forced landings; adulterated fuel was probably to blame. Several nights were spent camping in the bush with ‘repose often disturbed by lions.’ Meanwhile Van Ryneveld was having his own problems. The Silver Queen crashed between Cairo and Khartoum and was damaged beyond repair. Undaunted, Van Ryneveld returned to Cairo and was lent a Vimey by the RAF. It was christened ‘Silver Queen II’. He left Cairo in the replacement plane on February 22nd After a refuelling stop at Mwanza the Times aircraft landed at Tabora on 26th February. They were greeted by a large crowd led by the Administrator of Tanganyika territory. Broome wrote: ‘Arrived Tabora cheerful. Thought worst part was over.’ But during take-off the next day the Vimy’s starboard engine cut out and the aircraft crash-landed in the scrub. It hit a large anthill and the impact forced the undercarriage into the lower wing. Fortunately none of those in board was injured but the plane was damaged beyond repair. Broome recorded: ‘All disgusted with rotten luck.’

Thus the Great African Exploration flight ended ignominiously on an ant hill.

Meanwhile ‘Silver Queen II’ reached Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia where it to crashed on take-off. The South African Government promptly sent a two seater single engined de Havilland DH9 christened ‘Voortrekker’ as a replacement. Whether or not it was within the spirit of the competition for a different plane to complete the final leg of the journey the two pilots were greeted as heroes when they arrived at Cape Town on 20th March 1920. They were awarded a prize of £5,000 each by the South Africans and were knighted by King George V. In the best traditions of British sportsmanship, the Times commented that ‘while extending our deepest sympathy to Dr Chalmers Mitchell and his gallant companions for the great disappointment which befell them….. we feel that no one will join in our congratulations to Colonel van Ryneveld and Major brand more heartily than they’.

Postscript – The fuselage of the wrecked Vickers Vimy was taken over by the Tabora Sporting Club for use as a pavilion. Do any of our older readers remember it?
John Sankey

Tanzanian researcher Prof. Ernest Njau has said that snow on Mt. Kilimanjaro will not disappear around 2017, as suggested by foreign scientists. He said that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report contained prediction errors due to imperfections in the climate models used. Recent scientific reports had taken the sunspot-climate relationship into account and had come up with a prediction that a 430-year-long global cooling trend was due to start in about the year 2060, and the Ice on Kilimanjaro would return to its original state. He said it was true that the average global temperature had not increased since 1998, despite the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide by 4% over the same period.

Last year, another study on the dwindling ice on the mountain’s cap suggested that global warming had nothing to do with the alarming loss of its snow. US-based scientists Philip Mote and Georg Kaser linked the problem to a process known as sublimation that occurs at below-freezing temperatures and converts ice directly to water vapour with the liquid phase skipped. They said that the Kibo icecap (19,340 feet above sea level) occupied about 12.5 square miles when first measured but this had dwindled to about 7.5 square miles by 1912, to about 4.3 square miles by 1953, and just over 1.5 square miles by 2003 – Guardian.

The British High Commission in Dar has changed its procedures for the issuance of visas. Applications will have to be lodged on-line at least six weeks before the date of travel. Political and Press Officer at the diplomatic mission John Bradshaw told a press conference that visa applications would in future be processed at a central office in Nairobi as part of a plan to reduce the number of British offices handling visa applications – Majira.

Habari Leo commented: This is a shame, to say the least, for such a rich country because in this age and time of technological advancement, when speed and efficiency is the watchword, Britain has decided to impose stringent conditions thus delaying the visa application process…. What happens when, while the passport is being processed in Nairobi, one has to travel elsewhere? Obviously they looked at their own interest without considering the interest of travelers. A cartoon in Mwanchi included the words: ‘You might as well shut down the embassy.’

Mtanzania stated that students from Tanzania applying to study in Britain as from March 2009 would have to get approval from officially accredited universities and colleges.

UK water company Biwater failed in its bid to claim up to US$20 million in damages from the Tanzanian government following the collapse of the controversial water privatisation contract in 2005 (see TA previous issues). The case was heard at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). In 2003, a subsidiary of Biwater, ‘City Water Services’, took on a water privatisation contract in Dar es Salaam. The Tanzanian government cancelled the contract after less than two years, citing City Water Services’ failure to meet the targets set in the contract. The Tribunal has found that while technical breaches of Biwater’s investor rights did occur, Biwater was not entitled to compensation because the breaches were worth zero in monetary value and that the termination of the contract was inevitable. The policy of water privatisation was imposed on Tanzania via a series of conditions set by the World Bank in return for aid, debt relief and cheap loans. The UK government supplied millions in aid to support the wider Tanzanian privatisation programme.

Two British tourists were robbed of £ 2,700 plus other belongings while staying at Breezes Hotel in the South Region of Zanzibar. It is believed that some hotel employees entered their room and broke open a safe deposit box while the guests were out having dinner – Tanzania Daima.

The French Ambassador to Tanzania has announced that the French government had committed $2 million to promote the French language in Tanzania in a three-year programme. He was addressing a meeting of French teachers who now number over 300 – Guardian.

Tanzania received an award for effective use of donor aid in the health sector. The award was made in Accra, Ghana during a review of progress in the implementation of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Participating countries were given the chance to showcase best practice examples in aid management and effectiveness.

Omar Chambo at the launch of the new train service (Issah Michuzi)

Tanzania Railways Limited launched an additional passenger train service between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma on 13th July. Officiating at the launch ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Infrastructure permanent secretary Omar Chambo said the new service would go a long way in alleviating transport problems between Dar es Salaam and western Tanzania.

The service takes to three the number of weekly journeys between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma, he said, adding that the services were expected to increase to six next month. TRL have ordered 23 coaches from India, which are expected to arrive in the near future. Mr Chambo said the Dar es Salaam-Tanga route had been revived with the relaunch of freight services made possible by the arrival of 25 locomotives. Freight services will also be relaunched between Dar es Salaam and Moshi next month with cement one of the principal cargoes.

TRL managing director Narasimhaswami Jayaram said last week that officials from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) were in India inspecting train coaches and engines ordered by the firm.