CHIEF STANISLAS KASUSURA (71) former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Chairman of the National Milling Board died at his home in Biharamulo on March 25.

LT.COL. PIP FRASER-SMITH CBE (74) was awarded an MC when serving with an intelligence unit operating behind the Japanese lines in Burma during the Second World War. In Tanganyika he held many posts including DC Maasailand and Dar es Salaam and, after Independence, Provincial Commissioner, Mwanza, Regional Commissioner, Mtwara and eventually Commissioner for Village Settlements in Dar es Salaam (Thank you Randal Sadleir for this note).

NICK NYOKA (Kiswahili for snake) the Stockton-born zookeeper and owner, who was described in the Daily Telegraph as a fearless subjugator of wild animals has died. He owned ‘Cassius’ which, at 28ft. was the longest snake in captivity and also ‘Simba’ the largest captive lion in the world which he caught on the Serengeti Plain in 1959. The lion weighed 826 lbs and consumed more than 20 lbs of meat and a gallon of milk every day. It appeared in the film ‘Cleopatra’ with Elizabeth Taylor in 1963.

CANON WILLIAM (BILL) L SPENCER (80) died on March 25 at Ndanda Hospital. He first went to Tanzania in 1952 and served as a parish priest at Nachingwea for many years before returning in 1986 to St. Cyprian’s College, Lindi, where he continued to teach with devotion as long as possible. (Thank you Christine Lawrence for this note – Editor).

HUGH FRANCIS LAMPREY (67), Director of the Mweka College of African Wildlife Management (1962-66) and of the Serengeti Research Institute (1966-72) died on February 10 after a long illness. He started his African career in the Tanganyikan Game Department (1953), where he designed methods of estimating game densities which are still widely used, and for which he received the OBE and the Order of the Golden Ark. His boundless enthusiasm and sympathy inspired many people and he will be remembered for his wide knowledge of ecology and natural history and his skills as a pilot. After postings in Nairobi with UNEP and the WWF until 1990 Hugh and his wife Ros lived in Devon (Little Widefield Farm, Inwardleigh, Okehampton).(Thank you Jane Kruuk for this note – Editor).

MRS EZERINA MALECELA (62) the wife of former Prime Minister John Malecela died in Nairobi on December 27. She had been until her death a Senior State Attorney and also the Chairperson of the Tanzania Girl Guides Association.

JOHN STANLEY MARCUS VINTER (77), who served in many administrative posts in Tanganyika/Tanzania from 1947 to 1962 died on December 14. He studied Islamic Law at SOAS and was later involved in the expansion of Makerere University and in the organisation of the 1962 Republic Day Celebrations. PROFESSOR MBOYA S D BAGACHWA (45), a leading economist and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Dar es Salaam, died on April 7

The recently retired Managing Director of the Tanzania Investment Bank (TIB) Mr GIBBONS MWAIKAMBO (57) died on September 4 after a car he was driving overturned. He was appointed General Manager of TIB in 1972 – the first African General Manager of an insurance corporation in Africa. In 1981 he was elected as a National Member of Parliament. Among many messages of condolence sent to his wife, Professor Dr. Esther Mwaikambo, was one from the Britain-Tanzania Society. She was the Hon. Secretary of its Tanzanian Chapter until recently.

The broadcaster THOMAS CHALMERS (82) died in Cambridge on August 30. He was the person who, in April 1945, announced on the BBC the news of Hitler’s death. He was in Tanganyika from 1958 until 1952, setting up the Tanganyika Broadcasting Corporation.

ISOBEL BUIST was, between 1945 and 1960, one of that formidable team of Women Education Officers who established and developed the education of girls in Tanganyika (Thank you Bill Dodd for this item).

The sudden death in London (from what is believed to have been a stroke) of the controversial former Finance Minister PROFESSOR KIGHOMA MALIMA (57) on August 6 caused a shock in Dar es Salaam as his name had rarely been out of the news headlines for several months, following revelations about serious deficiencies in revenue collection while he had been Finance Minister last year. President Mwinyi subsequently appointed him to the post of Minister for Industries and Commerce. The Professor then announced on June 9 that he had resigned from the government. The next day he was in the news headlines again accusing his successor as Minister of Finance, Lt Col. Kikwete, of being engaged in malicious acts bent on character assassination against him. A week later he announced publicly that he would pay immediately Shs 5.2 million in tax liability which he had incurred on two used cars he had imported from Belgium. Having lost his bid to become a CCM presidential candidate, he then sprang a further surprise when, at a congregation of Muslim workers, he announced his resignation from the CCM. On July 16, in Tabora, he announced that he was joining the National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA) party and was, soon afterwards, chosen as its presidential candidate. Both President Mwinyi and Prime Minister Msuya sent condolences to the family and expressed great sorrow at the news of his death.

DR. AMIR HABIB JAMAL died on March 21. He was a senior Minister in every post-independence government up to 1986 and elected as an MP with big majorities in every election from 1958 to 1980. He was Minister of Finance 1965-1972, 1975-77, 1979-80 and 1980-83 and held many other senior positions. Mwalimu Nyerere described him in a moving speech as ‘a person of absolute integrity dedicated to selfless service; he was never a ‘Yes man’; he argued for the measures he felt necessary or opposed others which he felt were mistaken; he groomed for leadership those who worked with him; he was a Tanzanian of whom we can be proud’ (Thank you Naseem and Firoz Manji for this notice – Editor).

JUSTICE AUGUSTINO SAIDI who died on April 22 was the first Tanzanian Resident Magistrate and the first Tanzanian to serve as Chief Justice after independence.

GERRY FINCH was in Tanzania from 1951 to 1963 and served as a District commissioner in Chunya. Prior to that he was an officer in the King’s African Rifles. He and his wife acted for many years as hosts of the popular annual ‘Tanganyika Reunions’ in London.

FREDDY JACKSON served in Tanzania from the late forties until the mid-fifties; he became DC in Handeni and Manyoni.

ROBERT PATTERSON was in Tanzania from 1974 to 1960 and served as District Commissioner in Kisarawe. (Thank you Mr Durdant-Hollamby for the above three notices – Editor)

ROBIN (RALPH) ELWELL-SUTTON has died at his home in Provence. He was Headmaster of a number of secondary schools in Tanzania in the 1950’s (Thank you Randal Sadleir for this notice – Ed).

GEORGE WARREN SHAW OBE was a former British Council Representative in Tanzania who served also in Yugoslavia, Brazil, Nigeria, Ghana and Germany; he died on the evening of June 6th.

AMIR JAMAL who died in March in Canada was one of the earliest members of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), served in many cabinet positions after independence.

BILL TULLOCH was in Tanzania from 1951 to 1963 and served as a District Commissioner. He wrote a children’s book Kishanda and the Elephant based on the friendship between his daughter and an orphaned elephant calf. After Tanzania he tried several business ventures but became best known as a successful racehorse owner.

JOHN OWEN, Director of National Parks (1960-70) was described in The Guardian (March 6) as the outstanding conservationist of his time who was largely responsible for forming the magnificent national park system as it is today.

Former holder of several ministerial posts Mr NSILO SWAI died at the age of 69 on October 10th. He was buried at his farm at Mkuu Machame in Kilimanjaro Region – Daily News.

JOSEPH NYERERE, younger brother of Mwalimu Nyerere, described in the Daily News as ‘an outstanding nationalist’. He resigned from his post as Secretary-General of the TANU Youth League in 1970 to become the first national leader to opt for life in an Ujamaa village.

I K PATEL, banker and philanthropist, held various posts in Barclays Bank including director of banking operations at Dar es Salaam in the sixties before moving to Britain.

Fatma Abdullah
A few weeks before her death on January 14th, the very popular and acceptable face of Tanzanian culture in London, Fatma Abdullah (55), Minister Counsellor at the Tanzania High Commission, had been promoted to a new position of ambassadorial rank as chief of the Zanzibar Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As an artist she used colour in a rich flamboyant way; in music, her first job in London had been to introduce a Zanzibar taarab group to Europe; she had been a teacher of art and visual aids and had herself trained art teachers; she was a knowledgeable guide for visitors to the Isles, She will be much missed.

Mrs Sophie Kawawa
The Chairperson of the Umoja wa Wanawake wa Tanzania (UWT) died in Moshi on February 11 1994. She was described by Prime Minister Malecela as not only a leader of women in Tanzania but also a fighter for womens1 rights in the whole continent of Africa. At the funeral in Dar es Salaam, as Mr Rashidi Kawawa spoke of their 43 years of married life together, he broke into tears and was consoled by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

The Rev. Canon R G P Lamburn.

Canon Roger George Patrick Lamburn, known as Robin, died at Kindwiti Leprosy Village in the Rufiji District of Southern Tanzania on 26 October 1993 at the age of 89. He spent 63 years of his long life as an Anglican missionary and died as he lived, in great simplicity and at peace.

Robin was born in England in 1904 and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge where he studied Natural Science. After a period as a curate in England he joined the Universities Mission to Central Africa and worked first in the Diocese of Masasi and then as Warden of St. Cyprian’s Theological College, Tunduru. During this period he became Education Secretary responsible for the administration of schools in the Masasi Diocese, as well as Archdeacon. Through these many positions, he became very well known and greatly loved among church people throughout Tanzania.

At the age of 57 he moved to become probably the first Christian missionary to the unhealthy and solidly Muslim Rufiji Delta about 100 miles south of Dar es Salaam. He established himself in the leprosy village of Kindwiti, near Utete, and started to dispense high church Anglicanism, medicine (with which he had much skill as a result of his scientific training) and Christian joy. He made little progress in evangelisation which he stated was his first and foremost concern, his few converts being from other districts. The breakthrough came in a remarkable way. As he was greatly concerned to invigorate the leprosy village with a spirit of self-help, people used to confide their problems in him. One day a young man came who was greatly shamed because, as a Muslim, he should have been circumcised at birth and, for some reason, this had not been done. Robin assured him that he had nothing to worry about and that he should go to the Sheikh in Utete to ask for the operation to be carried out and he, Robin, would bear the cost. The Moslem authorities were so touched at this act of charity that the whole attitude to the mission at Kindwiti changed from that time; a spirit of bitter antagonism developed into one of at least acceptance, if not of some measure of brotherliness.

Robin was awarded the MBE and the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanities and also received a medal from Pope John Paul II.

He possessed great personal charm and was an able raconteur. Right until the end his letters were entertaining, moving but frequently funny. His great sense of humour made him a warm companion. His particular hope was that the scourge of leprosy would be expunged from Rufiji by the end of the 20th century, a hope which science has made quite possible. He would have been very appreciative of anyone wishing to honour his memory with a donation to the Rufiji Leprosy Trust, set up to support this work. The Treasurer’s address is: Horton House, Horton, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 9RL.
David Gooday

(Geoff and Jenny O’Donoghue have written as follows: ‘On Tuesday morning (October 26) at 7am the British High Commissioner in Tanzania, Mr Roger Westbrook, who had arrived in Kindwiti to visit Father Lamburn the previous day, called on him. Later Father got up, had a little breakfast and then sat in his armchair to read. Later in the morning he went back to bed. At 2.30 he died quietly and peacefully while holding the hand of Father Athumani, a one-time student of his. The following day the men and youths of the village began to dig Father’s grave beneath a large tree in the garden…. Local people settled down to pray, sing and sleep beside the grave … On the Thursday the mass was held in the simple chapel next to Father Robin’s house, although the presence of over 750 people meant that the majority had to gather round outside. Then the coffin, dressed with tissue-paper garlands, bouqainvillea blossoms and a simple wooden cross, was taken and lowered into his grave).

‘It was an eerie evening for Tanzania’s political terrain; on Sunday March 21 1993 the country lost one of the very few women who significantly contributed to the country’s political profile, especially in the formative years. Lucy Lameck (59) MP for two decades, member of the National Executive Committee of the country’s post-independence ruling party, former Government Junior Minister – passed away in Moshi after battling for several months against a kidney illness. “I eat, sleep, think and talk nothing but politics” she had said in 1961. She was buried with full honours at a ceremony witnessed by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Zanzibar President Salmin Amour and Prime Minister John Malecela’ – Daily News.

And Prime Minister John Malecela led the mourners at an elaborate funeral ceremony for Mr Dunstan Alfred Omari MBE (71) in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam on April 16 1993. Mr Omari was the Director of several executive boards including those of the Standard Chartered Bank in Kenya and the African Medical Research Foundation. He became well known in his youth as one of the first African District Officers in the Colonial Administration.