by Ben Taylor

Captain John Komba, band leader of Tanzania One Theatre (TOT) and Member of Parliament for Mbinga West, died on 28 February. He was a hugely popular musician and one of the foremost cheerleaders for CCM. He was most in his element when belting out songs in praise of the country’s leaders and the party. He and his team were a crowd puller and when he stood to sing, crowds literally sung along in hysteria.

Capt Komba was born in 1954 in Ruvuma region. He studied at Lituhi Primary School and Songea Boys’ Secondary School before earning a certificate in teaching from Kleruu Teacher Training College in Iringa. He served in the Tanzania People’s Defence Force from 1978 to 1992. He had been a CCM National Executive Committee member since 1987 and entered elective politics in 2005. He had already been highly active in CCM campaigns for many years, a close ally of Presidents Mkapa and Kikwete, and most recently of presidential aspirant Edward Lowassa. Up to his death, he was CCM’s Chief Cultural ambassador.

Many Tanzanians will remember Captain Komba most for his response to the death of Mwalimu Nyerere in 1999. With tears in their eyes like most of their compatriots, Captain Komba and his troupe led the nation in grief with songs based on choral traditions. They captured in a vivid and moving manner the challenge Tanzanians faced: living without Mwalimu.“CCM will always remember Komba for his contributions to the party and to issues that were of national interest; he was a friend, father, musician, politician and all in all a leader” said CCM General Secretary, Abdurahman Kinana.

Christopher Alex Massawe, a former midfield player with Simba Sports Club and the national football team Taifa Stars, died in Dodoma after a long illness.

An uncompromising defensive midfielder, Alex’s most memorable moment was being a member of Simba team that knocked out the then CAF Champions League champions Zamalek of Egypt to book a place in the last eight. He converted the last penalty to seal the historic win. Simba had previously disposed of South African champions Santos in the first round on their way to the group stage of the premium club competition on the continent.

Alhaj Abdul Sapi Mkwawa was chief of the Hehe tribe of Iringa. He was buried within Kalenga Museum premises, in a ceremony that also included the installation of his successor, 14-year old Chief Adam II, who is his first born son.

The late chief was born in 1949. He studied at Tosamaganga in Iringa and Iyunga Secondary in Mbeya, before joining the school named in honour of his famous ancestor, Mkwawa High School.

He studied for a degree in business administration before working with Tanzania Elimu Supplies between 1977 and 1993, Tanzania Southern Highlands Tobacco Growers in 1993. Most recently, he was an employee of the Iringa-based Maji Africa spring water company.

Geoffrey Delves Wilkinson who died on 7 June 2014 aged 87, was prominent in agricultural activities in Tanzania, off and on for almost fifty years. He started his career as the District Agricultural Officer in Zanzibar and later in Pemba (where he received the Queen’s Coronation Medal). Later he set up the agricultural education department of the British Overseas Development Ministry in London, his responsibilities covering all aspects of agricultural training, especially in Tanzania. He built on his strong ties with Tanzanian institutes of agriculture, particularly Tengeru, near Arusha, by setting up a link project and exchange programme with the Hereford diocese in the UK. He was a born story teller and a passionate naturalist and relished his role in training hun­dreds, if not thousands of students in agricultural skills in 29 countries.

Prof Terence Ranger, the first editor of Tanzanian Affairs, editing issues No 1 (Dec 1975) to 6 (July 1978), died on 3 January 2015. He spent most of his career researching and publishing on the history of Zimbabwe, though he is probably better known as co-editor (with Eric Hobsbawm) of the 1983 text, The Invention of Tradition.

Born in London in 1929, he was appointed as university lecturer in the then Southern Rhodesia in 1957. Deported from Rhodesia in 1963, Ranger joined the University of Dar es Salaam, to establish its history department. He joined a group of radical scholars, and talk of a ‘Dar es Salaam school’ of African nationalist history. This was defined by a commitment to African agency in its historical analysis and to the production of ‘useable’ history for the newly independent nations of Africa.

From Tanzania, Ranger went on to professorships at UCLA, Manchester and Oxford. In retirement, he returned to bolster the history department of the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, where he again found himself aligned with the victims of the state. He returned to Britain in 2001.

Mr T O (Dale) Robson, who died recently, worked in Tanganyika from 1950 to 1961. He served at various agricultural research stations as a Pasture Research Officer. He advised the Commission on the establishment of the Serengeti National Park and whether it would be necessary to exclude the Maasai. It was finally decided to improve conditions by clearing the tsetse-infested bush, improving water supplies, increasing disease control measures for the cattle and introducing regular cattle markets. (Thank you Hilary Broad for this – Editor)

Dr Alec Smith (1927 -2014) was a graduate of Birmingham University (BSc. Zoology and Comparative Physiology (1948)) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Ph.D. Tropical Medicine 1950)). He joined the Colonial Medical Research Service and worked as a medical entomologist in Tanganyika from 1950-1973, including 13 years in Arusha at the Tropical Pesticides Research Institute.

In 1973 Alec joined the World Health Organisation and, after leaving Arusha, worked on malaria control projects in South Africa (1973­1976) and West Africa (1973-1980). He was then assigned to Geneva headquarters, where he remained until 1986 when he retired. In 1982, he was awarded the Ademola Medal, jointly with Dr Robert Kaiser, by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for “Outstanding Achievements in Health in the Tropics”. In 1993, Alec published his memoirs entitled “Insect man – A Fight against Malaria in Africa”.

Alec enjoyed a happy 28 years retirement in Bexhill-On-Sea, Sussex. He is greatly missed by Irene, his wife of 60 years, his daughters Linda and Diana and his grandchildren, Allison, Elizabeth and Claire. (Thanks to Dr Linda Thomas for this information – Editor).

by Ben Taylor

Former High Court Judge and first chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Judge Lewis Makame, died in Dar es Salaam on 18 August 2014. Born in Muheza District, Tanga, Judge Makame was a key figure among the country’s small group of intellectuals at independ­ence. He had a BA from the University of London, and was a Barrister in the UK. In Tanzania, he served as a High Court Judge and a Justice of Appeals, before taking up the high profile post of chairman of the National Electoral Commission in 1993, just as Tanzania made the shift to multi-party democracy.

In this role, Judge Makame had a no-nonsense approach to issues that earned the wrath of a section of the opposition, some of whom accused him of being part of a ‘’grand plot’’ to enable CCM to retain its grip on power. Nevertheless, he remained a widely respected figure, known for his composed, calm manner, commitment to duty, and fierce intellect. He stepped down as NEC chairman in 2011. President Kikwete said that Justice Makame’s leadership had contributed tremendously to strengthen peace, harmony, unity and solidarity in the country.

Major General Herman Lupogo died on 18 October 2014, aged 76, at Lugalo Military Hospital, Dar es Salaam, where he was receiving medi­cal treatment.

He served in Tanzania People’s Defence Force for 28 years, from 1965 until he retired in 1992. Following his retirement from the army, he became a highly respected administrator, serving as Regional Commissioner for Iringa, Director General of Arusha International Conference Centre, Chairman of the Tanzania Commission for HIV/AIDS (TACAIDS) and Board Chairman of the Benjamin Mkapa Foundation.
Major General Lupogo will be remembered warmly by all who knew him. With a sharp wit, ability to recall decades-old anecdotes in rich detail, and love of English literature and Scottish single malt whisky, he was a truly memorable character.

Epidemiologist, researcher and expert in HIV and genitourinary medi­cine, Dr Gilly Arthur, has died aged 47 of a brain tumour. Gilly was born and brought up in Derbyshire as the youngest of six children. Her research on HIV in Zimbabwe, while studying medicine at Nottingham University, inspired a lifelong commitment to working in Africa. After spells in Nairobi and at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, she moved with her husband Stevan and their two children to Tanzania in 2007, to take up the post of science chief for the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

A hugely respected doctor and researcher, Gilly provided emergency medical assistance after the US Embassy bombings in 1998 and when the MV Spice Islander sank off the Zanzibar coast in 2011. She is survived by her husband, Stevan, their children Stan and Joni, her mother and siblings.

The untimely death of model, shoe designer and leading light of Tanzanian social media, Betty Ndejembi, is a thoroughly modern tragedy. Aged just 24 at the time of her death in August 2014, Betty had made a name for herself online, primarily on Twitter, using social media to market her shoes.

But the source of her fame and her livelihood was turned against her when she became a victim of cyber-bullying, with an anonymous crowd attacking her on twitter, threatening her and accusing her of all manner of sins. In her final days, her online posting became increasingly frantic, desperate and despairing. Her unconscious body was discovered in a ditch, with reports that she had been sexually assaulted.

by Ben Taylor

Professor Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwean academic and politician, died on June 4th, 2014, aged 85. From 1968 Prof. Shamuyarira taught at the University of Dar es Salaam, where he was instrumental in developing and teaching a course on “Imperialism and Liberation in Southern Africa”. At the same time, he was an influential player in the struggle for Zimbabwean independence and democracy. This later took him away from Tanzanian academia; in 1980 he became Zimbabwean Information Minister and then Foreign Minister between 1987 and 1995.

Shamuyarira was at times a controversial figure. In June 2006 he accused the International Crisis Group think tank of calling for a coup against President Robert Mugabe. Shamuyarira said the ICG had “sponsored violence” by the Movement for Democratic Change. Later that same year, he sparked outrage when he praised the Gukurahundi, a series of state-sponsored massacres in the 1980s. At his funeral, President Robert Mugabe said that Shamuyarira “died a poor man and this was Nathan, but rich of course in his views.” He was writing a biography of Mugabe at the time of his death.

Nkwabi Ng’wanakilala, media practitioner and scholar, has died in Mwanza, aged 69. Ng’wanakilala spent several years at the University of Manchester, UK, graduating first with an Advanced Diploma and then a Masters in Mass Communication, sandwiching time teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam. During his career in media practice, he served as Director of Information at the government Information Services Agency (MAELEZO), Director of Radio Tanzania Dar es Salaam (RTD), and Director the Tanzanian news agency, SHIHATA. Later, he moved back into academia as Senior Lecturer at Saint Augustine’s University of Tanzania.

He authored several books on politics and the media, including “A Summary of Liberation Struggles in Southern Africa”, “Mass Communication and the Development of Socialism in Tanzania”, “Morons, Thugs and Journalism in Africa”, “The Dark Side of Power and Freedom Beyond Independence”, and “The Footsteps of Julius Nyerere”. President Kikwete sent a condolence message to the funeral: “This death has taken from our nation a very vibrant and courageous public servant. The media industry has lost a strong leader.”

Fides Chale, leading gender activist and founding chair of the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), has died aged 64 in Dar es Salaam. In a statement, TGNP described Dada Fides as “a teacher and leader who touched the lives of many people in Tanzania, a strong advocate and defender of the rights of women, girls and others on the fringes of society. She was a people person who enjoyed a joke, who lived her life with love, humanity, empathy and a smile on her face.”

William Gibbons or “Bill Gibbons” (89) and father of David Gibbons a BTS and TDT committee member, passed on peacefully in his sleep in County Cork, Ireland.

Bill’s association with Tanzania began when from Ireland, he answered the advert for Agricultural Field Officers in 1952. He found himself travelling out to Tanganyika on the MV Dunnottar Castle to help in the aftermath of the Groundnut scheme. On arriving in Tanga he was diverted to go to Lushoto to work on the Usambara Development Scheme, and so began a long association with Tanzania and her people. He married June in Lushoto in 1953.

At independence in 1961, President Nyerere requested that Bill be kept on to help the country develop and by 1964 he was a Senior Agricultural Officer responsible for all agricultural matters in Mwanza, Musoma and Shinyanga regions, and for cotton in the 7 regions of Western Tanzania. He was proud of his achievements in helping build up the cotton industry to be one of the major export crops at this time. In 1968 Bill was made Assistant Director of Agriculture, and continued in this role until 1975, when he joined Louis Berger International as advisor and manager on the Water Master Plans in the Tri region around Lake Victoria and Tabora region up to 1981.

Bill enjoyed receiving his copy of Tanzania Affairs, devouring it from cover to cover, with many added comments and advice on different matters chipped in as he read it. He was known to be a hard worker, who had high standards. He served the country of Tanzania well over many years and spanned both pre- and post-independence years. Over so many years he built up a rich store of stories of his times in Tanzania, which he enjoyed sharing with his children in later life. (Thanks to David Gibbons for this – Editor)

John Crawford “Chon” Cairns passed away in May 2014, aged 93 and surrounded by family, poetry, and song. John was born in Galt, Ontario, to a family of Scottish immigrants and worked briefly as a bank teller before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force in September of 1941. He served until 1945 in India and Burma, following which he attended the University of Western Ontario where he fell in love with the artistically talented Beverley Woolmer. They were married on October 25, 1951, sailing immediately to Tanganyika, East Africa, where John worked for six years as a District Officer and Commissioner, one of the few Canadians in the British Administrative Service, while Beverley organized the export of local carvings. Those days in East Africa were among the happiest in John and Beverley’s life, and saw the birth of daughters Sandra and Lisa, postings in Kilwa, Mikindani, Morogoro and Dar Es Salaam, and long safari journeys to remote tribal villages. John’s experiences in East Africa were distilled in his book Bush and Boma: The Life of a District Officer, illustrated by Beverley and published in 1958.

Following his time in Tanzania, John had a long and distinguished career working in the education sector, including on Canadian aid programmes in Nigeria and Cameroon, and notably as Director of UNESCO’s Experimental World Literacy program. In 1972 he was appointed Secretary General for the Third International Conference on Adult Education in Tokyo, Japan. (Thanks to Beverly Cairns for this – Editor)

by Ben Taylor

Dr William Mgimwa
Member of Parliament for Kalenga constituency in Iringa, Dr William Mgimwa died in Pretoria, South Africa on 1 January 2014, of kidney failure.

Born on 20 January 1950, Dr Mgimwa began his career in finance as an accountant at the National Bank of Commerce (NBC), and his career in politics as a ward guardian. He became a lecturer at the NBC banking college in Iringa, bank manager and then director. He served as Principal of NBC College from 1997 to 2000, then as Principal of the Bank of Tanzania Training Institute in Mwanza for ten years, leaving when he was elected an MP. He was appointed Minister of Finance in 2012.

President Kikwete led a large crowd of mourners at the funeral, which was attended by an estimated 10,000 people in the village of Magunga, in Iringa. The President said his contribution to national development had left an indelible mark. Dr Mgimwa is succeeded as Minister of Finance by Saada Mkuya Salum, and as MP for Kalenga by his son, Godfrey Mgimwa.

Muhidin Maalim Gurumo
Veteran musician and founder of the Msondo Ngoma Band, Muhidim Maalim Gurumo, died on 13 April at Muhimbili National Hospital, after receiving treatment for heart problems.

Born in Kisarawe District in 1940, Gurumo’s musical career began in earnest in 1964, when he joined Nuta Jazz. He later played with DDC Mlimani Park, Orchestra Safari Sound, Kilwa Jazz and more. Gurumo’s trademark was infusing traditional beats like Ndekule (from his coastal Zaramo tribe) into his compositions, giving his songs a unique flavour.

Famously hot-tempered, Gurumo once interrupted a performance to accost a lady and confiscate her shoes. It transpired that she was mistress of a band member to whom he had lent some money and who was dilly-dallying in repaying the debt. In later years, he bemoaned the poverty that many musicians of his generation lived with, in sharp contrast to the wealth of today’s Bongo Flava stars.

Ambassador Fulgenze Kazaura
The Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Ambassador Fulgenze Kazaura, has died in February in India, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer.

Prior to his appointment as Chancellor in 2005, Ambassador Kazaura had a long and distinguished career as a senior civil servant and diplomat and as chairman of the UDSM Council for over a decade. On graduating in Economics from the University of Cambridge in 1965, he joined the National Development Corporation. Later he served as Tanzania’s Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels.

His friend and fellow diplomat, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, said Kazaura was “a superbly intelligent person. He had a strong grasp of facts about the Tanzanian economy, to the point of often being, deservedly, quite arrogant about it.”

Patrick Qorro
Former Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives and Member of Parliament for Karatu, Patrick Qorro, died on 8 February at the Muhimbili Othopaedic Institute in Dar es Salaam, where he had been undergoing treatment. He was 72.

Mr Qorro served as Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives in the 1970s during the presidency of Julius Nyerere. Appointed first when he was aged just 28, he was then the youngest minister in the Cabinet. He quit active politics in 2000 after losing the Karatu seat to Chadema secretary general Dr Willibrod Slaa.

Judge George Liundi
The first Registrar of Political Parties and a draftsman of the current Tanzanian Constitution (1977), Judge (rtd) George Liundi, died on 12 January after suffering from malaria and blood pressure. He served as Registrar of Political Parties for nine years from 1993-2012, overseeing the early years of multiparty politics in Tanzania.

by Ben Taylor

BI KIDUDE was Zanzibar’s leading cultural ambassador, the most celebrated singer of the taarab style. Born Fatuma binti Baraka around 1910, she was universally (and affectionately) known by her adopted name, Bi Kidude, or “little thing”. From the 1920s she was singing for a living, following the example of her idol, Siti binti Saad, whose style Bi Kidude had picked up as a young girl. Her uncle played in Saad’s band, so she hung around with the musicians, pretending to sleep while she took it all in. She continued to sing throughout her life. In 1994, seven decades after she began performing, she recorded her first solo album, Zanzibar; in 2005 she was awarded the Womex (World Music Expo) Lifetime Achievement Award.

She is revered by Tanzanian Bongo Flava hip-hop artists, alongside many of whom she performed or recorded in her final years. But Bi Kidude was not just about the music. She was a rebellious figure, chal­lenging Islamic traditions: refusing to accept the role that was expected of her as a woman, performing together with men without wearing a veil as well as drinking and smoking heavily. “I don’t think that Bi Kidude would have called herself a feminist,” wrote Elsie Eyakuze, “but she did the cause untold amounts of good. This slightly sodden, plenty frisky little old lady of Taarab … was good magic. She was a carrier of joyfulness and eccentricity. Stories abound about her exploits, the risks she took, her cheerful embrace of an unconventional lifestyle.” She died on 17 April 2013.

ALLY SYKES and his brother Abdulwahid were key figures with Julius Nyerere in the nascent Tanganyikan independence movement in the 1950s. When the Tanzanian African National Union (Tanu) was formed in 1954, Ally Sykes paid for the first 1,000 membership cards to be printed. Tanu card no. 1 went to Nyerere, while no. 2 went to Ally Sykes. Earlier, he had joined the King’s African Rifles aged 15, serving in Burma during World War 2. On his return to East Africa he headed for Nairobi, where he worked as a musician and as a highly success­ful sales promoter, marketing a wide range of products from music to Coca Cola to real estate. In 1958 Peter Colmore, a British impresario and entrepreneur based in Kenya, appointed him to be his agent in Tanganyika. Ally later operated on his own, while also taking a post in the colonial civil service. Before independence, his political activities made him unpopular with the authorities. After independence, his wealth created a problem; the 1967 Arusha declaration made it impos­sible for him to maintain his business interests and he lost a great deal of property under the 1971 Acquisition of Buildings Act. He died in Nairobi on 19 May, aged 86. President Kikwete, and former presidents Mwinyi and Mkapa, attended his funeral in Dar es Salaam.

JOHN BAPTIST DA SILVA was an artist and historian of Zanzibari culture. He moved to Zanzibar as a young boy, from Portuguese Goa, where he was born in 1937. His father was dressmaker to the Sultan of Zanzibar. His paintings, drawings and photographs of the unique architecture of Stone Town helped raise awareness of the plight of the buildings, many of which were deteriorating rapidly, and were influ­ential in the UN decision to make Stone Town a World Heritage Site in 2000. He died on 20 March, aged 76.

Sir NICHOLAS MONCK, a notable contributor to Tanzanian devel­opment in the era of Julius Nyerere died in August 2013, aged 78. As a senior economist for Derek Bryceson, the Agriculture Minister, from 1966-69 Nick helped construct a much more effective agricultural pol­icy. Also a sportsman, he played for a local Dar football team and sailed the coast. Back in the UK he had a distinguished civil service career. He became private secretary to Denis Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer, then 2nd Permanent Secretary of the Treasury and finally Permanent Secretary of the Department of Employment. The Times (3 Sept) declared that he “was an unconventional civil servant…. one of the most civilised and approachable”. A man of strong egalitarian views, Nick had great sparkle and charm, and a wide circle of friends, who will miss him greatly (by Alastair Balls).

BARBARA ROLLINSON, former assistant secretary, Government of Nigeria, who came to Tanzania with her husband John and taught English at the DA Girls’ School and Geography at the HH Aga Khan Boys’ Secondary School, Dar es Salaam, from 1963 to 1966. She died peacefully on 15 May.

Updated 18th October 2013 to remove erroneous obituary for Richard Beatty OBE, with many apologies

Dr ALISON REDMAYNE, a dedicated and meticulous anthropologist known chiefly for her ethnographic and historical research among the Hehe and neighbouring peoples of Tanzania, died on 20 February 2013, aged 76. During the 1960s she produced a small but important body of research which remain the standard works on the precolonial and colonial history of the Hehe. She also made tape-recordings of a large corpus of oral tradition and musical performances in the field which are now preserved and digitised in the British Library. Her careful description of Hehe resistance and eventual submission to German military force highlighted an episode of enduring significance to the history and historiography of Tanzania and colonial violence. Alison was adopted as a member of the Hehe royal family, and used her Hehe name (Mung’anzagala Gisakamutemi Msengidunda Semugongolwa) with considerable pride. The people of Iringa and Mufindi will remem­ber her for her deep knowledge of their past and present, and for her unending devotion to their welfare.
(Abridged from a longer obituary by Martin Walsh, written for the Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford)

Dr ANDREW DAVIS, who died on January 10 aged 84, was director of parasitic diseases for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and cham­pion of Praziquantel – a life-saving drug against the tropical disease schistosomiasis. Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) is a tropical worm disease and although not usually fatal, it can severely affect internal organs and, in children, lead to stunted growth and brain dam­age. Davis’s work involved the clinical pharmacology of drugs, notably Praziquantel, which he helped distribute to those in need: some 200 million people. After graduating from Durham Medical School in 1951, he reached the rank of acting lieutenant-colonel during his National Service in the Army. Davis was appointed director of the WHO bilhar­ziasis chemotherapy centre at Tanga on the East African coast in what is now Tanzania in 1962. There he investigated various preparations of the metal antimony against schistosomiasis, work that gained him his doctorate. Thank you to David Kelly for this item, reported in the Telegraph.

IAN McKEEVER, who was leading 22 Irish charity climbers up Mount Kilimanjaro, was struck by lightning and killed on December 30. His fiancée, Anna O’Louglin, 34, whom he was due to marry in September, was injured in the storm, as were up to six other members of the expe­dition. In 2008 Mr McKeever helped godson Sean McSharry aged 10 to become the youngest person from Europe to scale the mountain. (Telegraph and Evening Standard)

MARIUS DEMETRRIUS GHIKAS, Greek adventurer and coffee farmer, died in Moshi on June 10. He was buried at Korfovoun, the farm he owned for many years near Oldonyo Sambu. He attended the then Greek School in Moshi before going to Oxford for his higher education. His extraordinary life was described in Shelby Tucker’s book, ‘The last Banana’ published in 2011 and reviewed at the time in TA (highly recommended – Editor.). The book describes him as follows: ‘With his fierce hazel eyes and Yul Brunner dome that he boasted was his best feature, he belonged to an elite minority at Oxford who came from ‘the colonies’ and dressed better than most undergraduates… their English, manifesting the peculiar veneration they felt in ‘the colonies’ for the ‘home country,’ was more precise grammatically , cleaner and more poised that that spoken by most of their British contemporaries’. He ran the family coffee estate and the family financed the construction of the Moshi Hotel, the largest privately-owned hotel in East Africa at the time. Ghikas became quite rich. But all this wealth evaporated when foreign- owned properties in Tanzania were nationalised in the sixties and early seventies. Ghikas lost everything and became what is described in Swahili as fukara hohehohe (destitute beggar). Almost all the other 150 Greeks in Moshi left the country as did the many other Greeks who were prominent in the very successful sisal industry at the time. In his final years he led a penurious, hand to mouth existence. (Thank you Shelby Tucker for letting us know about this – Editor).

CAMPBELL WHALLEY, who was born in 1937 in Peru, became a Game Warden when Tanzania was Tanganyika. At the age of 22 he had been the first man to follow on foot the epic trek by John Hanning Speke which established to the outside world that Lake Victoria was the source of the White Nile. He later pointed out to the young Jane Goodall the use by chimpanzees of tools, an observation which she developed to win eventually a reputation as the world’s greatest expert on the primates. After working in the deepest gold mine in South Africa, Whalley joined a team of geologists employed by the Canadian millionaire Jack Williamson, who was challenging the De Beers monopoly in diamond mining. He later established the Mwadui Mine which still produces diamonds today. He gained such a reputation as a wildlife expert that he later escorted many celebrated visitors around Tanganyika’s game reserves, including Ernest Hemingway, John Wayne, James Stewart and Elsa Martinelli. He came to know George and Joy Adamson when they came to the Serengeti, amidst much publicity, to release into the wild the three orphaned cubs of Elsa the famous lioness. On arrival Joy had started to shoot game just before the young lions were released. Whalley pointed out to her that this was no way to teach the young lion cubs to fend for themselves and confiscated her gun. He was rewarded by her reference to him in her best selling book ‘Living Free’ as ‘an obnoxious game warden’ – From the Daily Telegraph via the ASAUK Newsletter.

IAN BUIST, who died on 27 October 2012, spent most of his career working for the economic and social development of the Third World, with a particular emphasis on East Africa. Born in 1930, he joined the East African Department of the Colonial Office in 1952 and remained in that department for nine years, with a two-year gap in 1954-6 when he was seconded to pre-independent Kenya. There he served as deputy secretary to the first multi-racial Cabinet, before being posted to Kitui as a district officer, where he acquired a life-long love of Africa. In 1961 he transferred to the newly-formed Department of Technical Cooperation and in 1962 was posted to Dar as First Secretary (Technical Cooperation) in the British High Commission. Tanganyika had become independent a few months previously and one of Buist’s tasks was to help organise the transition from the former British administrators to their African successors. He was in Dar during the army mutiny and recalled the critical moment when the then Prime Minister, Rashidi Kawawa, delivered a hand-written note to the High Commission requesting British military intervention.

Buist was involved in the talks with Kenya and Uganda about the future of the East African Common Services Authority and in 1964 was posted to Nairobi again, to help negotiate the treaty which established the East African Community in 1967. He returned to London in 1969 and was Under Secretary at the Overseas Development Administration (now the Department for International Development) from 1976 until his retirement in 1990, when he was awarded a CB (instead of the more usual CMG or CBE). (Thank you to John Sankey for this – Editor).

ANTON TURNER (38) a former Army Captain, died instantly when he was charged by a bull elephant as he led an expedition in Tanzania three years ago. On November 9 2012 his father collected his Queens Gallantry Medal at Buckingham Palace from the Queen. It had been awarded in recognition of his heroism in saving the lives of a film crew which included three children. His father recounted how his son had refused to move out of the elephant’s path. He shouted to try to drive it away but the elephant did not give up. Because Turner stood there, it gave the others the opportunity to get away and hide or take cover. He had been working for the CBBC series ‘Serious Explorers’ in which was recreating Dr David Livingstone’s journey across Africa – London Evening Standard.

Jennifer Longford, née Stevenson, has died at the age of 82. After graduating in English at St Andrew’s University she trained as a teacher and was posted to Tabora Girls’ School in 1955. She fell deeply in love with the country and made lifelong friendships, notably with fellow teacher Peggy Fowler (later Elwell-Sutton) who recently died at the age of 98. On Christmas Eve 1955 Jennifer was invited to dinner at the Governor’s Lodge in Lushoto. Sir Edward Twining’s private secretary, Michael Longford, opened the door to her and, he later wrote in his book The Flags Changed at Midnight, “as soon as I saw Jennifer I knew at once that this was the girl I was going to marry.” He proposed in a rainstorm ten days later, and on their marriage in June 1956, he took up a post as District Officer in Tabora to enable her to go on teaching. They later moved to Mahenge and then to Lindi, where Michael was District Commissioner, finally returning to England with their three children in 1962.

Jennifer continued to teach at her local secondary school in Surrey, but she and Michael never lost their love for and interest in Tanzania.Later Jennifer returned for a visit, the highlight of which was being reunited with some of her former pupils. She was delighted to be asked to teach her eldest grandson Swahili before he went to work at an orphanage in Arusha, and last year her silver wedding present to her elder daughter, Ruth, was an unforgettable trip, with her husband, to the country where Ruth was born. Michael died in 2005, after 49 years of very happy marriage. Jennifer continued to live in their Surrey cottage, with friends and family nearby, until her own death in March 2012.

ERIC YOUNG OBE, a former member of the British diplomatic Service and a journalist, has died aged 87. After a series of eventful postings around the world his last posting was as High Commissioner in the Seychelles. He was there when there was an attempted mutiny by the army and the main island of Mahe was under curfew. With the Union flag flying on his official car he went out to see how the British tourists and residents were coping with the situation. He soon found himself at a roadblock with a group of Tanzanian troops pointing their AK47’s at him. However, his fluent Swahili got him through with an escort to accompany him around the island. Not long after a huge explosion went off behind his house where Young was serving drinks. The Russian ambassador looked at Young and winked saying “that will be my boys arriving here” and Young replied in fluent Russian: “they are late.” It turned out to be engineers blasting a mountain to make way for a new road. Thank you John Sankey for sending this from The Times – Editor.

STEVEN KANUMBA, aged 28, popular actor and star of numerous local “Bongo” films, died on 7th April during an argument with his girlfriend Elizabeth Michael (known as Lulu) who was later charged with his murder. More than 30,000 mourners attended the funeral in Dar-es-Salaam. President Kikwete tweeted his condolences and was reported to have delayed a foreign trip when he heard the news of Mr Kanumba’s death. He praised the “talented young man who was playing a big role to develop the movie industry and marketing Tanzania abroad”. Nicknamed “The Great”, Mr Kanumba was a household name in Tanzania and had also recently become popular in Ghana and starred in Nigeria’s Nollywood films.

MAJOR BRUCE KINLOCH (90), who was born in India, was awarded the Military Cross while fighting in Burma during the Second World War and later served in Kenya before becoming Chief Game Warden in Tanzania from 1960 to 1964. He launched the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka before retiring, and wrote several books on the fight to save East Africa’s herds of game.

BERNARD VERDCOURT who has died aged 86, was a botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew for several years. He also made contributions to two distinct fields of East African natural history. He was responsible for almost one third of the great ‘Flora of Tropical East Africa’ which covers 12,500 species. He was also, unusually, an expert on non-marine molluscs – snails and slugs. He began his distinguished career at Amani in Tanga Region under the eminent botanist P J Greenway. Thank you John Sankey for sending this and the one above from the Daily Telegraph – Editor.

PETER YEO died on 30 July at his home in Leicestershire. He served as a District Officer in Mwanza and Musoma from 1959. During his interview for the job he was asked what changes he anticipated if Tanganyika became independent. Not in his life time was the answer. It happened after 18 months! Later, in Tanga Region he trained local courts officers and after leaving Tanzania he worked at the International Co-operative Training Centre, Stanford Hall. The Plunket Foundation published his book on Cooperative Law and one on basic Economic Concepts. He wrote for Tanzanian Affairs on various developments in the then highly influential cooperative movement. Thank you Marlene Yeo for this – Editor.

Dr Hildebrand Shayo, Senior Lecturer (OUT) and Fund/Asset Manager- NICOL National Investment Company Limited (with John Nyoka) has sent us a tribute they have written on the distinguished journalist who contributed so much to broadcasting in Tanzania and Africa, DAVID GERALD WAKATI, who died in November. Extracts: “David had a glorious record of service to the country and press. He was not only a gifted presenter; he was also a brilliant orator who spoke with frankness, and with a very good sense of humour. He will be remembered for his commitment to the cause of excellence in journalism and his contributions to promoting the freedom of the press in Tanzania. We really have lost a true champion of the highest traditions of Tanzanian journalism.

“Do you remember the stamina he had in broadcasting? He broadcasted the whole night while the body of former Prime Minister Edward Sokoine was in Karimjee Hall where people were paying last respects. Personally I knew David Wakati in the late 50s when I was in middle school. His morning BBC news bulletin in Swahili was to us a time keeper. Once it was finished we would rush to school to be on time. If you were late, before you got the lashes, the teacher would shout at you, “didn’t you hear David Wakati this morning?”