It is not every day that you receive a letter from Iceland. But I was in Copenhagen when the letter was received and I am sure it is not such a rare occurrence there.

I was with Ms Ulla Baagoe (pronounced in Danish something like ‘bar eu’ without the g; it is also difficult to type on an English typewriter as it, and so many other Danish words, have uniquely Danish accents!). She is the recently elected new Chairperson of the Denmark Tanzania Association (DANTAN). She was opening her mail. It was a letter, apparently inspired by the Tanzanian Ambassador to the Scandinavian countries, from an Icelander asking how he could learn more about DANTAN. So the Britain Tanzania Society’s (BTS’s) opposite numbers in Denmark seem to be broadening their horizons and should soon have at least one new member.

Ulla Baagoe is clearly well chosen as Chairperson because she is so well informed. She works on the Tanzania desk of DANIDA, the Danish Department of International Development Cooperation. Cooperation between Denmark and Tanzania has always been very close and relations always very warm. Ulla Baagoe gave me the latest figures: Total assistance US$73 million in 1990 including US$ 58 million in grants and 80 technical assistance personnel; 50% was expected to go into water, health and education, 38% on transport and 15% on various ongoing commitments in industry, agriculture and the environment.

The former Chairperson, for eight years, Mr Keld Jorgensen, the Roger Carter of DANTAN, outlined to me, in some detail, how DANTAN began and had developed over the years. And it became possible, while listening to him, to begin to compare and contrast DANTAN with the BTS.

The two societies are about the same age – DANTAN 10, BTS 11, but DANTAN has had a far more changeable leadership and, unlike the BTS, many of its early members and even its leaders had never been to Tanzania when they joined. Original motivations in the case of DANTAN were more oriented towards the creation of a New World Order I obtained the impression, as I listened to Mr Jorgensen, (I am sure he will correct me if I am wrong) that, to some extent, the fact that it was Tanzania which so many early members became attracted to was almost incidental. I assume that it was the socialist orientation and the magnetism of its leader, Julius Nyerere, which appealed to the early members. Something similar applies to the BTS which originally seemed to have and probably still has a preponderance of members with socialist sympathies.

The changes in leadership of DANTAN make an interesting tale and illustrate the way in which it continues to modernise and rejuvenate itself at regular intervals.

The first Chairperson resigned after three months when she became head of a committee on male-female equality. She was soon replaced. The second of DANTAN’s Secretaries became Chairman of a political society and couldn’t carry on. The third Treasurer left because he also worked for the Danish State Railway and became far too busy working on the construction of the bridge with the longest span in Europe at the main exit from the Baltic Sea – 1.8kms in length. The first editor of the Association’s quarterly journal ‘Kumekucha’ was lost when she married an Australian and went to live there. The driving force in the Association’s Aahus branch went to Borneo. His successor later left for Botswana! But the Association still thrives.

‘Kumekucha’ the Swahili for ‘Dawn’ is better illustrated and better printed than the journal you are now reading and ‘Kumekucha’ is a much more attractive title than ‘Bulletin of Tanzanian Affairs.’ But it has its disadvantages. I was told that few people in Denmark know what it means! Kumekucha’s 37th issue was published in November 1990. The Bulletin’s 37th issue was published in September 1990.

Usually ‘Kumeckucha’ is produced largely in Danish but its 10th anniversary issue in April 1990 was entirely in English and contained many articles by Tanzanians. One, by Mr Ilyas Abdulrahman, Vice-Chairman of DANTAN, under the title ‘DANTAN for Ten Years’ makes fascinating reading in London where Tanzanians meet regularly in the Tanzania Association and Britons meet in the Britain Tanzania Society.

Mr Abdulrahman wrote that ‘Recently there has been a meeting in Copenhagen where a friendship association between Denmark and Tanzania was discussed’ said my friend Elias … We asked a lot of questions. Where did the initiative come from? Is it official? How does one qualify to be a member? … Could we influence the course (of the association) if we joined? How much can the two countries benefit from such an organisation? Elias smiled and said “We are talking friendship, not politics!”. My reply was “if you want to maintain a friendship, make sure you understand your friend!”

‘Ambassador Mhina was visiting Copenhagen (he resides in Stockholm) … we had a get-together evening …. he was a good lobbyist …. many enrolled at the end of the meeting. They all had different ideas about the organisation … one thing we all agreed on was that it was a good idea. Our (Tanzanian) profile was a heterogeneous group of workers, retired seamen, students, political refugees (from Zanzibar), short term visitors, unemployed permanent residents, mixed (Tanzanian/ Danish) couples. Their (Danish) profile was active politicians, senior government officials, people who contribute in influencing or running the policy of this country. Some of the names mentioned were familiar from the newspapers or television. An interesting combination.

‘(Later) an invitation to an informal evening came from DANTAN .. an appeal to Tanzanians living in Denmark to join the club. We turned up. lnger and Keld Jorgensen were extra sweet … we were all inquisitive; everybody wanted to know everything about everyone. There wasn’t enough time for us all to give our life histories; but what I recall is that our Danish friends got to know more about us than we did about them … That was the time ‘Kumekucha’ was mentioned as a slogan. The sun is rising, wake up, open your eyes and get to know more about each other’s country,culture, traditions, not to mention mentality. Some time later we (my wife and I) became members no 48 of DANTAN.

‘DANTAN was now one year old. The general meeting was held at the Parliament building of Christiansborg … We went through the whole procedure as normal in such meetings. Some Tanzanian’s got a bit bored; could have been problems with the Danish language. The time came when all could have the floor … some militant Zanzibaris raised up to exercise their democratic rights. They aired their opinion about DANTAN and in quite a dramatic way. The situation was a bit unbecoming to some of the parliamentarians present ; other Danes were totally confused … I couldn’t help smiling. With the Zanzibar population in Copenhagen an incident like that was bound to take place. DANTAN had passed the first year without having managed to accommodate the Zanzibar wing … Zanzibaris were quite great in number in those days … Other wise our first general meeting was a success.

More activities followed. Member groups in other parts of Denmark were set up… but as the years went by the number of active Tanzanians decreased drastically. Some of the active Danes took a low profile, too, but they were always replaced by others. Why has the association become less interesting for the Tanzanians living in Denmark? Did they have expectations which were not met? Are DANTAN activities not that interesting? Have they given up making friends and contributing to creating better understanding between the two nationalities? No, actually many think positively about the association, but just as many don’t feel at home in the many meetings held around. I hope these questions will be answered and debated by many others.’

Members of the BTS perhaps need the same debate!

In many other respects DANTAN and BTS are similar. DANTAN tends to have better attended seminars end meetings, usually in the presence of a Tanzanian Cabinet Minister, but less frequently than the BTS. It has development projects in Tanzania and actively campaigns in Denmark in support of Tanzania. DANTAN has 245 members. BTS has twice as many. But the population of Britain is more than ten times that of Denmark. Membership subscription in DANTAN is about £12 for a family – everything is more expensive over there.

And I almost forgot to mention one major difference between the two societies – DANTAN has organised Danish Tanzanian soccer games!
David Brewin

The relatively new part of the Tanzanian media the privately owned newspapers continue to illustrate the press freedom now apparent in Tanzania. The following items appeared in the privately owned Dar es Salaam press during the last part of 1990 – Editor.

FORMER HIGHJACKER ARRESTED
Musa Membar, who took a free ride to Britain aboard an Air Tanzania Boeing 737 which he hijacked with four other youths in 1982, was arrested on September 14th 1990 when he crossed the Kenya-Tanzania border. He had been jailed in Britain for eight years. After his release he became a founder member of the Tanzania youth Democratic Movement under the umbrella of a Tanzanian opposition front headed by Oscar Kambona, former Foreign Minister who has been in exile in Britain since 1967.

Speaking in a BBC interview the other day, Mr Kambona denied any prior knowledge of Member’s departure from London. “He did not bid any of us farewell” he said.
In a letter from the Ukonga maximum security prison, where he is being held, Member said “I returned to Tanzania … to lead a peaceful campaign for multi-party democracy …… (Business Times, October 19).

WHO DESTROYED THE COOPS?
‘Last year the CCM Party ordered the cooperative unions and marketing boards to clear their outstanding debts by the new year, failing which they would face liquidation. Almost a year later the unions owe the banks a staggering Shs 30 billion and the marketing boards owe another Shs 26 billion. To date not a single union has been liquidated.

The Nyererarian state’s handling of agricultural marketing is probably the worst example of the negative impact of collectivist policy …. during the last thirty years. From colonial times until Independence authentic farmers’ crop marketing cooperatives developed in different parts of the country … .. after Independence the freedom of the cooperative movement was systematically undermined by the state …..

Socialism worldwide and nation-wide has demonstrated its tragic but undeniable inability to provide either freedom or progress to the toiling masses. Trying to use cooperatives to achieve socialist objectives in 1990 is a complete aberration. The overpowering majority of CCM members do not believe that cooperatives can be a vehicle for building socialism. They do not want socialism. We all know that, after a generation of Ujamaa, there are hardly any socialists left in Tanzania!

In his parting address to the nation Mwalimu reiterated the CCM’s commitment to building a socialist Tanzania ….’ (Family Mirror, October 16 – 31).

CROCODILE TEARS
‘It raises no eyebrows to hear of loads of cashewnuts stuck in Newala, tobacco in Igalula or coffee in Muleba. These, after all, are confined crops whose markets are out there over the deep blue sea. The sole agents are the bureaucratic laden state marketing boards.

But not when beans are said to be stuck in Karagwe, maize in Sumbawanga or paddy in Malampaka. All these are staple foods, with ready markets in all the major towns …. What is sad about it all is the mentality we have cultivated over the years. The farmers in their memoranda to visiting leaders always appeal to government to help with trucks, with wagons, with gunny bags, with markets.

Given market in formation, loans for trucks and cash from the banks, entrepreneurs from the villages and towns alike could haul and sell off all the surplus crops …

Crying out to the government to undertake every task in this era of trade liberalisation is like shedding crocodile tears.’ (Business Times October 19).

MROSO COMMISSION VINDICATES UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
‘The Commission, under the respected Judge J. A. Mroso, appointed to investigate the closure of the University of Dar es Salaam last May has at last submitted its report, and, together with a number of actions taken since the closure, it seems that the students have been largely vindicated while the government’s handling of the crisis has been heavily criticised ….

A number of corrupt top officials of the university named by the students have been or are in the process of being moved or removed and the badly dilapidated campus is being hurriedly rehabilitated to remove one of the major grievances …

The report indicates that students had good reason to lose confidence in the government and VIJANA, the youth wing of the sole ruling party, which has been lording over the students ever since their autonomous organisation was suppressed in 1978 ….

In July-August last year, at the instigation of VIJANA, two student leaders were detained under humiliating conditions … for calling into question the corrupt and oppressive behaviour of some Party leaders during a visit to Korea for the Youth Festival …’

The article went on to describe the students’ loss of confidence in VIJANA, the government and the Ministry of Education which is heavily criticised in the report. The Principal Secretary had been ‘unnecessarily provocative’, The Commission also did not agree with government criticisms of the staff for supporting the students. The Commission felt that they had played a ‘very positive role in preventing a breakdown in communication’. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor G. R. V. Mmari was described in the article as extremely hard working and honest and the most popular Vice-Chancellor the University had ever had.

The Commission examined the grievances presented by the students and, not surprisingly, in almost every case it found them to be genuine …. The Commission also illustrated how the government controlled radio and newspapers were used in this case as important tools of state against the students ‘some reports did not give an accurate picture of the events and others used language that could have provoked resentment;’ words like ‘traitors’ and ‘not one of us.’ Some of the reports wanted to ridicule the students in front of the nation … letters sent to the newspapers from the University community were either not published or published very late’…… (Family Mirror, October 1-15).

RICHEST UK ASIANS COME FROM TANZANIA
‘When the Prince of Wales invited a group of wealthy Asians to dinner last June, he asked them if they could subscribe one million pounds to his Youth Business Trust. By the time coffee was served five million pounds had been raised ….. four of the top seven Asians in Britain, all millionaires, came from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda … ‘ (Business Times, September 7).

PRESIDENT HITS AT FOREIGN JOURNALISTS
President Mwinyi has lashed out at foreign journalists who under-play the contribution made by the former President, Mwalimu Nyerere to the country’s social and economic development. Recounting the country’s achievements under the National Economic Recovery Programme he said that Mwalimu Nyerere was fully involved in formulating and adopting all economic policy reforms. “Our achievements are the product of collective leadership and efforts in the Party. Government and all the people, and Mwalimu played a major role” he said. “It is through his dedication and selflessness that we are here today.” – Daily News

WORLD BANK AND TANZANIAN CONSULTANTS
Tanzanian consultants will be more involved in national projects undertaken through the World Bank and the African Development Bank. Disclosing the move, the President of the Federation of African Consultants (FECA) Aloyse Peter Mushi, said the two banks would change their procurement rules to accommodate more African consultants. “We are currently negotiating with the bilaterals, some of whom come in with tied aid, using their own consultants, to adopt the same system”. “Some of them, including the governments of Germany, Netherlands and Canada have come out very clearly, that where local expertise exists, this should be given priority in the awarding of consultancy assignments” Mushi said. Tanzania formed its consultancy body, the Tanzania Association of Consultants (TACO) in November 1989.

At a German sponsored joint consultant seminar in Arusha in mid-December 1990 a member of the Tanzanian Planning Commission, Dr Mbogoro, said that development projects in Tanzania were only those which donor countries initiated and preferred to implement. “Because of economic constraints Tanzania does not have its own projects” he said.

This pronouncement provoked strong objections from a member of the German Government who said that Germany did not dictate to recipients but always assisted them to undertake their own projects – Daily News.

Matumbi Cave illustration on postage stamp

The illustration is of a non-postage stamp showing the entrance of one of the Matumbi caves, produced about 1910 by the Benedictine Mission. The picture size is 45mm x 31mm and it is grey in colour.

Although limestone caves exist at Tanga and at Songwe, (Mbeya District), very little is known of others elsewhere in Tanzania. It was therefore with the greatest interest that I saw a cutting from the Cape Argus of 17th June 1911 describing the discovery of two sizeable caves in the Matumbi Hills, some 50 kms from the coast in Kilwa Province.

Library research revealed three more contemporary accounts. Two were in the Berlin magazine ‘Deutsches Kolonialblatt’ and the third in the publication of an Austrian cave-exploring society at Graz. The caves were first noticed and recorded in August 1909 by Police Sergeant Weckauf from Kibata. Investigating an isolated patch of forest, he was surprised to find the large entrance of the Nangoma Cave, used as a refuge in the fighting of a few years before by tribesmen who had left the forest uncleared to hide it. This entrance, 43m wide and 21m high, is at the bottom of a deep hollow in the limestone. Weckauf’s find came to the notice of Ambrose Mayer, a Catholic missionary at the Nambiligja mission, and in February 1910 both men went there together, exploring more of the Nangoma Cave and recording passage lengths which totalled 329m.

At the very end of 1910 the much larger Nduli Cave was visited and found to be 3,630m long. As cave lengths are so often exaggerated in popular accounts, I should emphasise that Mayer has given precise passage lengths for each part of the caves, as if measured, or at least paced, and the totals have been obtained by summing these.

A stream flows through the Nduli Cove and eels and fish were found in it. Many fruit bats were seen there also. ‘A passage at the back of the third hole, leading perhaps to the Nangoma Cave, could not be entered because the flying foxes hung on the head, chest and back of anyone coming in and flew against the lanterns so that they were in danger of being extinguished.

That the caves were moderately well known locally at this time is evidenced by the fact that the Catholic mission produced adhesive stamp-like seals, showing ‘cave entrance at Matumbi’ as illustrated here. It seems likely that these may have been sold for charity and they certainly date from the period when the country was still German East Africa.

One problem that I faced when attempting to discover more about the caves was that their exact location was not known. Thurmann had published his sketch map in 1911, but direct correlation of this with modern maps could not be done because the small area it covers made it impossible to fit the river pattern, especially in view of its unknown accuracy. Fortunately. a copy of the 1900 map used by Thurmann as a basis for his sketch exists in the Royal Geographical Society in London. It names the rivers referred to by Thurmann and so allows the cave locations to be determined in two stages from the 1911 sketch map to the relatively small scale map of 1900 in which details are often only approximate, and then from there to the large scale map of 1968. The river confluence close to the caves is at 8″ 28′ 34″ 5, 38° 48′ 23″ E (grid reference 4787 0633) and the Nangoma and Nduli caves are in grid squares 478063 or 4 78064. The presence, on the 1968 map, of a main track (motorable) from Nandembo to the village at Nakilago should prove useful for reconnaissance.

A cave more than 3.5 km long cannot easily be lost, but the Matumbi caves have attracted hardly any attention since their discovery. A brief mention of their bat guano was made in 1934 and 1948 but I have not been able to find anything else in the normal scientific end general literature. Then in 1966 a list of the world’s long caves included Nduli, but the length given is the same as that in the original accounts, so there had evidently been no subsequent exploration, or at least none recorded. Similarly no plan seems to have been made.

Of course Matumbi was not a tourist area and the caves had negligible economic value, but surely someone must have explored or at least visited them in the last 80 years or so. Dr Waane, the present Director of Antiquities for Tanzania tells me that he went there in 1985 though he di d not travel the full length of Nduli Cave.

DOES ANY READER OF THE BULLETIN KNOW OF ANY OTHER VISITS TO THE MATUMBI CAVES, RECENT OR LONG AGO? Perhaps there are photographs, diary accounts, articles in newspapers or magazines or mentions in regional guide books.
Trevor Shaw

Dr TREVOR R. SHAW is a retired Royal Navy officer who has made a life-long study of caves. His doctorate (as an ‘antique student’) was awarded for work on the history of scientific cave studies.

UNIVERSITY TO REOPEN
The Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam, President Mwinyi, has announced that the University will reopen on January 1st 1991 for students who were expelled in May 1990 to enable them to finish their studies. It is likely that fresh students will be able to join the university in October 1990. The Chancellor has however ordered the expulsion of 13 students for their leading role in the earlier unrest. He directed that eight other students should be given stern warning for ‘utterings and conduct associating them with the instigation.’ Expelled students may re-apply for admission one year after the university reopens. Their applications will be determined by their behaviour during the one year period. Among those awarded honorary degrees on December 1st were Mr Amon Nsekela, who was made a Doctor of Literature.

A CASE TO ANSWER
The former Chief Minister of Zanzibar, Mr Seif Shariff Hamad, who has been charged with possession of secret state documents has a case to answer said District Magistrate Taratibu Adama who has been conducting a 17 month Preliminary Enquiry. Mr Hamad has been committed for trial in the Zanzibar High Court – Daily News.

MAJOR EDUCATION SCANDAL
The Government has foiled a plot to burn the Ministry of Education Headquarters building in Dar es Salaam – one of the most beautiful structures in the city. The aim of the plot was to destroy evidence for the alleged theft of Shs 40,224,436 between May 1988 and April 1989. The Principal Secretary of the Ministry announced that 125 workers had been sacked and that 86 of them would be appearing in court for the alleged theft. Those sacked included a chief accountant, a senior finance management officer, six teachers, 73 accounts personnel and stores assistants, 42 personal secretaries, registry assistants, office supervisors and typists and two artisans.

The crimes include false imprest claims, night allowances, meal allowances and entertainment allowances. Some secretaries were being paid travelling allowances when they did not travel. The drama began on the weekend of October 13th 1990 when the Ministry’s building was surrounded by armed policemen. Some of the accused persons are still missing.

A month later the Home Affairs Minister, Mr Augustine Mrema, announced that the government had formed a 16-man task force of Senior Investigation Officers to deal with the scandal – Daily News.

MULTI PARTYISM
President Mwinyi has set up a Presidential Commission to monitor peoples’ views on the political system most suited to Tanzania. The Commission is to be known as the ‘Presidential Commission on Single or Multi-Party, 1990.’ Daily News.

KILIMANJARO CONQUEROR GETS AWARD
One hundred and ten year old retired Alpine guide Mzee Yohana Kinyala Lauwo, probably the oldest man in Tanzania, has been given a replica of the British Empire Medal given to him by the British Government in 1958. He got the original medal after rescuing British mountaineers in difficulty on the mountain but the medal was stolen by thieves a few years later. The British High Commissioner, Mr Thorold Masefield, made the presentation at the Regional Commissioner’s office in Moshi – Daily News. Mzee Lauwo became famous as the person who led Hans Meyer up the mountain in 1889. The full story was given in Bulletin No 35 – Editor.

MALECELA HAILS JOHN MAJOR
Prime Minister and First Vice-President John Malecela has sent a congratulatory message to John Major on his appointment as British Prime Minister. Mr Malecela said the good relations which exist between Tanzania and Britain and their two peoples are based on a strong foundation. “It is my genuine desire to work very closely with you in consolidating and enhancing these relations for the benefit of our present and future generations” he said – Sunday News.

AND GIVES A STERN WARNING
Mr Malecela, who, since taking up office again in Tanzania. has pursued a vigorous programme of work himself with meetings, speeches and travel all over the country, has warned that he will not hesitate to take punitive action against public officials violating civil service regulations. Apparently setting the standards of his new leadership, he said, in Dodoma, where he received a warm welcome, that he would start by dealing with leaders and other top civil servants. He emphasised accountability and gave as an example reporting time for duty in government offices. He noted that senior officials, even though they had cars, were setting a bad example. “Don’t be surprised if leaders like regional commissioners are sacked” he said – Daily News.

INVESTORS MUST FOLLOW RULES
The Registrar of Companies has cautioned companies seeking to invest in the country under the National Investment Promotion Policy (Bulletin No. 37) that they must abide by the provisions of the Companies Ordinance. The new policy did not repeal the company law he said.

There are great discrepancies between the investor’s registered authorised capital and the costs of projects expected to be undertaken by the firms under the National Investment Policy. According to a list of investors released to the press recently, most of the firms that intend to invest in a wide range of agricultural and industrial projects are local companies. And most of these applied for ventures whose costs greatly exceeded their registered authorised capital – Daily News.