Outbreaks of rinderpest used to occur annually in cattle and wildlife in Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya up until 1962 with the last recorded clinical outbreak in the area being in 1967. However in 1982 the disease was once again diagnosed on clinical and pathological grounds in buffalo and cattle at several widely separated localities in the north of the country. An intensive vaccination programme was started and the clinical disease disappeared once more, but the question remained was it possible for the wildlife and/or ‘shoat’ population to act as a reservoir of infection. After a couple of years research we found evidence that buffalo in the North and West of the Serengeti National Park had been continually exposed to the disease since 1982, whilst seropositive sheep and goats were found widely distributed in the north of Tanzania, especially in Simanjiro in Kitete District and Babati, Musoma and Tarime districts.

Cattle have been vaccinated in northern Tanzania annually for many years but the intensity of vaccination has been increased considerably since the 1982 outbreak. Between 1985 and 1988 a country-wide cattle vaccination programme was carried out and the immune status of the notional herd monitored. It is known therefore that the possibilities of transmission of infection between wildlife, small ruminants and cattle have been greatly reduced. Consequently the virus must be cycling separately within each population of domestic smell ruminants and buffalo. It must be assumed that this will continue unless there is intervention with vaccination of small ruminants. This, however, will not result in eradication of the virus if it continues to cycle in wildlife.

In summary, at present there is little, if any, reported clinical rinderpest in Tanzania, but the likelihood of the subclinical condition once more rearing its ugly head, particularly if the level of vaccination fa1ls, should not be underestimated.
Mark Jago

Mr MARK JAGO is a Veterinary Surgeon who spent two years from 1987 to 1989 on a project jointly organised by the Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute and the European Community looking at the epidemiology of rinderpest in the wildlife and sheep and goat populations of Tanzania.

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.

Sketch of monument by Alex Vines

Olduvai Gorge, Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro and Serengeti are not the only splendid assets that Tanzania offers the tourist. Along the hundreds of miles of Tanzanian coast lie numerous ‘Swahili’ ruins dating from what in Europe would be called the ‘Middle Ages’. Some are well-known, though infrequently visited, such as the sites with resident curators administered by the National Museums of Tanzania at Kilwa Kisiwani, Songo Mnara, Kunduchi and Kaole. Many others are however neglected and are seldom visited except by the local inhabitants.

Our knowledge of these ruins derives largely from the pioneer work in the 1950’s and 1960’s of the archaeologists Neville Chittick and Peter Garlake. Their fieldwork and reports provide the basic archive from which all subsequent study and survey commences. In conjunction with the Department of Antiquities these sites were revisited in 1967 to assess their current state of preservation and to make an up to date photographic record of what remained. These brief visits to the Mosques and other coral-built structures on the coast from Kilwa up to Tanga provided confirmation of what everyone feared – that many of the sites had deteriorated seriously in the twenty years since Chittick’s and Garlake’s assessments. This of course is not at all surprising given Tanzania’s poverty. Health and education must clearly take priority over crumbling ruins. But within these constraints Tanzania could still capitalise on her heritage of ruins.

Different dangers face different monuments. Simple neglect was the most common threat to the sites in isolated locations. Foliage and bush were slowly breaking up the fabric of walls through their iron grip. This was however the least serious threat, although affecting some 70% of the sites visited. The simple and not too costly answer would be occasional modest clearance of particularly threatening undergrowth, but this creates its own problems. Many of the neglected Mosque sites are shrines to local ancestors, littered with carefully placed offerings of cloth, rose water or money. Disturbing such monuments would breach the sanctity they continue to enjoy. It can therefore be argued that their secondary religious nature should be respected as much as if they were complete and functioning Mosques, accepting that the local people are happy to tolerate the undergrowth as an integral part of their ancestor’s shrine.

‘ROBBER TRENCHES’
A second threat noted at 10% of the sites visited along the coast was robbery. The situation at Kisiju was especially worrying. The local population had taken to robbing the sites in the area for building materials. This has meant that in many places ‘robber trenches’ remain as the only witness of where walls once stood. Kisiju is a problem because of the ‘Ujamaa’ settlement there which means that many of the local population are originally from other provinces of Tanzania. They therefore feel little affinity with the ancestors of the ruins. The visiting team was told by one incredulous local that it was the first visiting team to ever show interest in the ruins.

THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRIES
Although Tanzania continues to suffer from acute poverty and a lack of development, where economic development has taken place or is proposed could have lasting consequences for the ruins. Construction related to the oil and gas industry on the island of Sobngo Songo has severely damaged the island’s ruins. It is a reminder both of the potential threat to Tanzania’s heritage and of the need for archaeological consultancy if the plans to develop the Kilwa archipeligo by the petro-chemical industry go ahead.

There is no reason why development and conservation could not go hand in hand. In Botswana legislation stipulates that all development projects need to be first assessed for their potential environmental damage. Companies are obliged, as part of this process, to obtain planning permission and therefore to consult an archaeologist. In Tanzania both the Archaeology Unit at the University and the Antiquities Department have the expertise to carry out such work.

THE GROWTH OF FUNDAMENTALISM
One further threat is unique to the standing and still functioning Mosques. With the growth of fundamentalist Islam and the tensions and competition between Sunni and Shi’ite traditions stimulated by the Iranian, Omani and Saudi Arabian funds flowing into Tanzania to support their particular brand of Islam, historical Mosque edifices are beginning to be modified by renovation or alteration reflecting the form of Islam practised by the different congregations. For the architectural historian this is particularly worrying. Initiatives by more fundamentalist and puritanical sects have begun to cover over and, at times, destroy decorated Kiblas. These could, if they offend be whitewashed or covered over which would preserve them for future scholars. There is no reason why they, should be destroyed. They are a valuable part of East African and, indeed, world history, proving visible evidence of the past great trade routes of the world. We have only to think of the loss to British culture and research from the depredations of Middle Age art in British churches by the Puritans to assess for ourselves the potential loss to Tanzania’s awareness of her past and of her tourist resources.

THE LACK OF MARKETING
One of the striking features about the Tanzanian mainland and its monuments, in contrast to Zanzibar or Kenya, is the lack of marketing, publicity and care. Kenya makes much of Gedi, near Malindi and Fort Jesus in Mombasa as tour destinations. Tanzania may not wish for cheap mass tourists but it is experienced in conducting specialist game tours. Research such as that described by Mark Horton in this Bulletin (No 35) is an important first step in awakening a wider audience to this aspect of Tanzania’s cultural heritage. The next stage should be feasibility studies of ruins as a potential tourist attraction. This has been done already 1n Zanzibar where the international project to rehabilitate the Stone Town is in part a response to such groundwork.

Perhaps the mainland could learn from Zanzibar whose ‘National Museums and Monuments’ is about to launch a Development Plan for ruins and monuments. As UNESCO World Heritage Monuments, the ruins In Kilwa archipelogo could certainly attract specialist tours which could provide badly needed foreign exchange. It is a shame that the existing lack of coordination between those with the relevant expertise in Tanzania in National Museums, Antiquities and the Archaeology Unit to bring about such a plan will mean that Kenya and Zimbabwe will market and continue to prosper in an area that Tanzania could equal or surpass.
Alex Vines

Mr ALEX VINES has held the graduate scholarship at the British Institute in Eastern Africa. He is currently a part-time tutor for African Archaeology and History for the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA).

MALARIA PARASITES RESIST CHLOROQUINE
Malaria continues to be the leading killer disease in Tanzania and chloroquine is becoming increasingly less effective as a cure. Between the late 1960’s and early 1980’s the effective dose of the drug for semi-immune pat tents rose from a single dose of 10 milligrammes per kilo of body weight to 25 milligrammes spread over three days. In Zanzibar even this higher dose can no longer be relied upon – Daily News

DIRECT EXPORT OF CROPS
Prime Minister Joseph Warioba has announced that farmers are now free to export some non-traditional crops directly. The country’s traditional export crops are cotton. coffee, tea, tobacco, sisal, cashewnuts and pyrethrum which are exported through marketing boards. The crops which can now be exported directly include pigeon peas, green mong. yellow gram, groundnuts, simsim, fruits, flowers and spices.

SAMAHANI ….
Reader Mr W. Wenban-Smith has pointed out an error on page 31 of Bulletin No 36. We have now checked with the International Coffee Organisation which states that coffee production in Tanzania in the 1990 -91 season was 928,000 60 kilo bags equivalent to 55,702 tons. In 1989-90 production totalled 858,000 bags. We have not been able to obtain the earlier figures – Editor.

Few African countries can match Tanzania’s good record in census enumeration. There have been three censuses since independence – in 1967, 1978 and 1988. In spite of some organisational difficulties mainly concerned with lack of transport to carry enumerators to the more remote areas, the degree of accuracy and the facilities of the census office are now quite impressive. What a change from the 1931 census when ‘headmen of villages were required to produce seeds of four different plants to indicate the men, women, boys and girls respectively in their areas’! The preliminary report of the 1988 census was published in mid- 1989 and some significant features emerge from it.

It revealed that the total population was 23,174,336, almost a million less than the 1987 forecast of 24,000,000:

………………1978 ….1988
Mainland 17,048,329 (+3.3%) 22,533,758 (+2.8%)
Zanzibar 479,235 (+2.7%) 640,578 (+3.0%)
Total 17,527,564 (+3.3%.) 23,174,336 (+2.8%)

Figures in brackets refer to the average annual growth rate for the previous ten-year period.

There are more females than males in the total population. giving a male/female sex ratio of 96 per 100.

This is significant because it represents a slowing down in the rate of population increase for the first time since records began. However, even this ‘slower’ rate of 2.8% per annum is rapid by world standards and, if continued, would lead to a doubling of the country’s population in only 25 years. Furthermore, in Zanzibar, the population growth rate has increased slightly compared with the previous period.

REGIONAL GROWTH
Coast, Mara and Ruvuma regions grew faster between 1978 and 1988 than they did In the previous inter-census period. The sharpest decrease in the growth rate was experienced in Dar es Salaam, Tabora and Kagera regions. Other regions showed a slight decrease or no change. These variations between regions are the result of migration rather then natural increase. It is at the smaller scale of districts that significant trends can be observed.

URBAN GROWTH
It could be argued that the outstanding demographic characteristic of Africa today is rapid urban growth, which is occurring at a rate unparalleled in any other world region. Migration and natural increase contribute equally to the process in Africa’s case. The situation in Tanzania is that the overall rate of urban growth has slowed down during the decade, largely because of a slowing down of Dar es Salaam’s growth.

The figures for urban population growth are as follows:

TOWN 1952 1957 1967 1978 1988
———~~,- — –”
DAR ES SALAAM 99,140 128,742 272,821 757,346 1,234,754
MWANZA 13,691 19,871 34,861 110,611 182,899
ZANZIBAR – – – 110,669 157,634
TANGA 22,136 38,053 61,058 103,409 138,274
MBEYA 5,566 6,932 12,479 75,505 135,614
MOROGORO 11,501 14,507 25,252 61,890 117,760
ARUSHA 7,598 10,038 32,452 55,281 117,622
MOSHI 9,079 13,726 26,864 52,223 96,838
TABORA 14,031 15,361 21,012 67,392 93,506
DODOMA 12,262 13,435 23,559 45,703 88,473
IRINGA 8,013 9,587 21,746 57,182 84,860
KIGOMA 11,600 – – 50,044 77,055
MTWARA 8,074 – – 48,510 76,632
MUSOMA 4,937 – – 32,658 63,652
SHINYANGA 2,480 – – 21,703 63,471
SONGEA 990 – – 17,954 54,830
SUMBAWANGA 2,116 – – 28,586 47,878
LINDI 11,330 – – 27,308 41,587
SINGIDA 3,125 – – 29,252 39,598
BUKOBA 3,570 – – 20,430 28,702

Dar es Salaam’s growth rate was down from 8.1% to 4.8% p. a. But this slower rate could give Dar a population in excess of 3 million by the year 2004 with further demands on the city’s infrastructure. Some other towns are growing very rapidly, for example, Moshi, 6.2% p.a. and Mbeya, now the fastest growing town in Tanzania, 6.7% (giving a doubling every eleven years). The table above indicates the huge gap between Dar es Salaam and the second town, Mwanza. It is also apparent that, in spite of government policies to promote Dodoma as the capital, its growth has been modest. It was the fifth largest town in 1952 but was ninth in 1988. Changes in the relative size of towns may be partly attributed to changes in Tanzania’s external relationships. For example, the strengthening of political and transport links with Zambia and SADCC countries seems to have had a positive impact on Mbeya while the collapse of sisal exports may underlie Tanga’s relative decline.

Urban growth in the past was due largely to migration of males in search of work, resulting in high urban sex ratios. In 1978 for example, there were over 120 men for every 100 females in Arusha, Bukoba and Moshi. The 1988 census reveals that this male dominated urban sex ratio has declined in nearly all towns from an average of 110 in 1978 to 105 in 1988 but this is still higher than the average of 96. This unbalanced sex ratio is not caused by differential fertility between districts, but by migration from rural to urban areas. Whereas in the past this movement was male dominated, the declining urban sex ratios reveal that now it is increasingly female dominated. Indeed, in the case of some towns like Mbeya there are now more females than males. Its sex ratio of 95 is below the national average. Only three towns, Zanzibar, Kigoma and Mtwara went against the national trend and showed an increase in sex ratios because of inward male migration.

The effect of migration upon rural areas has been to produce a divided Tanzania, at least in terms of its sex ratios. Two broad areas of the country are male dominated. The first extends from the coast between Dar and Tanga and extends inland to Morogoro and from there to Arusha and the Kenya border, with an offshoot from Morogoro to Kilombero district. The second lies further west and extends from Chunya northward through Tabora to Kagera and the Uganda border. Both these areas offer prospects of wage employment for males, in cash crop production or in small industrial enterprises like mining, as is the case in Chunya. Adjacent to these are the female dominated rural districts. The largest forms a huge belt of the country extending from the Mozambique border northwards through Iringa, Doodoma and Singida to Mara. There is a smaller female dominated pocket In the Pare and Usambara mountains of the north-east. These areas experience male outward migration because their harsher environments or more peripheral position have depressed the opportunity for economic activity.

Two broad points can be made in conclusion. Firstly, it would appear that government policy since 1967 – villagisation, decentralisation, capital city relocation – which potentially had large scale implications for the distribution of population, has not had a major impact upon the demographic situation in the country. Migration to urban areas continues, and even if the growth of Dar es Salaam has slowed down, that of many regional centres has not. Dodoma’s growth is less than one might expect and reveals that central location may be insufficient to offset other perceived disadvantages.

Secondly, although the rate of growth has slowed down, the annual addition of some half a million people to the country’s population is still considerable and increases the pressure on resources such as cultivable land. Furthermore, the youthful population structure, with 45% of the population below sixteen years, places an enormous burden upon health and education services.

The Economic Survey for Tanzania (1988) recorded a growth rate for the economy of 4.1% compared with a population growth of 2.8% As a result, the average per capita income showed an increase for the first time in a decade. Of course it does not mean that the benefits will be felt by the average Tanzanian immediately but at least it is a move in the right direction.
Clive Sowden

Mr CLIVE SOWDEN is a Senior Lecturer in Geography at Newcastle Polytechnic and has also, on three occasions, been a Visiting Lecturer in the University of Dar es Salaam. From 1958 to 1964 he was an Education Officer mostly at Tabora Boys’ Secondary School.

Tanzania is suffering, as this Bulletin goes to press from its worst floods since 1944. President Mwinyi has launched an appeal to international donors for urgent help. More than 100 people have been killed and 1,500 houses have been swept away in the Mtwara and Lindi regions. 300 people have also been made homeless in Babati town.

STOP PRESS – THE FLOODS
The latest news from the flood zone in southern Tanzania is that victims urgently needed help from the local and international communities including food, medicines, temporary shelter, clothing and cooking utensils. Prime Minister and First Vice-President Warioba, returning from the devastated area, said that the government also needed vessels including helicopters to distribute relief supplies. Most of the affected areas were inaccessible by road.

He estimated that Shs 260 million would be needed to rebuild four big bridges washed away or damaged by the floods and many smaller bridges had been affected.

More than 72,000 people were homeless in Lindi district. In some cases the midnight floods from the Makonde Plateau had wiped out entire settlements leaving no trace. Twenty houses have also been destroyed in Morogoro region following heavy rains which have fallen all over the country.