The Legacy of Nyerere

AFRICA’S LIBERatION The Legacy of Nyerere Edited by Chambi Chachage & Annar Cassam Africa’s Liberation The Legacy of Nyerere Through the voices of the peoples of Africa and the global South, Pambazuka Press and Pambazuka News disseminate analysis and debate on the struggle for freedom and justice. Pambazuka Press – www.pambazukapress.org A Pan-African publisher of progressive books and DVDs on Africa and the global South that aim to stimulate discussion, analysis and engagement. Our publications address issues of human rights, social justice, advocacy, the politics of aid, development and international finance, women’s rights, emerging powers and activism. They are primarily writ- ten by well-known African academics and activists. All books are available as ebooks. Pambazuka News – www.pambazuka.org The award-winning and influential electronic weekly newsletter providing a platform for progressive Pan- African perspectives on politics, development and global affairs. With more than 1,500 contributors across the continent and a readership of more than 500,000, Pambazuka News has become the indispensable source of authentic voices of Africa’s social analysts and activists. Pambazuka Press and Pambazuka News are published by Fahamu (www.fahamu.org) Africa’s Liberation The Legacy of Nyerere Edited by Chambi Chachage and Annar Cassam An imprint of Fahamu Books Published 2010 by Pambazuka Press, an imprint of Fahamu Books Cape Town, Dakar, Nairobi and Oxford www.pambazukapress.org www.fahamubooks.org www.pambazuka.org Fahamu, 2nd floor, 51 Cornmarket Street, Oxford OX1 3HA, UK Fahamu Kenya, PO Box 47158, 00100 GPO, Nairobi, Kenya Fahamu Senegal, 9 Cité Sonatel 2, POB 25021, Dakar-Fann, Dakar, Senegal Fahamu South Africa, c/o 27A Esher St, Claremont, 7708, Cape Town, South Africa Published in Uganda in 2010 by Fountain Publishers Ltd 55 Nkrumah Road, PO Box 488, Kampala, Uganda First published 2010 Copyright © Pambazuka Press 2010 All rights reserved. Redistribution of the material presented in this work is encouraged by the publisher, provided that the original text is not altered, that the original source is properly and fully acknowledged and that the objective of the redistribution is not commercial gain. Please contact the publisher if you wish to reproduce, redistribute or transmit, in any form or by any means, this work or any portion thereof. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library UK ISBN: 978-1-906387-71-6 paperback UK ISBN: 978-1-906387-72-3 ebook Uganda ISBN: 978-9970-25-000-4 Contents About the contributors vii Preface: How we wish you were here – a tribute to Mwalimu Nyerere ix Firoze Manji Introduction xii Annar Cassam A short biography of Julius Nyerere xvi Madaraka Nyerere But Dear Mwalimu 1 Neema Ndunguru Mwalimu in our popular imagination: the relevance of Nyerere today 3 Chambi Chachage President Nyerere talks to El Mussawar (1984) 7 Interviewed by Nawal El Saadawi Reading history backwards with Mwalimu 19 Seithy Chachage Mwalimu Julius Nyerere: an intellectual in power 28 Haroub Othman Julius Nyerere: between state-centred and people-centred Pan-Africanism 44 Horace Campbell Nyerere, the Organisation of African Unity and liberation 61 Mohamed Sahnoun Nyerere and the Commonwealth 66 Emeka Anyaoku talks to Annar Cassam President Nyerere talks to El País (1991) 72 Interviewed by Ana Camacho Reflecting with Nyerere on people-centred leadership 77 Marjorie Mbilinyi Nyerere’s vision of economic development 93 Faustin Kamuzora Mwalimu Nyerere’s ideas on land 105 Ng’wanza Kamata The village in Mwalimu’s thought and political practice 120 Issa G. Shivji Racial and religious tolerance in Nyerere’s political thought and practice 134 Salma Maoulidi Mwalimu Nyerere and the challenge of human rights 149 Helen Kijo-Bisimba and Chris Maina Peter Mwalimu Nyerere: the artist 160 Vicensia Shule Mwalimu and the state of education 175 Chambi Chachage Index 189 About the contributors Emeka Anyaoku is a former secretary general of the Commonwealth Secretariat 1990–2000. Ana Camacho is a senior journalist with El País, Madrid. Horace Campbell is professor of political science and African- American studies at Syracuse University, New York. Annar Cassam is a former personal assistant of President Julius Nyerere. Chambi Chachage is an independent researcher, newspaper col- umnist and policy analyst based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The late Seithy Chachage was a professor of sociology at the University of Dar es Salaam. Ng’wanza Kamata is a political science lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam and the chair of the Land Rights Research and Resources Institute (LARRRI/HAKIARDHI) board. Faustin Kamuzora is an associate professor of economic development and development informatics at Mzumbe University, Tanzania. Helen Kijo-Bisimba is the executive director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Tanzania. Firoze Manji is the executive director of Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice and the editor-in-chief of Pambazuka News. Salma Maoulidi is the executive director of the Sahiba Sisters Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Marjorie Mbilinyi is a former professor of development studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, based at the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP). Neema Ndunguru is an independent project consultant and writer based in Dar es Salaam. The late Haroub Othman was professor of development studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. Chris Maina Peter is a professor of law at the University of Dar es Salaam. vii AFRICA’S LIBERATION Nawal El Saadawi is an Egyptian writer, activist and doctor of medicine whose many books have been translated into over 30 languages. Mohamed Sahnoun is a former assistant secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 1964–74). Issa G. Shivji is the Mwalimu Nyerere Professor of Pan-African Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. Vicensia Shule is a performing artist and an assistant lecturer at the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, University of Dar es Salaam. viii Preface How we wish you were here: a tribute to Mwalimu Nyerere Firoze Manji Ten years ago, on 14 October 1999, a giant died and left a cavern in our consciousness, if not in our conscience: Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, known to us all as ‘Mwalimu’, a name that, as Nawal El Saadawi points out (see page 7), immediately brings to mind the other giants of the liberation movement – Nkrumah, Lumumba, Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Cabral and many others. Mwalimu’s influence went well beyond the territory that he led to independence. Perhaps a tragedy of all great people is that they are truly recognised for their achievements only after their passing. As Tanzanian people reel under the impact of the concessions subsequent governments have made to the international finance institutions, as they suffer the assault of neoliberal policies, it is really only now that many have begun to realise the extraordinary achievements of the Nyerere years. Whatever criti- cism many of us may have had during his lifetime – and continue to have – about some of his policies, there is no getting away from the transformations that he brought about. One has only to look at the scale of theft and pillaging, the failure of the national project, the politicisation of ethnic identity, the open collusion with trans- national corporations in the plunder of resources that characterise neighbouring countries to understand what efforts Mwalimu made to prevent the same happening in Tanzania. One only has to look at the speed with which Tanzania has played catch-up once ix AFRICA’S LIBERATION Mwalimu ended his term as president in 1985, to be reminded how different things were. ‘Kambarage Nyerere,’ sings Neema Ndunguru in this book (see page 1): How we wish you were here. … But dear Mwalimu, why didn’t you tell us, expose and pre- pare us For the turmoil and struggles that have now engulfed us? Nyerere was not simply a player on the national terrain. He was a Pan-Africanist and an internationalist – not only in his thoughts and writings, but crucially in his praxis. The support and refuge he provided to the liberation movements was unprecedented. His commitment to welcoming and integrating refugees into Tanzanian life and citizenship was extraordinary. And his will- ingness to speak out loud against injustices across the world, including – and especially – about Palestine marks him out from the many so-called leaders who have come to be known more for their betrayal than any commitment to political principles. Consider the outstanding act of solidarity he undertook in the 1970s, seeking to break the isolation of Zambia through the build- ing of the 200-km TAZARA railway – an extraordinary logistical enterprise that was a demonstration of South–South cooperation involving Zambia, Tanzania and China (Monson 2009). There can be few comparable ventures in the history of the continent. We should not be shy in celebrating his achievements. But at the same time, he would be the first to condemn any attempts to romanticise his period in office. This book, parts of which were originally published as a special issue of Pambazuka News in October 2009, seeks both to celebrate Nyerere and to reflect on some of the shortcomings of his policies. Since he retired as president, a whole generation of young people has grown up, many of whom have had little opportunity to read about Mwalimu, to understand why his memory evokes such emotion, and to forge their own views about his contribution. Pambazuka Press is therefore proud to be publishing this book on Nyerere’s legacy. We are grateful to our guest editors, Chambi Chachage and Annar Cassam, for their efforts in making this happen. x PREFACE Reference Monson, J.

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