You are here > Tourism > Statistics > History

Independance of Tanzania
At the time the Meru case reached the General Assembly, Julius Nyerere returned from Edinburgh . Archbishop Edgar Marantha, going to meet him at airport, offered a seat in his car to Maria Gabriel, Nyerere's fiancée. She was studying at the Dar-es-salaam St Joseph's convent to perfect her English and general education.

Not having seen Julius for three years, she was worried lest he had changed and she turned down the Archbishop's offer saying: ‘My Lord, I am not sure he is the same man I'm in love with. Anyhow, it is not a girl's place to run after a man, not even in a bishop's car……..'

Nyerere soon reassured her and after his salary had been settled, together they went to Musoma. There, on January 24, 1953, they were married by father William Collins, a Mary knoll Father, at the church. The long wait for twenty-four years old Maria was over. Six years is long engagement in any country …. A representative of Barclay Leech man, the Member for social services in Twining’s Administration, had also greeted Nyerere at the airport. Leech man was mine was interested in the young Africa who had studied in his native Scotland. When he learnt of Nyerere’s M.A., he suggested that he should be given a European teacher’s salary. The Governor and the Colonial Office agreed, but they had reckoned without Kenya’s officialdom, who feared local repercussions if an African or an Asian were to be paid a European salary. Barclay Leech man could show Nyerere all the good-will in the World, but he could not give him the practical acknowledgment he deserved. Leech man never told Nyerere about this. Nine years later, When Nyerere was already Prime Minister of Tanganyika he authorized the author to tell the story. Nyerere’s appointment as history master of St Francis’ College, Pugu, near Dar-es-salaam, was officially made on October 9, 1952. The decision had actually been taken when Father Walsh told him in England that the three top classes of St Mary’s College, Tabora, Were being transferred to Pugu, Where the catholic Hierarchy was setting up its first territorial secondary school in Tanganyika. Nyerere was now offered a salary of 300 pounds; after a lot of argument between Father Walsh and the Government, this was raised to 450 pounds, plus a thirty-five per cent living allowance. Naturally Nyerere made haste to see his nationalist friends in Dar-es-salaam. He had read, while in Edinburgh, accounts of their performance before the constitutional committee; now he heard details, which lost nothing in the telling. Yet these excited tales invariably ended in sadness, with an account of the Meru case. After the wedding, when taking his bride from Musoma to the capital, Nyerere stopped in Mwanza for a discussion with Hamza Mwapachu and Abdullah Fundikira, old friends from Makerere days. They agreed to write essays on various subjects: Fundikira on agriculture, Mwapachu on social development, and Nyerere on political theory. All of them were quietly preparing for the day when would embark on political action. In February, 1953, Julius and Maria started life in Pugu in a new house built for them, with a reasonable salary and the prospect of three of three peaceful, studious years. Soon Nyerere began to meet new people, some as intelligent and stimulating as those he had left behind in Edinburgh. One of them was, Amir Jamal, a young Asian business man with a first class brain. Born in Tanganyika in 1920, he went to school there and then to India by train as a doctor. Despite his high marks, he could not get into the overcrowded Medical Faculty of Bombay University and therefore studied politics and economics. Back in Dar-es-salaam in 1942, he entered the family business. Financial success, however, did not satisfy him. He was looking for something more important, more creative than lucrative transactions. In the autumn of 1953, at a British council sundowner, he met Julius Nyerere. They only exchanged a few words, but Jamal had the feeling that this was a man well worth knowing. He wrote to but received no reply. Later on Majorie Nicholson, Secretary of the Fabian Colonial Bureau (now the Fabian Common wealthy Bureau), told him to get in touch with Nyerere. To his second letter, mentioning her name, he had an apologetic answer and a meeting followed. This was the beginning of a relationship which was to develop into a close friendship. Another man Nyerere met at this time was Fraser Murray, a barrister and an idealist who, during the war, had served with the K.A.R and lost an arm in Burma. His wife, Moira, because secretary of the Tanganyika Council of Women, founded by Lady Twining in 1953. The purpose of the T.C.W. was to bring about co-operation between Europe, Asian and African women. European and Asia women got on well, but the gap between the European and Africa women was enormous. Mrs. Murray’s office was at the Arnautoglu Community Center, run by Denis Phombeah, a Nyasa, at that time in the thick of African affairs. His closest friends were Oscar kambona and Zuberi Mtemwu, who in 1962 was to oppose Nyerere in the presidential election. All of them were much influenced by Jimmy MacGairl’s, a remarkable Scot who did more for Africans in urban areas than any other European. A Community Development Officer, he started his activities in the Arnautoglu Community Center in Dar-es-salaam, on a brother-to-brother basis. News of this got around quickly and young Africans flocked to him. One of them was Rashid kawawa, who obtained his first social service job on McGairl’s recommendation. Murray was much concerned about these young men, and the thoughts awakening in them. To give them an opportunity to clarify their minds, he invented them to his house. Julius Nyerere, whom he had met through his wife, was among his guests. We had a little group which we called the oracle (Murray has told the author). Our idea was to run it on the lines of an Oxford discussion group. A nucleus of eight people formed the oracle, its mainstay being two Asians, Amir Jamal and Eddy Copper, my two oldest friends in Tanganyika. Copper, a builder, was also the oracle’s secretary. It was a non-racial group, including a few broadminded Europeans, such as Basil Thompson, Who had a genuine approach to people, regardless of their colour. Every Friday we used to meet in each other’s houses without refreshments, as these might have embarrassed the Africans who could not have afforded to return the courtesy. The host’s duty was to get some one to lead off the discussion. On Friday the meeting was held at Amir Jamal’s house, and he introduced Julius, saying that he would talk on conscription. This was at the time of the Mau Mau emergency in Kenya, when security and military preparations were in everyone’s mind. I cannot remember all Julius said, but I remember that all of it was sensible. Fraser Murray told his friends about Nyerere, predicting that he would become Prime Minister of Tanganyika one day. Randal Sadleir, then Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs, asked to meet him. This was arranged to take place at the Cosy Café in Dar-es-salaam, where the three argued until 2 am. Over brandy for which Murray paid. Sadleir was greatly impressed by Nyerere. It was a common myth that I was the power behind Julius and Tanu (Murray has said) I never gave advice. Julius knew that I supported him politically, but it was much more important for me that I was his friend. Later I did legal work for Tanu. The first big case was that of Ali Migeya, in Bukoba. He was an early ‘again the Government’ chap, basically bolshy, but not a political figure. At that time Tanu was just a dirty word; it was almost seditious to talk about Tanu. I brought Migeya before a D.C who was a friend of mine. This was the first time that Tanu defended one of its own members. Julius attached such importance to this that he met me at the airport when I returned from Bukoba. Later I tried many big Tanu cases, and defended Julius himself in 1958. But this still lay in the future. In the early months of 1953 an increasing number of leading Africans came to pugu to discuss affairs with Nyerere, bringing him more and more into politics. Yet he did not neglect his classes or students, although clearly the latter were bound to suffer. Some of the visitors were indignant, others sad, yet others frustrated. Nyerere, they said, had to do this, that, or the other. The most urgent thing was to recapture T.A.A. They insisted that the good work done by Vedast Kyaruzi and Lucia no Tsere must not be wasted. For the first, but by no means the last time, Julius gave way to pressure and in April, 1953, ran for office in T.A.A. Opposed by Abdul Sykes, the outgoing President, who at that time was much better known in Dar-es-salaam than Nyerere; his chances were less than even. Fortunately, Denis Phombeah, the returning officer, considered him the better man of the two. As manager of Amautoglu Hall, he knew many people and canvassed for Nyerere. To save both Sykes and Nyerere embarrassment, he asked them to withdraw while the voting by show of hands took place. Nyerere was elected by a small margin, thus stepping on to the first rung of the political ladder. His friends now urged that he must turn T.A.A. into a political organization, and pointed to Harry Nkumbula, 1 who is a neighboring Northern Rhodesia had organized the National congress party. Nyerere began to study T.A.A’S constitution and the rules originally laid down by Sir Donald Cameron. In Britain, he had talked to many Ghanaians and analyzed Kwame Nkrumah’s Constitution. Every day he realized more clearly that the Government would pay no attention to nationalist demands, however reasonable, unless they had the organized power of the people behind them. Only a political party would enable him to fight it out with the British. When on August 10, 1953, Twining banned civil servants from T.A.A., Nyerere wrote to protest against this: In this Territory, the majority of educated Africans are in the civil service. Banning them from membership of political organization in the Territory. This, Your Excellency, is a serious blow to our political development. (August 10, 1953) In Conclusion, he asked for a compromise which would enable civil servants to play some part in political organizations. His letter was ignored. This high-handed treatment rankled. It partly explains why Nyerere lifted the ban on civil servants joining Tanu after he had become Tanganyika’s first president. His new, young country, he believes, cannot afford to exclude a large segment of its educated population from participation in public life. On October 10, 1953, there was a T.A.A. meeting in the little house with the beautifully carved Arab door which Sir Donald Cameron had built in New Street. Because T.A.A. was very low in funds, one of its rooms had been rented to an Asian, who was running a laundry. The other was the T.A.A. office. In the small airless room Julius Nyerere sat on one chair at a decrepit desk, John Rupia on another chair, the Sykes brothers and Dossa Aziza perched on packing cases. Nyerere opened the meeting by saying that he had given much thought to T.A.A., but he could not transform it into a political organization. His friends were thrilled, as this meant that T.A.A. was finished and that they would now form a real political party. There were many suggestions as to what to call it. Abdul Sykes remembered that while waiting for repatriation at kalian camp outside Bombay, they had discussed political organization and tried all sorts of names, of which he liked Tanganyika African Union best. To Nyerere this sounded too much like Kenya African Union, and he thought that something, for instance ‘national’, should be added, calling it Tanganyika National African Union. Ally Sykes remarked that the initials of Tanganyika National African union T.N.A.U., were A tongue-twister; but if the name were rearranged to Tanganyika African National Union, T.A.N.U. would be easy to say. ‘T.A.N.U.’—they all repeated the four initials which were to become famous in African history. ‘T.A.N.U.’ Thus was the Tanganyika African National Union born. Nyerere modeled it’s constitution on that of Nkrumah’s Convention Peoples’ Party; the basic structure and much of the actual phrasing was taken over. Tanu was ‘to fight relentlessly until Tanganyika is self-governing and independent’, ‘to build up a united nationalism’; it was to fight for ‘elections for all bodies of local and central government ….to have African majorities’; for small industries, training schools artisans, fair prices for consumers and producers, minimum wage and compulsory primary education. Tanu was to fight against ‘tribalism and all isolationist tendencies amongst Africans….Against racialism and racial discrimination and federation until the demand ‘comes from the African inhabitants of these territories.’ Membership was to be open to Africans only, from the age of 18 ; trade unions and tribal associations could affiliate provided they charged their members a political levy which would be paid to Tanu. If Tanu was to become a political party, it had to have mass support. Already in 1948 T.A.A. had 39 branches, with 1,780 members. The chances were that all would join Tanu. But without money, without a publication, without means to advertise, it seemed hopeless to build these few hundred educated Africans into a popular following. Then came an incident which convinced the nationalists more than ever that they had to organize themselves. In Lusaka, Harry Nkumubla’s National Congress Party sponsored a Pan-African Congress, to which for the first time British, American and Far Eastern friends were also invited. It was a matter of prestige that, when the slogan was: ‘Yours is the national struggle for freedom ….’ T.A.A., Bokhe Munanka, collected a sum sufficient for his own expenses. As the British authorities would not grant Munanka a passport, in the end Ally Sykes and Denis Phombeah became Tanganyika delegates. Ally was one of the three Sykes brothers, who had served during the war in the K.A.R.; he had then found employment in a dance band in Nairobi. In 1948 he returned to Dar-es-salaam to become a civil servant; by 1952 he was running the Dar-es-salaam employment agency, a Government concern; he was also secretary-General of T.A.G.S.A., the Tanganyika African Government Servants Association. Denis Phombeah was in the happy position of owning a motor bicycle, the only means of transport the young nationalists had. Ally Sykes induced T.A.G.S.A to pay for the two air tickets to Lusaka; from the funds left over from kirillo Japheth’s trip to New York, they paid in advance for hotel accommodation in Salisbury, where they had to change aircraft and spend the night, and for their stay in Lusaka. Nothing was left to chance-or so they thought … Sykes’ and Phombeah’s troubles began in Salisbury. They were given a form to sign which would have declared them prohibited immigrants. Both refused to put their names to these documents as they were merely in transit to Lusaka. Then they were placed under arrest at the airport, and their luggages were confiscated. Sykes’ suitcase contained, so he says, a cine-camera which had cost 90 pounds, the result of years of economy. He never saw it again. Next morning, without being allowed to touch down in Lusaka, they were flown to Blantyre in Nyasaland. They had neither money, nor accommodation. An African friend, Charles Mwingeri, Wanted to put them up, but he could not do so without permission from the superintendent of locations. This official turned out to be a decent fellow, but he could not grant permission, as it was against the Africans in a white area to receive visitors in their rooms. The superintendent put his garage at the two Tanganyika’s’ disposal; they could not wash nor could they have a change of shirts. In Zomba they approached a European lawyer, but he told him that he never took on African cases. Even a man much less sensitive than Julius Nyerere would have been shaken by Sykes’ and Phombeah’s experiences. Granted, such things could not happen in Tanganyika, a Trust Territory, but even there in a public place no African would be served a drink without a drink permit, and no African would be served a meal in a European restaurant. There was nothing Nyerere could do to get redress for his friends, expect go ahead and organize Tanu. And that is what he proceeded to do, with furious determination. Nyerere had a few small cards up his sleeve. Sent to a teachers’ conference in Tabora, he talked to friends and colleagues about the aims of the rejuvenated T.A.A., of which he had been elected president. He explained his political concepts and asked that they should be discussed at T.A.A. branch meetings. He also went to conferences in Dodoma and Iringa, Where he sounded T.A.A. members on his proposals for a new constitution. These were conversations among individuals, and some of those who took part developed into staunch helpers. At Dodoma, Nyerere re-met Oscar Kanyame Chiume, another Nyasa, both dedicated nationalists who taught at the Australian Church Missionary Society’s’ secondary school. Next he went to a conference in the Lake Province, when the headmistress of the Kasha kasha Girls’ School in Bukoba, a Swedish Lutheran missionary called Barbra Johansson, first heard about him. Then he paid a Visit to Bukoba, where Africans gave him a him. Then he paid a visit to Bukoba, where Africans him a warm reception. Realizing how much depended on his personal appearances; Nyerere came to see one important fact: the headquarters of T.A.A. in Dar-es-salaam had no authority. On his return he told his friends that to achieve a national position; they must concentrate on developing their organization in the capital. Thanks to devoted spadework which followed, Tanu, when it came officially into existence, had a solid base in Dar-es-salaam. And yet there was no short cut to national publicity. Nyerere and his band of helpers wrote pamphlets, planned member’s drives, dreamt about advertising. As they had no funds, not even money for postage, the best they could do was to ask the railway workers to take their duplicate leaflets to the places they went to in the course of their duty, and to entrust their distribution to local sympathizers. The railway works and their contacts proved surprisingly efficient. After some months, subscription began to come in, and the nationalists saw their following grow. They decided to proceed with the registration of Tanu. This proved a tricky matter. The registrar general found fault both with Tanu’s aim, some of which he regarded as bordering on sedition, and with the list of its office-bearers, which did not contain the correct name, occupation, address and tribe of each man. Although they had done their best to comply with the registration ordinance, Tanu’s application was turned down. Sitting at home, Ally Sykes was thinking about Tanu’s difficulties. He looked through his books and came across his British Legion card. This gave him an idea. He designed a card, with two flags, one green symbolizing peace, the other black symbolizing Africans. To this day, the Tanu cards bear Ally Sykes’ design. In 1954 Nyerere and his friends gladly accepted it. As Ally Sykes was Tanu’s treasurer, he went next day to the Tanganyika Standards to ask the printers how much they would charge for printing 5,000 cards. They demanded 50 cents (6d.) per card. Sykes beat them down to 35 cents. At this time, for Africans even that tiny sum was a great deal of money. In addition to holding the Tanu treasurer ship, Ally Sykes was General Secretary of T.A.G.S.A.; he turned therefore to the Executive of this organization, which donated 25 pounds; from his own pocket Sykes contributed 30 pounds. The rest of the money for the party card was guaranteed by Francis Kaskaiga and Dr Michael Luguzia. When the cards were printed, the first seven made out were: No 1- Julius Nyerere; No 2- Ally kleist Sykes; No 3- Abdul Sykes; No 4- Dossa Aziz; No 5-Denis Phombeah; No 6-Domie Ockochi; No 7- John Rupia. Tanu could not expand, however, unless its leaders secured registration. Nyerere used every possible opportunity to visit the province, where the old T.A.A. received him growing excitement. Local people proved enthusiastic supporters and white settlers for the first time heard about Tanu men going from mud hut to mud hut telling people to educate themselves and prepare for the day when they will be running their own country. On July 7, 1954, T.A.A. had its Annual General Meeting in Dar-es-Salaam. On this occasion Julius Nyerere and his friends took a historic decision. Regardless of registration difficulties, they announced the transformation of T.A.A. into the Tanganyika African National Union, the first African political organization in their country’s history. Nyerere was unanimously elected president, though he lay it down that both he and the members of the National Executive should be subject to re-election by the Annual Delegates conference. The National Executive was to meet quarterly, but in view of communications difficulties, there was to be an Executive Center Committee, Consisting of the president and nine members, all residing in Dar-es-salaam. Denis Phombeah was elected its first secretary; it was to meet weekly and have full responsibility ‘in the event of an emergency’. Thus was Tanu officially born and thus did Julius Nyerere become leader of his own political party. He was thirty-two year old. Since Independence, ‘the seventh day of the seventh month’, is a national holiday in Tanganyika. T.A.N.U. Begins to Grow TANU’S National Executive held its first meeting in August, 1954. There was only one item on the agenda: to draft a memorandum for submission to the members of the U.N. Visiting mission, due to arrive in Dar-es-salaam in September. Chairmen of all provincial Tanu-formality T.A.A. - Branches were present each accompanied by two of their local representative. Julius Nyerere presided and members of the Dar-es-salaam Executive acted as hosts. This gathering of young nationalists framed what amounted to the first Tanu programmer. It embodied an eloquent plea for the eradication of ignorance and poverty. It declared the financial assistance received from Britain inadequate, and asked for U.N. educational and economic aid. It insisted on immediate democratic elections at least in Dar-es-salaam; it would only accept the three races on Legco as a necessary expedient for three years, and proclaimed the goal of a democratic African country. Finally, it was resolved that all wages and salaries should be frozen and all funds be used to raise the tragically low living standard of the African masses. The Tanganyika standard, so often at this time a reflection of Government opinion, Characterized the resolutions as ‘not’ a nice document’, being ‘completely anti-Government and biased in the extreme’ (September 13, 1954). At least one member of the National Executive was worried by the proposal for the freezing of all salaries and wages. It was Andrew Tibandebage, Nyerere’s old friend from Makerere and Tabora, by then teaching at karagwe and provincial chairman of Tanu in the western province. He knew that educated Tanganyika’s, who hoped to get on in life, would resent a resolution which prevented them from improving their standard of living. Because of it, they might ignore all the other constructive demands. As for the British, Tibandebage had no doubt that they would exploit it to do maximum damage to Tanu. Deeply concern he decided to take a hand in flat contradiction of the policy of Nyerere, who had approved the idealistic resolution about wages and salaries. He and Japheth were staying with Nyerere at Pugu. Andrew Tibandebage brooded uneasily on how he should tell Nyerere that the salary and wage freezing decision would not be reported in Tanganyika standard, and therefore could not figure in the Legco debate…. ‘We forgot to mention it’, he said lamely over dinner, hardly daring to look at Nyerere, who stopped eating, stared at him for some time, then without saying one word, left the room. Neither man slept that night. Nyerere never asked Tibandebage how it was possible for such an important resolution to have been ‘forgotten’; for his part, Tibandebage never raised the matter either, hoping that Nyerere would understand his motive and forgive his insubordinate action. It is typical of both men that they did not face up to the event, which they must have known would affect their friendship. They just quietly drifted apart. As Tibandebage was teaching in a mission school, the Ordinance banning civil servants from political activities did not affect him. Yet owing to the change of his relations with Nyerere he decided to turn his back on politics and to devote his entire time to earning a living for his large family. At the moment of writing he is educating 8 children and is Tanganyika’s Ambassador in Leopoldville. It was encouraging to have held a National Executive meeting one month after the official foundation of Tanu. But with Nyerere’s time taken up with teaching and no funds available, nothing had been done about enrolling a massive membership and preparing the documents required for Tanu’s registration. That is when Oscar Kambona appeared on the scene. The Son of a Nyanja Anglican priest of Nyasaland, he was a strange mixture of intelligence, enterprise and diffidence. After his father had settled in Tanganyika, he went to primary school under the proverbial mango tree at Kwambe, near Songea; then on to U.M.C.A.’S Liuli Mission school for a teacher’s training course in Swahili. As he also wanted to learn English and to obtain a good education, and as all local secondary schools were overcrowded, he enrolled himself at the new secondary school the Australian church Missionary society had just opened in Dodoma. Young Kambona relied on a light-hearted promise of the Bishop of Nyasaland, the Rt Rev Frank O. Thorne, to pay his tuition fee. Somewhat annoyed to have his hand forced, Bishop Thorne did nonetheless enable Kambona to go on with his studies, paying 15 pounds a year, for three years running. In 1945 Kambona passed the entrance examination to Tabora Government School and obtained a complete remission of fees. There he arrived with his hair so long that it stood out around his head like a crinkly mane of a black Strudel Peter. It achieved what must have been young Kambona’s intention-to be noticed. The headmaster sent for him, and ordered him to return next morning at 10, having had his hair cut. Job Lusinde, a fellow pupil from Dodoma, dealt with his hirsute mop. Mr. Blumer passed the results and advised Oscar to have his hair cut every fortnight. This he has done ever since. About Blumer he has told the author: ‘He was a tough man but very fair. I owe him a great deal, for he gave me self-confidence. In some ways, he has made me what I am.’ In 1948, Kambona left Tabora for St Paul’s Teacher training college; two years later he went from there to teach at his old school in Dodoma. By then his main interest lay in politics, which Kanyame Chiume, a friend and Nyasa fellow teacher, shared with him. Their pupils heard a good deal about the misdeed of the colonial Administration-real or imaginary: too few teachers and not the right teachers, who would teach their pupils patriotism and pride in the country. Kambone and Chiume enlarged upon the luck of proper health institutions with thousands of people suffering from eye trouble, many of them going blind and the British doing nothing about it. Much was said of malnutrition all over the country, a rich agricultural land, where there should be enough for all, yet as long as the colonial government was in power, there never would be. One afternoon, in August, 1954, a small boy put up his hand and asked: ‘Sir, you’ve told us what’s wrong with our country. Why don’t you do something about it? Oscar Kambona felt as though someone had hit him. The child had voiced the thought which had been pricking his conscience for quiet a while. He was talking instead of acting. Since his recent meeting with Julius Nyerere at the Dodoma teachers’ conference, he had been on the point of resigning more than once. The rejuvenated T.A.A., now transformed into Tanu, need help. Of course it meant throwing away his career. The little boy’s question made up his mind. Oscar Kambona reached Dar-es-salaam by goods train, for he could not afford to buy a ticket on a passenger train. From the railway station he went to a friend’s house, and was promised hospitality for three months. Then he was off to Pugu, where Julius Nyerere invited him to his home and where they had a long talk. Oscar Kambona offered his services to Tanu. Nyerere told him sadly that he could not possibly employ him, as Tanu had no money. To this Kambona retorted that Tanu had no money because it had no organizer. Let him be Tanu organizer, and there would be funds. Nyerere was skeptical; nevertheless he agreed to appoint Oscar Kambona as Tanu’s Organizing secretary. The Lid bury Commission had awarded civil servants salary increases retroactively from 1948 onwards; and although he had resigned his post as a teacher, a lump sum was due to Kambona for the intervening six years. On this he proposed to live until Tanu had sufficient funds to pay him a salary. At Tanu headquarters in New Street, Kambona worked out his plan of campaign. He was going to visit chiefs and elders, the men with real influence in the country, and tell them of Tanu’s aims and hopes. If they sh .