Z’bar tense as minister, IGP meet Imams, envoys

Zanzibar. As Tanzanians tried to come to terms with the aftermath of the weekend chaos in Zanzibar that left scores of people injured and churches and other properties destroyed, calm was slowly returning to most of the Isles’ streets yesterday, much as tension hung in the air.
Meanwhile, top officials from the ministry of Home Affairs and the Police Force were in an overdrive as they sought to unearth the real causes and culprits behind the breach of peace, which saw riotous mobs with purported anti-Union sentiments engage the police in running battles.

For the whole of yesterday, heavily armed anti-riot police personnel were seen patrolling the streets to put in check unruly youths who were clearly spoiling for confrontation.

As traders counted losses and with life returning to normalcy in most streets and neighbourhoods, the minister for Home Affairs, Dr Emmanuel Nchimbi, led high-ranking officials in a meeting with Zanzibar leaders to chart out the way forward to peace.

 Just a day after several people who were arrested in connection with the weekend chaos got released on bail, some youths besieged several streets, blocking roads with logs that they set on fire using old tyres. Inspector General of Police (IGP) Said Mwema led a team of police officers in discussions with leaders of Jumuiya ya Uamsho na Mihadhara ya Kiislamu (Association of Islamic Awareness and Public Discourses) – Jumiki. The Jumiki has been largely blamed for the chaos, an accusation its has flatly denied.

As officials met in Zanzibar, US ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso Lenhardt urged Tanzanians to amicably find a solution to problems facing the Isles, noting that animosities and violence won’t benefit anyone.
The Nchimbi-led meeting had only one major agenda – how to bring to an end differences that threaten peace in Zanzibar and Tanzania at large, once and for all.At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed in principle to work together to ensure that peace, security and tranquility prevail in the Isles.

The meeting, which was held at the Police headquarters here, also involved officials from the tourism sector and representatives from US, UK and Norway embassies.

Briefing reporters at the end of the meeting, Dr Nchimbi insisted that peace building and maintenance was the responsibility of all Tanzanians. He called on religious and political leaders to work towards a common goal of keeping Zanzibar safe and secure.

“For more than a year the Government of National Unity (GNU), under President Ali Mohammed Shein and his deputies, Maalim Seif Shariff Hamad and Ambassador Seif Ali Idd, has been doing a good job. We should not let them down,” he urged.

He said the chaos would denote that the top leaders have failed in their work, and that wasn’t the case. He said disorder as witnessed over the weekend could scare away tourists, and this would hurt the Zanzibar economy, which draws huge amounts of foreign income from tourism.

Dr Nchimbi said his visit here had three goals. One was to ensure all Zanzibaris that the Police Force would work for the people and two, to meet religious and political leaders and deliberate with them on their immense responsibilities in securing and maintaining peace.

“And three, I am here to ensure that officials of the Police Force are properly briefed on what is expected of them in order to keep the peace and take appropriate steps against all those who were behind the weekend chaos,” he said during the open door meeting.

For his part, IGP Mwema promised to collaborate with all parties to ensure peace prevails in Zanzibar.
“Chaos won’t help anyone and likewise, any use of excessive force in controlling a chaotic situation. In order to ensure everything is okay I will remain here for several days helping to build a special participatory policing programme,” he said.
Leaders from religious institutions urged the Police to ensure that whenever chaos erupts it should be handled professionally.

Dr Mohammed Hafidh Khalfan from the UKUEM, an Islamic institution dealing with Education, Economy and Development, said common sense and logic should guide the Police and other State organs when dealing with unruly gangs during protests.

The secretary of the Zanzibar Imams Association (Jumaza), Sheikh Muhidin Zubeir Muhidin, promised to continue with efforts to engage all parties in a peace-finding mission. He was the first religious leader to take the initiative to engage the Police Force and other institutions in the endeavour to find a solution to the problem.

The Zanzibar Tourism director, Mr Ali Khalil Mirza, emphasised the need to keep the peace in order to safeguard the sector, which accounts for more than 75 per cent of the Islands’ income.

In a statement issued in Dar es Salaam, Ambassador Lenhardt encouraged prompt response from political leaders to address the issue.

“We recognise the importance of a robust public debate and encourage all parties to proceed in a peaceful and democratic manner… What transpired over the past two days risks tarnishing the image of Zanzibar’s first peaceful and successful elections in 2010 that created the Government of National Unity,” he said, adding:

“Maintaining a peaceful environment in Zanzibar that allows for tourism and development is beneficial to all Zanzibari citizens and foreign visitors alike.  Most importantly, we urge everyone to exercise restraint and protect the lives and property of innocent people.”

Spot checks by The Citizen established that roads were littered with stones, logs and burning tyres, making it difficult for motorists to drive through.

As usual, law enforcers had to use teargas canisters to disperse unruly gangs of rioters.
The ugly situation came to a head after members of Jumiki torched two churches and destroyed other properties worth millions of shillings, including a motor vehicle.

Unconfirmed reports from local sources hinted yesterday that the Police has been reinforcing troops here to contain the situation.

According to our sources, there have been about 400 police officer who were dispatched to Zanzibar to restore peace. But reached for clarification yesterday through telephone, police spokesperson, Ms Advera Senso, declined to divulge any information, arguing that the Zanzibar Police Commissioner would brief the media on the matter.

In an interview with The Citizen, Mr Ali Mzee Mansour, 52, blamed both Zanzibar and Union governments for failure to address grievances of Zanzibaris regarding the Union.

East Africa Oil projects is next on the radar

With uncertainties over oil supplies from the Gulf and Libya, and the Nigerian oil industry constantly under threat from militant criminal gangs, there's increasing interest in East African plays.
Italy's ENI and Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum recently found about $US800 billion ($748bn) worth of gas off Mozambique. Last month, the International Monetary Fund said Tanzania could become an important gas producer by the end of the decade. We have also seen Brazil's Petrobras, Britain's Heritage Oil and India's Motherland Industries enter the Tanzanian oil and gas hunt.
There will, of course, be disappointments. Royal Dutch Shell is writing off $US200 million after drilling a dry hole offshore from Tanzania.
We should also caution that the West Africa story had its ups and downs, with some investors no doubt remembering the disappointments associated with the supposed Mauritanian bonanza.
Now there is an Australian entrant, with Jacka Resources (JKA) signing a production sharing agreement with Tanzania last week.
Among others exploring in the region are Pancontinental Oil & Gas (PCL), which recently raised $15m for its Kenya projects, WHL Energy (WHN), with 21,426sq km in the shallow waters around the Seychelles, and FAR (FAR), in Kenya as part of its global spread.
It is a region to watch.
While on the subject of the oilies, StockAnalysis has drawn attention to variations in cost of debt being taken on.
It notes market darling Aurora Oil & Gas (AUT) is paying 9.875 per cent on its $200m facility, Linc Energy (LNC) is paying 11.4 per cent and Antares Energy (AZZ), which is exploring in Texas, just 4.6 per cent.
Will Wayne Swan tell AUT and LNC to shop around for better terms?
We think not: lenders rule.
Dudley returns
IT sure has been a week of blasts from the past. The latest was the re-emergence of Melbourne-based explorer Clarke Dudley.
In those seemingly distant days before Pure Speculation came into existence, your correspondent followed Dudley's story at the then Alcaston Mining, long before its 2006 transformation into Golden Rim Resources (GMR), now exploring in West Africa and Sweden.
Dudley started grabbing land in Sweden prospective for diamonds in the early 1990s, but by 2001 a new board led by Perth investor Rick Crabb changed the direction of Alcaston.
Then Dudley and his allies tried unsuccessfully to wrest back control of the company.
Now, no doubt with wounds fully healed, Dudley is back with a new float, Boadicea Resources (BOA when listed), suggesting in adopting the name of the warrior queen who led a revolt against the Romans that he has lost none of his fight.
He and his fellow ousted Alcaston directors contributed $2m in seed money and are going to the market with gold projects near Cue, Leonora and Norsemen.
BOA is seeking a minimum raise of just $800,000, mainly to get spread, which is probably a modest enough sum to get over the line.
Wise, too, in view of market sentiment: of the 23 IPOs listed on the ASX site, 16 are resources companies with "TBA" showing under listing date.
Hillgrove back
ANOTHER reappearance, but of more recent vintage, is the Hillgrove antimony (and gold) mine.
Owned and mothballed by Straits Resources (SRQ), the operation was to have been the core of a float by Ancoa, a company run by Greg Steemson, formerly a founder of Sandfire Resources (SFR) and Allied Gold Mining (ALD).
But the IPO could not get away and so Ancoa is being backed into Emu Nickel (EMU), which has been much in need of a reboot.
Steemson is going to run the show, which will take the Ancoa name.
The antimony price has lost ground in recent months from around $US15,000/tonne to less than $US12,500.
But the long-term story is intact, with the Chinese, the main producer of the flame retardant, cracking down on their worst polluting and energy-consuming mines.
In the meantime, the Ancoa crowd has been working on the marketing strategy.
It has been Steemson's plan to team with a US-owned antimony mine in Mexico to set up a supply chain in competition with China.

 Strange beast
AND coming round the track for a second (or maybe third) time is Nowa Nowa, an unusual beast in being an iron ore project in Victoria. It was reported by the Victorian Geological Survey in 1901 and there were thoughts then of processing it using the local brown coal. However, it was not until 1955 that Victoria's mines department got around to drilling.
Then there was another gap until Gulf Mines (GLM) began work in 2008, but that eventually petered out. The project, east of Bairnsdale, is being acquired by Eastern Iron (EFE), which has just reported an inferred maiden resource based on the 50 holes drilled in the 1950s.
The company has declared Nowa Nowa its primary focus for early development and -- most importantly -- cashflow generation.
Good as gold
YOU could indeed make money out of resource stocks last year, notwithstanding the experience of many. Local advisory Gresham Investment House says of the top 150 resource stocks Guyana gold explorer Azimuth Resources (AZH) had the best share appreciation last year with a rise of 141.5 per cent. In second place came Rocklands Richfield (RCI), up 106.5 per on the year, and then goldminer Northern Star Resources (NST) with 101.3 per cent.
In fact, if you take an 18-month range -- as NST's profit announcement last week helpfully pointed out -- the stock went from 5c to $1 as at December 8.
But figures compiled by Citigroup for the first six weeks of the year show the best performer since January 1 has been silver (up about 22 per cent), followed by zinc (yes, surprising), then copper and nickel.
On the silver front, no wonder Investigator Resources (IVR) saw its shares double over the week.

Facebook smartphone to be 'released next year'

The New York Times cited unnamed sources, including Facebook employees, suggesting that the network had been hiring several smartphone engineers.
Facebook recently admitted it was struggling to make money out of its growing mobile audience.
The company, which recently floated on the stock market, has also just launched its own mobile app store.
The App Center currently offers links to Facebook-enabled apps within Apple's iOS and Google Android stores but developers will soon be able to write apps to be placed exclusively in Facebook's store.
According to the New York Times, Facebook has hired experts who worked on the iPhone and other smartphones.
It quoted a Facebook employee as saying the site's founder Mark Zuckerberg was "worried that if he doesn't create a mobile phone in the near future... Facebook will simply become an app on other mobile platforms".
Mobile money A Facebook smartphone has reportedly been in the works for some time

                               Facebook already provides apps for various different mobile platforms

Get set for a scramble for Africa’s great new wealth

The British established their colonial presence in East Africa in the early 1890s as German colonial authorities took control of what they called Deutsch Ostafrika or German East Africa—combining Tanganyika, Burundi and Rwanda as one territory—aiming, inter alia, to provide their country a reliable source of raw cotton.
But things did not turn out as they planned. Large numbers of labourers defected from the cotton fields because they found the industry financially unrewarding. Several villages resisted growing the crop as a way of rebelling against the German authority, though cotton eventually became Tanzania’s most important export crop.
Following Germany’s defeat in World War I (1914-18), German East Africa fell apart and Tanganyika became a UN trusteeship under the British mandate while Burundi and Rwanda were taken over by Belgium.
Defeat of the fascists’ global ambitions accelerated the spread of anti-colonial sentiment. World War II (1939-45) foreshadowed the end of colonialism in Africa, and the independence of many countries came much sooner than expected. So-called colonial experts had asserted that it would take decades for Africans to get set for self-government.
What evidence did they have to make such a presumption? Did that assessment suggest malevolence towards nascent African nations, or was it an indication that foreign countries might try to interfere in African affairs?
History clearly shows that Europe’s headlong scramble for Africa was propelled by an intense desire to acquire the abundant natural resources of this continent. They forced its doors open and started plundering it under what they often claimed to be international approval, given without the consent of Africans.
They formed chartered companies and gave them exclusive rights to exploit the resources they had discovered.
What those companies paid in return for the wealth they took away ended up in their own administration and security costs. Though the chartered companies disappeared long ago, almost the same scenario that outlined their operations is present today.
Africa’s mineral resources were a valuable contribution to the victory of allied forces in the Second World War. Development of the atom bomb, for instance, which ended the war with Japan, was absolutely dependent upon uranium from the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Belgian Congo.
Wartime demand for strategic raw materials benefited Angola and Mozambique and, in British West Africa, there was increased output of iron from Sierra Leone and tin from Nigeria. In Southern Africa, the manufacturing industry expanded at a dramatic rate and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) effectively created an iron and steel industry from scratch.
The 1989 peaceful end of the Cold War, principally hostile relations between the two superpowers—the former Soviet Union and the United States—has renewed and even multiplied the demand for African resources ranging from fossil fuel to uranium and assorted metals and land for production of renewable energy resources.
Political independence has not given African countries muscle strong enough to stand up for their economic interests in firming up deals with these powers.
What is sometimes arguably, and maybe rightly, called flag independence gave African nations identification only but not a firm position among the nations of the world. Tanzania has tremendous wealth in minerals and other natural resources that would not only affirm its economic position but also make the country influential on a global scale before clocking its centenary.
The renewed rush for its mineral and land resources may be the harbinger of the prosperity that Nyerere envisioned, but a change in the way these resources are being exploited is required. What goes out now will never be recreated and deposited back.
National leaders usually make decisions on the exploitation of resources within a political environment, but to what extent do the people have a chance to shape that environment so that their lives are better off now than in 1961?  What lessons have been drawn from constant squabbles between local communities and mining companies or other investors on the Tanzanian soil and waters?
While today’s generation has grown up in a somewhat healthier society, there are serious problems affecting some segments of the population because of endless poverty.
The country may have encouraging indices on levels of enrolments in primary schools, all-weather roads and telephony, but the number of families in need of decent shelter, enough nutritional meals a day and healthcare are increasing
At 50, this country should have been a long way beyond its growing pains if its resources, including human resources, were put to appropriate use. There is a need to go urgently to the root of the matter and think about the historical consequences of failed promises and attempts to organise the Tanzanian society since 1961.
Tanzanians have one expectation of their leaders: It is not so much wisdom as fairness in every decision and action they take in the name of the people.

Dodoma: The capital city that never really took off

The debate on the town best suited for Tanzania’s capital city started soon after independence. There were those who argued that Dar es Salaam, all the way at the Coast, was not easy to access and it would be difficult to connect it to all zones of the country.
Parliamentary proceedings and media reports were dedicated to arguments for and against, but Dodoma eventually appeared to be good enough for the majority.
The matter was finally resolved in 1972, when a TANU opinion poll showed 18 regions in favour of Dodoma and three against. A total of 1859 party branches wanted Dodoma to be the seat of power while 842 rejected the idea.
Following the results, the Capital Development Authority was established in 1973. The Ministry of Capital Development was established early in 1976 to administer the process of planning and administering the project to transform the town in central Tanzania and give it the look of a capital.
 “To start with, CDA employed a Canadian-based company, Project Planning Associates, to prepare a city plan for Dodoma which would accommodate the central government in the new city,” says Mr Martin Kitila, head of the authority.
But 38 years after the approval of the new capital, only Parliament, the Local Government Ministry, the University of Dodoma and other institutions of higher learning are based in the city. The central government is still in Dar es Salaam, begging the question: What went wrong?
Mr Kitila says: “The actual work started in 1974. In 1976, the government passed the project, which was put into place until 1988, when major changes in the policy, administration and economy took place.”
These changes led to a drop in funding, privatisation and job cuts in public corporations. Many projects were hard hit, among them the Dodoma move. “We are now working hard to implement the projects that were not accomplished,” Mr Kitila adds.
In 2010, CDA contracted a Korean firm, Saman Corporation, and Tanzania Human Settlement Solutions to review the 1976-1988 project plan and develop a new one.
 “CDA, along with the prime minister’s office, is now preparing a Bill which will cite Dodoma as a capital city, and that will help to legally enforce the transformation.”
According to retired Major-General Muhidin Kimaryo, who is a former director of CDA, the relocation of the capital has yet to succeed because there is no political will.
He says:  “When I was still in office, I urged the Government not to build new accommodation for civil servants in Dar es Salaam. They ignored my advice and later sold the houses to each other.
“We went wrong from the beginning. We were talking instead of walking the talk. Our leaders didn’t set examples. For instance, if Nyerere had shifted to Dodoma, no one would ever have opposed the migration. We don’t have the political will.”
He is pleased, though, that the Government has built the University of Dodoma (UDOM), which he considers a major inspiration and boost for the relocation process.
 “President Kikwete has opened our eyes,” he says. “UDOM is a big university.
It is expected to accommodate 30,000 students. That is a big number. If the capital development law is passed soon, it will surely boost the transformation.”
The CDA has undergone numerous changes in leadership and administration since its inception. From 1976 to 1986, it was under the Ministry of Capital Development. It was then placed under the premier’s office until 1990 and shifted to the Ministry of Works until 2001, when it was again put under the premier’s office.
Sir George Kahama was the founding director of CDA and served from 1973 to 1980. He was succeeded by Mr Joshua Minja, who left in 1987. Dr George Mlingwa took the helm until 1990 and was replaced by Major-General Muhidin Kimaryo, who held the fort from 1991 to 1996. Mr Evarist Kweba took up the job in 2001 and stayed on until 2004, and Mr Kitila assumed responsibility in 2007. 
Every now and then, questions are raised as to whether to continue with the strategy to make Dodoma the capital city. The doubts centre on the fact that it has taken a long time to establish the project. Some reckon it might be a better idea to keep Dodoma as it is—a city that houses Parliament but which is also developing nicely as a university town.
This debate has been sparked not only by the time factor but also by the costs associated with setting up a new capital.  Only one ministry (the Prime minister’s office, Regional Administration and Local Government) has shifted to Dodoma so far. 

Charting our own destiny

Tanganyika’s political independence on December 9, 1961, was notable for the absence of conflicts between different leadership elements or racial, tribal and religious groups as to who would wield power in the new state. This degree of unity—unusual in new African countries—was the result of a number of factors.
The way the country had been peopled ensured that among Tanganyika’s many, small, scattered tribes no group was inclined or in a position through size, economic advancement or geographical position to dominate national politics.
Kiswahili influence was also vital in providing both common culture for varied elements in the urban centers which formed the hub of politics, and a common language through which the leaders could communicate with the peasant masses.
According to History of Tanzania © 1969, this unity was given organisational form by TANU with its network of paid officials and representative committees from below the district level up to the national centre.
TANU’s central goal had been to recapture independence, and this aim had in turn been the focus around which much of the political unity had been built. One problem had been solved, but independence merely meant that the country was free to seek its own solutions to further problems.
Many problems of the past persisted, some taking on new dimensions while new challenges emerged with the coming of independence.
Within the country, leaders were already turning their attention to the great task of nation building. The drive for improvement had quickened. TANU slogan became “Uhuru na Kazi” and its president, Julius Nyerere, pledged “…to try to achieve in 10 years most of the things which our colonial rulers failed to achieve in during the whole of the time they had governed our country,” as he put it in his book, Uhuru na Umoja.
Tanganyika had been united in the struggle for independence, but now had to be more firmly forged into a nation. It would not be enough to merely to prevent any disgruntled regional, ethnic or religious group, or ambitious section of the elite from separating itself off from or dominating the nation as a whole. What was needed was a commitment to the nation to the development and other challenges ahead.
The colonialists during their occupation had left a stamp on the economic, social and cultural life of the country which was not automatically erased with the coming of political independence. Even the political structures were largely creations of the British.
The actual independence constitution was drawn up by the Colonial Office.
The constitution provided for a cabinet and legislature to work on “British” model and, in spelling out the relations between the two, a competitive party system was assumed.
The first and most immediate task was for the nationalist movement to take over actual running of t he government—in a word of ‘Africanization’. There was no choice but to decolonize the administration because Europeans were leaving faster than they could be replaced.
The handful of Africans in the administration were brought in from districts to occupy senior posts at the heads of government ministries. Other qualified people in TANU and in the teaching profession were also brought into government services.
This immediately left gaps. A quarter of civil service posts were vacant in 1962.
The number of African secondary school teachers fell to less than 30.
The education of young Tanganyika was thus left to outsiders, even though political independence had been achieved.
New posts also had to be filled in embassies abroad.
During the first few months of self rule, large numbers of African took over new positions as Ministers, civil servants, in the foreign service or as political commissioners.
Opposition was taking the root. Besides Zuberi Mtemvu’s African National Congress (ANC), later in 1962, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was formed by Christopher Kasanga Tumbo, formerly a leader of the Railway Workers’ Union and for a time Tanganyika High Commissioner in London.
The ANC, PDP and other embryo opposition groups tried to focus on a mixed bag of discontents such as those of about Africanization and the position of trades unions, as well as the measure, given effect in 1963, to deprive chiefs of all official powers and duties.
But in appealing to all the small discontents of particular groups in an effort to gain support, they often appealed to conflicting interests and carried little credence.
Earlier, at the beginning of 1962, probably in part to head off some of these criticisms of—and opposition to—the policies of TANU Government which were beginning to emerge, Julius Nyerere had resigned as Prime Minister.
Rashidi Kawawa, who had headed Tanganyika Federation of Labour (TFL) and more recently become Vice President of TANU, took over as a head of the government and at the end of the year became Vice President. Nyerere had said he had passed on the responsibilities of the government to devote more attention to the party.
It is probably true that he spent 10 months reshaping his own ideas and getting support for them among TANU leaders than actually reconstructing the party organisation.
The presidential election of November 1962 showed his undiminished popularity in the country when he polled 98 per cent of the votes.
According to African Elections Database, Nyerere (TANU) won 1,127,978 votes against Mtemvu’s (ANC) 21,276.
Now there was a need to rethink the role of TANU. With the achievement of primary goal, independence, the party machine was running down—partly as many of the more capable leaders were drained off into the government, and partly due to the absence of a clearly defined purpose and programme.
The one early attempt to strengthen the local party structure came with the appointment of regional and area commissioners as the ex-officio, regional and district secretaries of TANU.
And as a pointer to what was expected of TANU, the political commissioners were instructed to concern themselves much more with mobilizing people for development.
The specific effort of these and other leaders and the general enthusiasm stemming from independence did iin fact generate a lot of self-help projects, settlement schemes, and other spontaneous development activities. But party activists were not for the most part used to working with the various government field agencies.
Indeed they were more often in the past suspicious of the development plans of government officials, while the latter in their turn remained suspicious of politics and politicians.
The result of this legacy of suspicion was that many schemes suffered from lack of an coherent planning or popular support. Many of these projects had not allowed for recurrent expenditure or staffing, or for some unforeseen snag; others faltered through lack of supplies or technical advice, or just proved unviable.
That is not to say that many schemes were not useful or that people did not gain valuable experience.
However, after 1962 a greater degree of control was placed on these activities which subsequently had to be approved by special development committees, going up at least to the regional level.
This remains one of the key dilemmas in development in Tanzania—how to encourage and give free rein to the people’s spontaneous enthusiasms, while directing them to ensure that such energies should accord with constructive and coherent plans.

She wants to be remembered

Hamida Abdulhakim may be 83, but she vividly recalls the day her cooking attracted the attention of Mwalimu Nyerere. It was 1974 and the President was hosting a delegation of foreign officials at State House.
Hamida and other women from the TANU women’s wing were summoned to put together a meal worthy of the occasion.
“I prepared roast fish, and decorated the plate with colourful salad of cucumbers, green peppers and carrots,” she says, beaming with pride at the memory.  “It looked so good that it made it to high table and Mwalimu complimented it.”
It was the beginning of many invitations to cook at state functions. After the feast, Mwalimu asked who had cooked the fish and Mama Maria told him it was Hamida. “Mwalimu admired the food and from that day I was often invited to cook at State House,” she recalls.
Hamida, who joined TANU in 1960, was also an active politician and held different ranks in the party.
When the women’s wing opened a restaurant, she taught other party women how to cook. She was also a sewing instructor.
“After launching the restaurant, Mwalimu urgued women to study,” she says, “and I volunteered to teach cookery and sewing classes at Mzee Mosi Msosi TANU branch at Kariakoo.”
She was rewarded with a patriot certificate in recognition of her efforts to bring women together and educate them.
But it was not all smooth sailing: Hamida says discrimination was a major setback for women activists in those early days. In 1974, the same year that she impressed President Nyerere with her cooking, she was detained for a month on suspicion of selling of plots in Mwananyamala ward.
She was set free after preliminary investigations established that there was no basis for the allegations. “They were just made up by the male contestants, some of whom I had knocked out in the party ward elections,” she says.
In 1965, Halima applied for a job at Kilimanjaro Hotel, but she failed to meet the English proficiency requirement.
“Mwalimu heard about it and ordered Mr Cleopa Msuya (one-time premier) to open an institute at Anatouglou so women could study the language, and I was in the first batch.”
She joined the hotel, only to find that the working environment did not suit women.
They were not allowed to get pregnant, for example, and those who did were forced to choose between having an abortion and being sacked.
She recalls: “I fell pregnant in 1967 but the management did not get to it until my eighth month. They sacked me, but that was not the end of it. I opened my small food place and carried on with TANU politics.”
The veteran politician is now into traditional medicine. She says she got so sick at some point that she was close to death.
Then she had a dream in which she was commanded to be a herbalist. “I followed the voice,” she adds.
“The dreams keep coming and, thanks to them, today I cure diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and asthma.”
Hamida has been married thrice—to Mohammed Khan, Iddy Mtingwa and Rajesh Khan. She had 12 children but only six are alive.
She laments that despite being a party founder member, the current crop of CCM leaders have abandoned her. She has just one request: “Please remember me.”
This article was first published in Kiswahili by Mwananchi on February 20, 2011 and was translated by Tanzania@50 reporter Athuman Mtulya