Tanzania: Union and Ujamaa (1961-1976)

Updated September 2005

In the immediate aftermath of independence Nyerere installed Rashidi Kawawa as prime minister. Kawawa began a reorganisation of the civil service, centralising administration and laying out the policies to guide Africanisation. Nyerere in the meanwhile began organising and campaigning for the 1962 elections, which TANU won convincingly. This was shortly followed by the adoption of a republican constitution with Nyerere as President and Kawawa vice president (Columbia Encyclopedia 2004, US State Department 2005, PBS Foundation Undated).

The new constitution deliberately sought to strengthen the executive against the other branches of state and to centralise decision making. This was done in the belief that such measures were necessary to facilitate the implementation of the socialist development policy of TANU. This centralisation was further strengthened in 1963 by the abolition of the chieftaincies through which the British had exercised indirect rule (Chachage 2003). The simultaneous pursuit of centralisation and development resulted in the state taking over and directing socio-economic and welfare activities previously performed by local authorities and by missionaries. Matters such as healthcare, education and welfare became increasingly the province of the state (Chachage 2003).

In late 1963 Zanzibar became independent of Britain under the governing coalition of the Zanzibar Nationalist Party and the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party (ZPPP). In early 1964 the Sultanate was overthrown in a bloody revolution that saw large scale communal violence. The newly formed Umma Party (People's Party) led by Abdul Babu, a Maoist breakaway from the ruling Zanzibari Nationalist Party, played a leading role in fomenting the revolution. However, in the chaos that followed, Abeid Karume, the leader of the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), was able to seize power. The ASP set about expropriating property from the Omani ruling class and suppressing opposition political parties (Talbot 2000, Liberation 1996).

In January 1964, soldiers of the Tanganyika Rifles embarked on a strike over salaries and promotions, and over the Africanisation of the military. Nyerere reacted firmly by calling in British troops to quell the mutiny. He then disbanded the army and recruited a new military force, named the Tanzania Peoples' Defence Force, from amongst the ranks of the TANU youth wing. Thus the subordination of the military to civilian leadership was accomplished by the politicisation of the military (Lupogo 2001).

Following negotiations between Nyerere and Abeid Karume, the head of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar was declared in April 1964 (In October it was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania). Nyerere became President of this union and Karume was made Vice-President, while remaining President of Zanzibar (Columbia Encyclopedia 2004, PBS Foundation Undated, US State Department 2005).

In 1965 Tanzania was proclaimed a one-party state. This was a premature move, since the country had two distinct parties that dominated two distinct geographic areas, TANU on the mainland and the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) in Zanzibar. Moreover, despite the close relations between the two parties, the ASP refused to merge with TANU (Temwende 2004, 1).

Tanzania inherited a difficult social and economic situation at independence. Poverty was endemic, unemployment high, illiteracy widespread, infrastructure weak and ill health widespread. The development plans laid out before independence could not be financed from national government income and the country was reduced to heavy dependence on foreign (primarily British) aid. At the same time commodity prices fell, foreign aid declined and droughts wracked much of the country, eventually forcing the importation of food (PBS Foundation Undated, Temwende 2004, 2, Chachage 2003).

References

CHACHAGE, CSL 2003 "Globalization and Democratic Governance in Tanzania", Development Policy Management Forum, [www] http://www.dpmf.org/Publications/Occassional%20Papers/occasionalpaper10.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010).

COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA 2004, Sixth Edition, "Tanzania", [www] http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=101273670 [opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010).

LIBERATION 1996, "Homage: A.M.Babu - An ardent anti-colonialist from Africa", Liberation September 1996, [www] http://cpiml.org/liberation/year_1996/september/homage.htm [opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010) September 2005.

LUPOGO, H 2001 "Tanzania: Civil-military Relations and Political Stability", African Security Review 10(1), [www] http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/ASR/10No1/Lupogo.html [opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010).

PBS FOUNDATION UNDATED "Tanzania Overview", [www] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/tz/tz_overview.html [opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010).

TALBOT, A 2000 "Nyerere's legacy of poverty and repression in Zanzibar" World Socialist Web Site, International Committee of the Fourth International, [www] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/zanz-n15.shtml [opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010) .

TEMWENDE, OK 2004 "Tanzania: A Political and Historical Overview", Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), [www] http://tanzania.fes-international.de/doc/bot-historical-overview.pdf [opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010).

US STATE DEPARTMENT 2005 "Background Note: Tanzania", Bureau of African Affairs [www] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2843.htm [opens new window] (accessed 23 Feb 2010).