Julius Nyerere

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Nyerere, 1981 (credit: Hanos-Liaison Agency)

(born March 1922, Butiama, Tanganyika — died Oct. 14, 1999, London, Eng.) First prime minister of independent Tanganyika (1961), first president of Tanzania (1964 – 85), and the major force behind the Organization of African Unity (OAU; now African Union). He taught in Catholic schools before studying history and economics in Britain. As leader of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), he advocated peaceful change, social equality, and ethnic harmony. In elections in 1958 – 60 TANU won many seats in the legislature. As president he collectivized village farmlands, carried out mass literacy campaigns, and instituted universal education. He sought to make Tanzania economically self-sufficient, an effort that ultimately failed. In 1979 he authorized the invasion of Uganda to overthrow Idi Amin. Within the OAU he advocated the overthrow of white-suprematist governments in South Africa, Rhodesia, and South West Africa. After retiring from politics in 1990, Nyerere devoted the rest of his life to farming and diplomacy.

For more information on Julius Kambarage Nyerere, visit Britannica.com.

(b. Butiama, Tanganyika, Mar. 1922; d. 14 Oct. 1999) Tanzanian; Prime Minister 1961 – 2, President 1962 – 85 Nyerere initially trained and worked as a teacher but after studying at Edinburgh University from 1949 to 1952 he became the country's first graduate. On returning home he became involved in nationalist politics and founded the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) in 1954. Following overwhelming TANU victories in the preindependence elections he became Prime Minister at independence in 1961. In 1962, following the adoption of a republican constitution, he became President. In 1964 he negotiated the merger of mainland Tanganyika and the offshore island state of Zanzibar to form the united republic of Tanzania.

In 1965 he was instrumental in the introduction of a single-party state. He became a leading proponent of"African Socialism", an ideology which was critical of both capitalism and Marxism, and wrote several influential books detailing his ideas. In 1967 he launched the Arusha Declaration which was designed to avoid the dominance of the single-party leading to abuse of office by establishing a strict leadership code. Although Nyerere has always retained an image of integrity and incorruptibility the code was only partially successful in curbing some of his colleagues. In 1977 he created a new party by merging TANU with the Zanzibari party to form Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM — Party of the Revolution). By the late 1980s he had become increasingly critical of the single-party system and was one of the most influential figures in the restoration of a multi-party system in Tanzania.

During most of the post-independence period he supported high levels of state intervention in the economy although in later years he modified his views on this matter. During the 1970s the major expression of interventionism came with the compulsory establishment of "ujamaa" (communal) villages in the rural areas but this policy, which involved high levels of coercion, was later recognized as a social and economic disaster and was abandoned.

Nyerere can be accurately regarded as one of Africa's leading international statesmen and was highly influential in the non-aligned and anti-apartheid movements. He was extremely critical of the abuses of power of other African leaders and in 1979 the Tanzanian army was instrumental in deposing Idi Amin in neighbouring Uganda.

In 1985 he voluntarily retired from the Tanzanian presidency, although he remained leader of CCM until 1990. Since then he has remained an influential figure in both domestic and international politics. In spite of the problems that Tanzania experienced under his leadership "Mwalimu" (KiSwahili for "teacher") has continued to enjoy widespread respect at home and abroad as a man of great intelligence and personal humility, who retained a deep and genuine concern for the ordinary people.

Julius Kamberage Nyerere (born 1922) was a Tanzanian statesman and political philosopher who became the first president of Tanzania. His carefully reasoned and well-presented policies for the development of Tanzania led to a reputation as Africa's most original thinker.

During the often turbulent era of the 1950s in Africa, as the various colonies worked to gain independence from their European masters, the United Nations Trust Territory of Tanganyika was a significant exception to the norm in its quiet progress to freedom. This was largely because of the leadership of Julius Nyerere. His recognition of the political realities within Tanganyika and his refusal to be associated with any schemes of racial bigotry made him a figure of world interest. His continuing leadership of his country after independence within these lines led to his recognition as one of Africa's most creative politicians.

Julius Nyerere was born in March 1922 at Butiama, the son of Nyerere Burito and his eighteenth wife, Mugaya. Nyerere Burito (1860-1942) was one of the several chiefs of the Zanaki, a small tribal grouping of less than 50,000 individuals. The Zanaki were a poor people, and the chiefs were little richer than their subjects. Julius Nyerere early demonstrated a lively intellect; he was sent to the Native Authority School at Musoma, where he impressed his teachers enough to be encouraged to attempt entry to the important Tanganyika Government School at Tabora. He gained admission in 1937, and again he earned the commendation of his teachers.

In one episode at Tabora, Nyerere acted in a manner that foreshadowed his political course. When appointed prefect of his house, he learned that prefects received special dining privileges, as well as extensive disciplinary powers over fellow students. In the interests of equality, Nyerere successfully agitated to have the special privileges abolished. Nyerere entered Makerere University College in January 1943, where he became one of a group of lively young East Africans discussing the political problems of their countries, which then were all under British rule. He was especially noted for his debating abilities. All during these years Nyerere showed a consistent interest in the Roman Catholic religion; he was baptized in December 1943.

Political Beginnings

Receiving his diploma of education in 1945, Nyerere returned to Tanganyika to teach history and biology at St. Mary's College, Tabora, a Roman Catholic secondary school. He began his political life by joining the Tanganyika African Association, an organization founded in 1929 by British officials to provide a discussion forum for African opinion. He was elected treasurer of the Tabora branch. The association, however, was not a very vital body, since most educated Africans in Tanganyika were in government service, which by British decision precluded them from any overt political activity.

Nyerere decided that he needed more education; in 1949 he entered Edinburgh University, where he decided against working for an honors degree, instead studying a broad range of subjects. Nyerere later said, "I evolved the whole of my political philosophy while I was there." He received a master's degree in 1952 and returned to Tanganyika, where he was appointed history master at St. Francis' College, Pugu, near the country's capital, Dar es Salaam.

As one of the few Africans with a Western education in Tanganyika, Nyerere was soon caught up in political life. In April 1953 he was elected president of the Tanganyika, African Association, devoting his energies to an effort to revitalize that organization into an effective medium for African interests. Perceiving that this was a hopeless task, he organized a new group and on July 7, 1954, announced the formation of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). It was the first African political body within Tanganyika; Nyerere was unanimously elected president.

The early years of TANU were difficult ones; Tanganyika's lack of educated Africans free of government restriction and its poor communications system hindered organizational work. But limited progress was made, spear-headed by a group comprising Nyerere, Paul Bomani, Oscar Kambona, and Rashidi Mfaume Kawawa. An opportunity opened for the party because of Tanganyika's relationship to the United Nations. One of the international body's periodic visiting missions went to Tanganyika in 1954. Some of its members were sympathetic to African aspirations; they recommended setting a date for the territory's independence. The British naturally reacted against what they considered ill-informed interference, with one result of the dispute being TANU's decision to send Nyerere to present the party's case before the Trusteeship Council in New York. The reasoned eloquence of his statements about Tanganyika's future drew considerable attention, although no immediate results ensued.

By this period Nyerere was devoting so much time to politics that he found it necessary, in 1955, to resign his teaching post. He did this with considerable regret, for he loved teaching, a fact illustrated by the name most commonly applied to him today within his country, mwalimu, the teacher. Without fixed employment, and lacking any personal fortune, Nyerere spent a very difficult period of his life as he traveled widely within Tanganyika to further organize TANU. He also had two additional appearances before the United Nations, in December 1956 and June 1957, where he reinforced the favorable impression made in 1955.

The British could not help but recognize Nyerere's growing influence. In 1957 he was appointed to the Legislative Council, which remained under British control, but when he was unable to make any progress for the policies of TANU, Nyerere resigned in disgust.

In 1958 TANU had to make an important decision. The British had scheduled elections for Tanganyika under a scheme which reserved seats for members of the country's African, Asian, and European communities. Voting, however, was to be by a common, and therefore largely African, electorate. Many members of TANU were against this effort to impose minority representation, but Nyerere carried his point of view for participation in a stormy conference at Tabora. The result was to ensure a peaceful progress to independence. TANU swept the 1958 and 1959 elections.

Toward Independence

This success was matched with an important change in the British leadership of the territory; a new governor, Sir Richard Turnbull, succeeded the more conservative Sir Edward Twining. Turnbull was prepared to support Tanganyika's drive for independence, and he preferred to work in close collaboration with Nyerere so that a stable country would emerge. Their joint efforts culminated in the elections of 1960, when TANU won 70 of 71 seats in the legislature; Nyerere was asked to form the new government, thereby becoming Tanganyika's first elected chief minister. Independence followed quickly on Dec. 9, 1961.

But the success of TANU made obvious many defects in the structure of the party. Nyerere realized that TANU's real work would come with independence; therefore in a dramatic move he resigned as head of the government in January 1962 to devote his activities to rebuilding the party. His work was successful, and he was overwhelmingly elected in the 1962 elections as the first president of Tanganyika, which became a republic on Dec. 9, 1962.

Political Philosophy

During the years of political struggle, Nyerere had developed the outlines for the policies which his economically poor country should follow. With the motto of Uhuru na Kazi (Freedom and Work), he at once mounted a major attack on what he considered the three major enemies of his people - poverty, ignorance, and disease. Nyerere believed that it was unwise for a poor country to depend on the uncertain aid of the richer nations for progress. Instead, Tanganyikans were encouraged to utilize their own strengths, especially their ample manpower, to develop their country themselves.

A series of self-help schemes in road building and other construction projects during 1963-1964 exemplified this approach. In this struggle for human dignity Nyerere found no place for an elite of officeholders, and various schemes were initiated to break down any emerging class barriers within the country. This line of development was most forcefully stated in Nyerere's Arusha Declaration of 1967.

In January 1964 Nyerere had to face the most serious crisis of his political career. The Tanganyikan army mutinied, demanding higher pay and the full Africanization of the officer corps. Nyerere was forced into hiding, and stability was regained only when British forces were called in to restore order. Part of the reason for this unrest was the Zanzibar revolution of January 1964, when revolutionary groups overthrew that island's Arab-led government. The new radical government, with heavy Communist leanings, was subsequently encouraged to unite with Tanganyika. The result was the united country of Tanzania, with Abeid Karume of Zanzibar serving under Nyerere as first vice president.

Looking Back

By 1967, with western nations such as the United States cautious about investing in Nyerere's socialist country, TANU adopted the system of broad government control called the Arusha Declaration, designed to regulate economic and social development. This measure called for complete government control of all means of production and distribution, demanded broad development projects, presented a code of ethics for the nation's political leaders, and emphasized the two main themes of egalitarianism and self-reliance along the lines of Ujamaa. Nyerere and TANU hoped to break down emerging class barriers and promote universal human dignity.

In the 40th anniversary Africa Report published in 1994, Nyerere reminisced about the future of Africa and his country's political path during his 24-year tenure when his people enjoyed more equality, rights, stability, common language (Swahili) and national identity than most other Africans.

He cited the dramatic change from an impoverished nation that had only 12 doctors for nine million people when he took office. By his departure in 1985, he said it was transformed to a country, although still poor, with "thousands" of Tanzanian-trained doctors. All children were receiving seven years of education where before fewer than half received schooling, and nine out of 10 Tanzanians were literate. He told of a people no longer subservient who had learned to stand upright and could look their former colonial rulers straight in the eye.

But by 1992, Nyerere was on the political sidelines, although he had remained head of the ruling party until two years before. By then, the country was moving away from his brand of African socialism embodied in the principle of Ujamaa (familyhood) and moving toward privitization.

Nyerere saw many of those previous gains such as schooling for all children slipping away after the country lost control of its economy to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund beginning in the early 1980s.

Looking toward Africa as a whole, Nyerere said its countries needed time to develop their own "people-centered" democratic political systems, able to forge their futures cooperatively across national boundaries, rather than be pressured by rich European countries to adopt those systems.

Further Reading

Nyerere's own writings offered the best guide to his political philosophy: African Socialism (1961); Freedom and Unity (1967); Ujamaa: Essays on Socialism (1968); and Freedom and Socialism (1968). William Edgett Smith, We Must Run While They Walk: A Portrait of Africa's Julius Nyerere (1971), was a penetrating biographical study. Much information on his life was available in Judith Listowel, The Making of Tanganyika (1965). Recommended for general historical background are B. A. Ogot and J. A. Kieran, eds., Zamani: A Survey of East African History (1968), and I. N. Kimambo and A. J. Temu, eds., A History of Tanzania (1969). Relevant articles can be found in the Economist November 2, 1996 and Africa Report September/October 1994. An article on the Arusha Declaration can be found on the internet at http://www.journalism.wisc.edu/olw/worldnews/Africa/tanzania.html (July 29, 1997).

president

Personal Information

Born Kambarage Nyerere, March of 1922, in Butiama-Musoma, Lake Victoria, Tanganyika; took the name Julius when baptized a Catholic; son of Nyerere Burito (village chief of the Zanaki tribe) and Mugaya; married Maria Gabriel Magige (a teacher), January 24, 1953; children: five sons, two daughters.
Education: Makerere College, Uganda, graduated in 1945; Edinburgh University, Scotland, M.A., 1952.
Politics: Chama cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party).
Religion: Catholic.

Career

Biology and history teacher at St. Mary's College, Tabora, Tanganyika, 1946-49; history teacher at St. Francis' College, Pugu, Tanganyika, 1953-55. Elected president, Tanganyika African Association (TAA), 1953; transformed TAA into Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), and served as president, 1954-77; appointed to temporary position on Tanganyika Legislative Council (TLC), 1954; addressed United Nations Trusteeship Council, 1955; elected member of TLC, 1958-60; chief minister of TLC, 1960; prime minister of Tanganyika, 1961-62; president, Tanganyika Republic, 1962-64; president, the United Republic of Tanzania, 1964-85; founder and chairman of Chama cha Mapinduzi, 1977-90. First chancellor, University of East Africa, 1963-70; chancellor, University of Dar es Salaam, 1970-85, Sokoine University of Agriculture, 1984--; chairman, Organization of African Unity, 1984.

Life's Work

When he stepped down as president of Tanzania in 1985, one of the few African rulers ever to relinquish power voluntarily, Julius Nyerere cemented his reputation as one of the continent's greatest leaders. The first African from his former British colony, Tanganyika, to attend a university in the mother country, he returned to spearhead his nation's struggle for independence, becoming its first president. Re-elected four times, he also earned the right to be called Mwalimu, the Teacher, by his countrymen. Nyerere's 24-year leadership was highlighted by the peaceful union of Tanganyika and neighboring Zanzibar into Tanzania and his commitment to remake the nation into a self-sufficient egalitarian socialist society based on cooperative agriculture.

Though his economic policies fell short of his far-sighted goal, Nyerere managed to introduce free and universal education, greatly raising the nation's literacy rate, and vastly improved health care for the majority of the population. He also instilled a sense of national pride among Tanzania's diverse tribes, sparing it the vicious tribal conflicts of so many other African countries. Besides being a major force behind the modern Pan-African movement, Nyerere helped found the Organization of African Unity, united five African nations to successfully pressure the white-supremacist government of Rhodesia into becoming black-ruled Zimbabwe, and ousted Idi Amin, the tyrannical dictator of Uganda, from power. His accomplishments and stature have led many to call him "the conscience of Africa" and have made him one of the Third World's most prominent statesmen and spokesmen.

It was raining so hard the day Nyerere was born in March of 1922 that he was named Kambarage after an ancestral spirit who lived in the rain. Home was the village of Butiama, southeast of Lake Victoria and west of the Serengeti Plain in the British colony of Tanganyika. Years later, when he was baptized a Catholic, he took the name Julius. Nyerere's father, Nyerere Burito, was village chief of the Zanaki, one of the smallest of Tanganyika's 126 tribes. Young Nyerere, one of eight children from his father's fifth marriage, had a traditional tribal childhood--growing up in a leaky mud hut, having his teeth filed in the Zanaki manner, and spending much of his younger years hunting. Being the son of the chief, he went to school at 12 for instruction in Catholicism, Swahili, and English. He scored first in the 1936 territorial examinations and was enrolled in the Tabora Governmental School, originally built for the sons of tribal chieftains.

On graduating, he entered Makerere College in neighboring Uganda, where he organized the campus chapter of the Tanganyika African Association (TAA), begun years earlier as a social group for African civil servants. After his 1945 graduation from Makerere, he taught history and biology by day at St. Mary's College, a Catholic school in Tabora, and English to the townspeople during the evening. Many nights he stayed up late discussing politics and Tanganyika's future with his friends.

With a grant from St. Mary's and a government scholarship, Nyerere traveled to Scotland in 1949 to attend Edinburgh University, becoming the first Tanganyikan to study at a British university. During his years abroad, he became enthralled with the socialist ideology of the British labor movement. Returning home with a master's degree in history and economics in 1952, he married Maria Magige the following year and began teaching history at St. Francis' College in Pugu, just outside Dar es Salaam, the colonial capital and largest city of Tanganyika.

Small, unpretentious, soft-spoken, and quick to laugh, Nyerere impressed his less-educated countrymen with his willingness to talk and work with them as equals. In addition, he was a dynamic orator and unusually politically perceptive. Three months after arriving at St. Francis', Nyerere was elected president of the TAA. Shortly thereafter, in July of 1954, he transformed the TAA into a political party, the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), and began agitating for Tanganyikan independence. Under his leadership, the organization espoused anticolonialism but stressed peaceful change, racial harmony, and social equality for all.

Recognizing his growing stature, Tanganyika's British governor, Sir Edward Twining, appointed Nyerere to a temporary vacancy on the colony's Legislative Council in 1954. The following year TANU sent Nyerere to New York to address the United Nations Trusteeship Council. Granted a hearing, he asked that the UN set a date for Tanganyikan independence and recognize the principle that the colony's future government be led by Africans. Though the British government rejected his demands, the debate established Nyerere as his country's preeminent nationalist spokesman.

Returning to Tanganyika, he resigned his teaching post to devote himself fully to campaigning for independence. For the next several years he tirelessly toured the countryside preaching anticolonialism without racial strife while building TANU into a powerful political organization, the membership of which grew from 100,000 in 1955 to a half million in 1957.

This hard work paid off in 1958 when TANU candidates won all the seats available to them on the Legislative Council in the colony's first free elections. In the unrestricted election of 1960, TANU candidates won 70 of the total 71 seats, and Nyerere became chief minister. The understanding and mutual trust that developed between Nyerere and the new British governor, Sir Richard Turnbull, during independence negotiations helped make the bloodless transition period one of the most peaceful of any African nation. Other key factors were the large number of tribes in Tanganyika, which made it difficult for any one to dominate affairs, and the relatively small number of whites living in the colony.

Nyerere became prime minister in May of 1961 when Tanganyika achieved self-government; complete independence came that December. Six weeks after independence, Nyerere resigned his post to devote himself to fortifying TANU to aid "the creation of a country in which the people take a full and active part in the fight against poverty, ignorance, and disease," he was quoted as saying in a biography by William Edgett Smith. Within six months, the new TANU-led government had abolished the powers and salaries of the country's hereditary chiefs.

But Nyerere could not stay away long. He was elected president of the new republic in November of 1962, receiving 98.1 percent of the vote. Pondering the meaning of a one-party democracy, he wrote a pamphlet, "Democracy and the Party System," explaining that parties like TANU "were not formed to challenge any ruling group of our own people; they were formed to challenge foreigners who ruled us. They were not, therefore, political parties, i.e., factions, but nationalist movements."

Following the election, TANU opened party membership to non-Africans and began the "Africanization" of the country's civil service. Several hundred British employees were cashiered with severance pay and left Tanganyika so that by the end of 1963, roughly half of the senior- and middle-grade posts were held by Africans, many insufficiently trained. Western nations stepped up their criticism of Tanganyika's one-party system. "Africanization" officially ended in 1964.

The new president turned his attention to African affairs, seeking means to better unite the continent's newly independent nations. He was one of the founders of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 and the driving force behind Tanganyika, Kenya, and Uganda forming the East African Community in 1967, a common market and administrative union that operated a wide range of shared services for the three countries.

Meanwhile, trouble was brewing at home. Zanzibar, an island 24 miles off the coast of Tanganyika, received its independence from Great Britain in December of 1963. One month later, the island's African majority successfully revolted, seizing power from the traditional ruling Arab minority. Scarcely a week later, in January of 1964, a small group of Tanganyikan soldiers mutinied, causing Nyerere to flee the State House. Simultaneously, similar military coups erupted in neighboring Kenya and Uganda. All three governments immediately called on Great Britain for military assistance against their own armies. With British help, the attempted coups were quickly extinguished.

But Zanzibar's continued instability worried Nyerere. Its new government quickly accepted aid from China, East Germany, and the U.S.S.R., becoming in the eyes of the West the "Cuba of East Africa." In April of 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form a new country, the United Republic of Tanzania, with Nyerere as its president. The union was widely interpreted as a victory for Western interests in the region.

Nyerere was re-elected president in 1965 with 96 percent of the vote. On a state visit to China that year, he was impressed by its progress since liberation and struck by the relevance of Chinese problems to those of Tanzania. Close relations ensued between the two countries, and the Chinese agreed to finance and build a new railroad to connect the Tanzanian capital and major seaport, Dar es Salaam, with the neighboring, landlocked country of Zambia.

Nyerere's shift toward the East continued when he broke off diplomatic relations with England in 1965 over Rhodesia--Britain had allowed white settlers in that African colony to declare independence, thereby thwarting the wishes of the black majority. Nyerere organized five African nations to officially oppose white-minority rule in that runaway colony as well as in South Africa, Namibia, and the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola. To that end, Tanzania became the home base for nationalist freedom movements in those lands. By 1992, all but South Africa were independent and governed by black leaders.

Condemning white racism, oppression, and misrule while ignoring similar actions by black rulers was not within Nyerere's conscience; in 1972 he denounced Uganda's Idi Amin when the brutal dictator expelled all Asians from that country. When Ugandan troops invaded and annexed a small border area of Tanzania in 1978, Nyerere appealed to the OAU for action, without success. The following year, 45,000 Tanzanian troops supported Ugandan exiles seeking to liberate their homeland. Within months Amin was toppled and former Ugandan president Milton Obote returned to power. Africa had successfully policed itself.

From the beginning, Nyerere's goal had been to build his largely rural, impoverished country into an egalitarian socialist society based on cooperative agriculture. His 1967 Arusha Declaration set out the principles by which he meant to accomplish this. It collectivized village farmlands, established mass literacy programs, instituted free and universal education, and nationalized the country's banks, commerce, and major industries. At the same time, the declaration established a strict code of ethics for political leaders, prohibiting them from receiving more than one salary, owning rental property, or holding shares in private corporations. Nyerere also stressed that Tanzania must become economically self-sufficient, depending on its own peasant agricultural economy rather than foreign aid and investment.

Calling his experiment in African socialism ujamaa (Swahili for familyhood), Nyerere emphasized economic cooperation, racial and tribal harmony, and self-sacrifice. But his dream came at a cost: More than 13 million peasants were resettled, sometimes forcibly, into 8,000 cooperative villages so that medical services, water, and schools could be more easily provided. State-run corporations, called parastatals, set and controlled imports, exports, agricultural production, and ran the newly nationalized industries.

Results were discouraging. Agricultural production plummeted, with the yield of some crops like sisal and cashews declining by 50 percent. Food became scarce, and agricultural imports skyrocketed in order to feed the growing population. Peasant farmers were never able to accept the new collective farms, and by 1985, nearly 85 percent of them had returned to subsistence farming. Of the 330 companies nationalized, in industries ranging from clothes to cloves, nearly half went bankrupt; the survivors were working at only 20 percent of capacity. Declining government revenues coupled with increasing expenditures caused inflation-producing budget deficits. The national currency fell in value, per capita income was $250--one of the lowest in the world--and Tanzania's gross national product (GNP) decreased annually. Only the infusion of $10 billion in foreign aid from 1970 to 1990 kept the economy afloat.

Critics blamed poor management and a bloated, inefficient state bureaucracy, which controlled the failed parastatals, for turning the country into "an economic basket case," according to an international banker quoted in a 1985 issue of Time. Supporters ascribed the failure of ujamaa to collapsing world market prices for Tanzanian agricultural exports like coffee, tea, tobacco, and cotton, while prices for the country's imports, including oil and machinery, rose sharply. The dissolution of the East African Community in 1977 and war with Uganda two years later also greatly taxed the national treasury.

Yet in many ways Nyerere's policies vastly improved the lives of his countrymen. Tanzania has one of the highest adult-literacy rate in Africa, primary school enrollment has jumped from 25 percent of the child population at independence to 95 percent, 50 percent of the population now has clean water, the number of hospitals and rural health centers--as well as doctors--has zoomed, infant mortality has declined, and life expectancy has increased from 35 to 51 years. Tanzania's citizens possess national pride, there is little tribal strife, and the country remains politically stable, a rarity on the African continent.

Though his dreams of a Pan-African union and ujamaa did not materialize, Nyerere remained a popular figure in Tanzania and throughout Africa. Re-elected president in 1970, 1975, and 1980, he retired in 1985 but continued as chairman of the Chama cha Mapinduzi (Revolutionary Party), created by the merger of TANU and Zanzibar's ruling party, until 1990. Being one of the few African rulers to voluntarily relinquish power only reinforced his moral stature and worldwide perception of his personal integrity. And typical of Nyerere's overriding commitment to Tanzania was his choice of successor, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, former president of Zanzibar, a move designed to preserve the unity of the nation.

Nyerere's 24-year rule was unsullied by scandal or corruption, a rarity on the African continent, and his devotion to egalitarian ideals was never seriously questioned. Apparently uninterested in seeking personal wealth, he maintained modest housing and had earned a presidential salary lower than that of his cabinet ministers. "He is above corruption," stated a political opponent quoted in Time on Nyerere's 1985 retirement. "He never sought power for power's sake. He is a real man of the people."

President Nyerere died of leukemia on October 14, 1999, at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, England.

Awards

Third World Award, 1981; named Distinguished Son of Africa, 1988; honorary degrees.

Works

Writings

• Uhuru na Umoja (Freedom and Unity), 1967.
• Uhuru na Ujamaa (Freedom and Socialism), 1968.
• Ujamaa (Essays on Socialism), 1969.
• Uhuru na Maendeleo (Freedom and Development), 1973.
• Also author of the pamphlet "Democracy and the Party System"; translator of Julius Caesar and The Merchant of Venice into Swahili.

Further Reading

Books

• Smith, William Edgett, We Must Run While They Walk: A Portrait of Africa's Julius Nyerere, Random House, 1971.

• Christian Century, March 1, 1972.
• Current History, April 1985; May 1988.
• Economist, June 2, 1990; August 24, 1991.
• Harper's, July 1981.
• Newsweek, October 26, 1981.
• New Yorker, March 3, 1986.
• Time, November 4, 1985.
• U.S. News & World Report, March 26, 1979.

— James J. Podesta

Quotes:

"Violence is unnecessary and costly. Peace is the only way."

"When we were at school we were taught to sing the songs of the Europeans. How many of us were taught the songs of the Wanyamwezi or of the Wahehe? Many of us have learnt to dance the rumba, or the cha cha, to rock and roll and to twist and even to dance the waltz and foxtrot. But how many of us can dance, or have even heard of the gombe sugu, the mangala, nyang umumi, kiduo, or lele mama?"

Julius Kambarage Nyerere
1st President of Tanzania
In office October 29, 1964 – November 5, 1985
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Ali Hassan Mwinyi
Born	April 13, 1922(1922-04-13) Butiama, Tanganyika
Died	October 14, 1999 (aged 77) London, United Kingdom
Political party	CCM
Spouse(s)	Maria Nyerere

Julius Kambarage Nyerere (April 13, 1922 - October 14, 1999) served as the first President of Tanzania and previously Tanganyika, from the country's founding in 1961 until his retirement in 1985.

Born in Tanganyika to Nyerere Burito (1860-1942), Chief of the Zanaki,^[1] Nyerere is known by the Swahili name Mwalimu or 'teacher', his profession prior to politics.^[2] He was also referred to as Baba wa Taifa (Father of the Nation).^[3] In October of 2009, Nyerere was named "World Hero of Social Justice" by the United Nations General Assembly.^[4]

Contents 1 Education 2 Political career 3 Economic policies 4 Foreign policy 5 Post-presidential activity 6 Cultural Influences 7 Publications 8 See also 9 References 10 External links

Education

Kambarage Nyerere was born on April 13, 1922. He began attending Government Primary School in Musoma at the age of 12 where he completed the 4 year program in 3 years and went on to Tabora Government School in 1937. He received a scholarship to attend Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda where he obtained a teaching Diploma. He returned to Tanganyika and worked for 3 years at St. Mary’s Secondary School in Tabora, where he taught Biology and English. In 1949 he got a scholarship to attend the University of Edinburgh (he was the first Tanganyikan to study at a British university^{[citation needed]} and only the second to gain a university degree outside Africa^{[citation needed]}) where he obtained his Masters of Arts degree on Economics and History in 1952. In Edinburgh, partly through his encounter with Fabian thinking, Nyerere began to develop his particular vision of connecting socialism with African communal living.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

On his return to Tanganyika, Nyerere took a position teaching History, English and Kiswahili, at St. Francis' College, near Dar es Salaam. In 1953 he was elected president of Tanganyika African Association (TAA), a civic organization dominated by civil servants, that he had helped found while a student at Makerere University. In 1954 he transformed TAA into the politically oriented Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). TANU's main objective was to achieve national sovereignty for Tanganyika. A campaign to register new members was launched, and within a year TANU had become the leading political organization in the country.^[5][6]

Nyerere's activities attracted the attention of the Colonial authorities and he was forced to make a choice between his political activities and his teaching. He was reported as saying that he was a schoolmaster by choice and a politician by accident. He resigned from teaching and traveled throughout the country speaking to common people and tribal chiefs, trying to garner support for movement towards independence. He also spoke on behalf of TANU to the Trusteeship Council and Fourth Committee of the United Nations in New York. His oratory skills and integrity helped Nyerere achieve TANU goal for an independent country without war or bloodshed. The cooperative British governor Sir Richard Turnbull was also a factor in the struggle for independence. Nyerere entered the Colonial Legislative council in 1958 and was elected chief minister in 1960. In 1961 Tanganyika was granted self governance and Nyerere became its first Prime Minister on December 9, 1961. A year later Nyerere was elected President of Tanganyika when it became a Republic. Nyerere was instrumental in the union between the islands of Zanzibar and the mainland Tanganyika to form Tanzania, after a coup in Zanzibar in 1964 toppled Jamshid bin Abdullah, who was the Sultan of Zanzibar.

Positions held

• 1954 A Founder Member of TANU
• 1958-1960 Member of the Legislative Assembly in the first elections in which Africans were allowed to vote.
• 1958 Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
• 1960 Chief Minister of the first Internal Self-Government Administration.
• 1961 Prime Minister of the first Government of Independent Tanganyika
• 1962 Elected President of Tanganyika when it became a Republic.
• 1963-1970 Chancellor of the University of East Africa.
• 1964-1985 President of the United Republic of Tanzania.
• 1970-1985 Chancellor of University of Dar-es-Salaam.
• 1977-1990 Chairman of Chama Cha Mapinduzi which was formed by a merger between TANU and the Afro-Shiraz Party of Zanzibar. CCM was born in Zanzibar on February 5, 1977.
• 1984-1985 Chancellor of Sokoine University of Agriculture.
• 1985: Retired from Presidency.
• 1999: Died of leukemia in London and was buried in Butiama(Musoma) - Tanzania.

Economic policies

Symbolic mixing of Soils from Zanzibar and Tanganyika in 1964

When in power, Nyerere implemented a socialist economic programme (announced in the Arusha Declaration), establishing close ties with China, and also introduced a policy of collectivization in the country's agricultural system, known as Ujamaa or "familyhood."

Although some of his policies can be characterised as socialist, Nyerere was first and foremost an African, and secondly a socialist. He was what is often called an African socialist. Nyerere had tremendous faith in rural African people and their traditional values and ways of life. He believed that life should be structured around the ujamaa, or extended family found in traditional Africa. He believed that in these traditional villages, the state of ujamaa had existed before the arrival of imperialists.

He believed that Africans were already socialists and that all that they needed to do was return to their traditional mode of life and they would recapture it. This would be a true repudiation of capitalism, since his society would not rely on capitalism to exist. Unfortunately for Nyerere and Tanzania, this ujamaa system caused agricultural output to plummet. The deficit in cereal grains was more than 1 million tons between 1974 and 1977. Only loans and grants from the World Bank and the IMF in 1975 prevented Tanzania from going bankrupt. By 1979, ujamaa villages contained 90% of the rural population but only produced 5% of the national agricultural output. ^[7] Subsequently, the country fell on hard economic times which was excacerbated by a war against Idi Amin and the six year drought. Tanzania went from the largest exporter of agricultural products in Africa to the largest importer of agricultural products. Nyerere announced that he would retire after presidential elections in 1985, leaving the country to enter its free market era - as imposed by structural adjustment under the IMF and World bank - under the leadership of Ali Hassan Mwinyi.

Nyerere was instrumental in putting both Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa in power. He remained the chairman of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (ruling party) for five years following his presidency until 1990, and is still recognised as the Father of the Nation.

Foreign policy

Nyerere's foreign policy emphasized nonalignment in the Cold War and under his leadership Tanzania enjoyed friendly relations with both the Western world and the Eastern bloc.

Nyerere, along with several other Pan-Africanist leaders, founded the Organization of African Unity in 1963. Nyerere supported several militant groups active in African colonies, including the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan African Congress (PAC) of South Africa, FRELIMO when it sought to overthrow Portuguese rule in Mozambique, and ZANLA in its war with the Smith government of Rhodesia. From the mid 1970s on, along with President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, he was one of the leaders of the Front Line States which campaigned in support of black majority rule in southern Africa. In 1978 he led Tanzania in war with Uganda, defeating and exiling the government of Idi Amin. Nyerere was instrumental in the coup in Seychelles which brought France-Albert René to power.

Outside of Africa Nyerere was an inspiration to Walter Lini, Prime Minister of Vanuatu, whose theories on Melanesian socialism owed much to the ideas he found in Tanzania, which he visited. Lecturers inspired by Nyerere also taught at the University of Papua New Guinea in the 1980s, helping educated Melanesians familiarize themselves with his ideas.

Post-presidential activity

After the Presidency, Nyerere remained the Chairman of CCM until 1990 when Ali Hassan Mwinyi took over. Nyerere remained vocal about the extent of corruption and corrupt officials during the Ali Hassan Mwinyi administration. He also blocked Jakaya Kikwete's nomination for the presidency, citing that he was too young to run a country. Nyerere was instrumental in getting Benjamin Mkapa elected (Mkapa had been Minister of Foreign Affairs for a time during Nyerere's administration).

In one of his famous speeches during the CCM general assembly, Nyerere said in Swahili "Ninang'atuka", meaning that he was pulling out of politics for good. He kept to his word that Tanzania would be a democratic country. He moved back to his childhood home village of Butiama in northern Tanzania. During his retirement, he continued to travel the world meeting various heads of government as an advocate for poor countries and especially the South Centre institution. Nyerere travelled more widely after retiring than he did when he was president of Tanzania. One of his last high-profile actions was as the chief mediator in the Burundi conflict in 1996. He died in a London hospital of leukaemia on October 14, 1999.

Positions Held after Presidency: Chairman of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (1985-1990), Chairman of the independent International South Commission (1987-1990), and Chairman of the South Centre in the Geneva & Dar es Salaam Offices (1990-1999).

In January 2005 the Catholic diocese of Musoma opened a cause for the beatification of Julius Nyerere. Nyerere was a devout Catholic who attended Mass daily throughout his public life and was known for fasting frequently.

He has received honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh (UK), University of Duquesne (USA), University of Cairo (Egypt), University of Nigeria (Nigeria), University of Ibadan (Nigeria), University of Liberia (Liberia), University of Toronto (Canada), Howard University (USA), Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), University of Havana (Cuba), University of Lesotho, University of the Philippines, Fort Hare University (South Africa), Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania), and Lincoln University (PA, USA).

He received the Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1976, the Third World Prize in 1982, the Nansen Medal for outstanding services to Refugees in 1983, the Lenin Peace Prize in 1987, the International Simón Bolívar Prize in 1992, and the Gandhi Peace Prize in 1995. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda awarded Nyerere the Katonga, Uganda's highest military medal, in honour of his opposition to colonialism and Idi Amin's government in 2007.^[8]

Cultural Influences

Nyerere has continued to influence the people of Tanzania in the years following his presidency. His broader ideas of socialism live on in the rap and hip hop artists of Tanzania.^[9] Nyerere believed socialism was an attitude of mind that barred discrimination and entailed equality of all human beings.^[10] Therefore, ujamaa can be said to have created the social environment for the development of hip hop culture. Like in other countries, hip hop emerged in post-colonial Tanzania when divisions among the population were prominent, whether by class, ethnicity or gender. Rappers’ broadcast messages of freedom, unity, and family, topics that are all reminiscent of the spirit Nyerere put forth in ujamaa.^[11]In addition, Nyerere supported the presence of foreign cultures in Tanzania saying, “a nation which refuses to learn from foreign cultures is nothing but a nation of idiots and lunatics…[but] to learn from other cultures does not mean we should abandon our own.”^[12] Under his leadership, the Ministry of National Culture and Youth was created in order to allow Tanzanian popular culture, in this case hip hop, to develop and flower. As a result of Nyerere’s presence in Tanzania, the genre of hip hop was welcomed from overseas in Tanzania and melded with the spirit of ujamaa.

Publications

• Freedom and Socialism. A Selection from Writings & Speeches, 1965-1967 (1968)^[13]
  • Includes "The Arusha Declaration"; "Education for self-reliance"; "The varied paths to socialism"; "The purpose is man"; and "Socialism and development."
• Freedom & Development, Uhuru Na Maendeleo (1974)
  • Includes essays on adult education; freedom and development; relevance; and ten years after independence.
• Ujamaa - Essays on Socialism' (1977)
• Crusade for Liberation (1979)
• Julius Kaisari (a Swahili translation of William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar)
• Mabepari wa Venisi (a Swahili translation of William Shakespeare's play - The Merchant of Venice)

See also

• African socialism
• Julius Nyerere International Airport
• List of Presidents of Tanganyika
• List of Prime Ministers of Tanzania

References

1. ^ The Crisis, 1996. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Page 35.
2. ^ Blumberg, Arnold. Great Leaders, Great Tyrants?: Contemporary Views of World Rulers Who Made History, 1995. Page 221.
3. ^ Hopkins, Raymond F. Political Roles In A New State: Tanzania's First Decade, 1971. Page 204.
4. ^ Morales Named "World Hero of Mother Earth" by UN General Assembly by the Latin American Herald Tribune
5. ^ Happy Birthday Mwalimu, Daily News (Dar es Salaam), April 13, 2007
6. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History: Julius Nyerere
7. ^ Meredith, Martin (2005). The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence. PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-58648-246-7.
8. ^ Museveni honours Nyerere
9. ^ Lemelle, Sidney J. “‘Ni wapi Tunakwenda’: Hip Hop Culture and the Children of Arusha.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 230-54. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press.
10. ^ Keregero, Keregero. “Mwalimu Julius Nyerere on Socialism.” IPP Media. October 14, 2005. < http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2005/10/14/51798.html>.
11. ^ Lemelle, Sidney J. “‘Ni wapi Tunakwenda’: Hip Hop Culture and the Children of Arusha.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 230-54. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press.
12. ^ Lemelle, Sidney J. “‘Ni wapi Tunakwenda’: Hip Hop Culture and the Children of Arusha.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 230-54. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press.
13. ^ Africa in the Cold War: A preliminary bibliography Boston University

• Yakan, Mohamad A (1999). Almanac of African Peoples & Nations. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1-56000-433-9.
• Smith, Mark K. "Julius Nyerere, lifelong learning and informal education." The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education. 1998.
• Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, profile at Embassy of Tanzania, Sweden
• Former Presidents: Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Tanzania State House
• Godfrey Mwakikagile (2006), Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era, Third Edition, New Africa Press, Pretoria, South Africa, ISBN 978-0-9802534-1-2; Godfrey Mwakikagile, Tanzania under Mwalimu Nyerere: Reflections on an African Statesman, Second Edition, New Africa Press, ISBN 978-09802534-9-8; Godfrey Mwakikagile, Life under Nyerere, First Edition, New Africa Press, ISBN 978-09802587-2-1.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Julius Nyerere

• Nyerere's remarks on Ali Hassan Mwinyi Corrupt practices
• PBS Interview with Nyerere on the Great Lakes crisis, December 26, 1996
• Infed.org article on Nyerere and his views on education in Tanzania
• Jerry Atkin's Nyerere tribute, from InMotion Magazine
• SouthCentre Nyerere Memorial Site
  • Mwalimu Neyerere Speeches
• A translation of Merchant of Venice into KiSwahili
• The Guardian Obituary
• Nyerere Obituary from the ANC
• NPR Weekend Edition reflection on Nyerere
• Julius Nyerere Fellowship
• Called to greatness MercatorNet, Nov 10, 2006
• Beatification inquiry for Tanzania's Nyerere (from Catholic World News)
• Is Nyerere's process to sainthood timely? (from IPP Media)
• The Julius Nyerere Intellectual Festival Week by Gacheke Gachihi, All Africa, June 11 2009

Preceded by none	Prime Minister of Tanzania 1960–1961	Succeeded by Rashidi Kawawa
Preceded by none	President of Tanzania 1962–1985	Succeeded by Ali Hassan Mwinyi

v • d • e Presidents of Tanzania Julius Nyerere • Ali Hassan Mwinyi • Benjamin Mkapa • Jakaya Kikwete

v • d • e Prime Ministers of Tanzania Tanganyika: Nyerere · Kawawa · vacant, 1962-72 · Tanzania: Kawawa · Sokoine · Msuya · Sokoine · Salim · Warioba · Malecela · Msuya · Sumaye · Lowassa · Pinda

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v • d • e Pan-Africanism Proponents Politicians: Nnamdi Azikiwe · Amílcar Cabral · Muammar al-Gaddafi · Marcus Garvey · David Comissiong · Kenneth Kaunda · Jomo Kenyatta · Patrice Lumumba · Thabo Mbeki · Abdias do Nascimento · Kwame Nkrumah · Julius Nyerere · John Nyathi Pokela · Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia · Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe · Ahmed Sékou Touré · I.T.A. Wallace-Johnson Others: Molefi Kete Asante · Steve Biko · Onwutalobi Anthony-Claret · Edward Wilmot Blyden · John Henrik Clarke · Cheikh Anta Diop · W. E. B. Du Bois · Frantz Fanon · John G. Jackson · Yosef Ben-Jochannan · Sankofa Juba · Maulana Karenga · Akwatu Khenti · Bob Marley · Malcolm X · Zephania Mothopeng · George Padmore · Dr Motsoko Pheko · Runoko Rashidi · Walter Rodney · Burning Spear · Henry Sylvester-Williams · Stokely Carmichael · Omali Yeshitela Concepts United States of Africa · Afrocentrism · Kwanzaa · Pan-African colours · Pan-African flag · Négritude · African nationalism · African socialism · African Century · Africanization · Kawaida  · Ujamaa  · Harambee  · Ubuntu  · Zikism Organizations African Union (OAU) · Uhuru Movement · UNIA-ACL · African Unification Front · International African Service Bureau

v • d • e Gandhi Peace Prize laureates Julius Nyerere (1995) • A. T. Ariyaratne (1996) • Gerhard Fischer (1997) • Ramakrishna Mission (1998) • Baba Amte (1999) • Grameen Bank, Nelson Mandela (2000) • John Hume (2001) • Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (2002) • Václav Havel (2003) • Coretta Scott King (2004) • Desmond Tutu (2005)

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