At the beginning of November President Mkapa called the Regional Commissioner, the Regional Administrative Secretary, the Regional Police Commander, District commissioners and MP’s from Kigoma region to an emergency conference to discuss the increase in crime in the region.

Two months earlier Regional Administrative Secretary Raphael Mlama had explained in an interview with ‘Tanzanian Affairs’ the costs and the benefits for Tanzania of the massive influx of refugees. Between August 1998 and August 1999 over 100,000 refugees from Burundi and the Congo had entered Kigoma region. On the benefits side he said that Tanzania received help from the UN High Commission for Refugees and many NGO’s and other agencies and their help included the construction of new roads. The $1.42 million 93-km Nyakanazi -Kibondo road was inaugurated on August 27. UNHCR had provided the funds to facilitate transport of food and goods to refugee camps in the region. Other benefits included new water supplies, rehabilitation of schools, increased employment opportunities, provision of social services, re-afforestation projects and an improved market for produce. But many of these benefits had to be placed against the problems refugees brought with them. By far the most important was the serious deterioration in security. Kigoma used to be a haven of peace but now there was a serious crime wave and highway robbery -“They use machine guns to steal a radio” he said. In Kasulu district villagers had begged the government to relocate them, such was their fear of crime. Some refugees also introduced new diseases like cholera, rabies and sexually transmitted diseases. The environment was damaged as vast cities had to be carved out of previously virgin forest. Heavy lorries carrying supplies for the refugee camps also damaged the roads. It was impossible to control the refugees who often went back and forth across the Burundi and Congo borders. On their return many would try to obtain additional entitlements to food and supplies by concealing their earlier stays in the camps.

Meanwhile in Kagera Region, which once hosted over half a million refugees, the crime wave they have left behind is such that the authorities now advise travellers by road to take a police escort with them.

13th IN THE WORLD “Tanzania is expected to have been the fastest growing economy in the world in 1999” said President Mkapa during his visit to Sweden in September. He spoke of the 4% sustained economic growth over the last few years and how the GDP was now estimated to be 7.5 billion or $250 per capita. Inflation had come down from 30% in 1995 to 7.6 at the end of July and was still going down.

Tanzania has been chosen as one of a group of member countries of the Commonwealth to advise on how best it can respond to the challenges of the new century. The group is being chaired by South African President Mbeki. On his return from the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting in Durban in November President Mkapa described the summit as a resounding success particularly in its Declaration on Globalisation and People-Centred Development.

Tanzanian blacksmith Joseph Mashinji from Mwanza has won the first prize in an African Blacksmiths competition recently held in Britain. He was sponsored by Tools for SelCReliance and competed against blacksmiths from Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Sierra Leone and South Africa. He made side axes, carving axes and hammers from old springs and half-shafts of vehicles to win the prize -Daily News.

The government suspended publication of the Kombora weekly following its publication of a photograph on the front page of a half-naked woman, something which it said was against the country’s traditions and culture ­Daily News.

‘What is wrong with female circumcision?’ was the question asked in the Dar es Salaam Daily Mail on October 8 following a visit by its correspondent Kenneth Simbaya to talk to Maasai mothers in Iringa. “If we want our daughters not to get married by their fellow tribesmen let us stop circumcising them” one said. “It is not true that girls over-bleed during circumcision … they bleed more when they are having a menstrual period … negative effects have never been experienced by Maasai girls. There is no need to fear accidental death by over bleeding ….. that’s God’s wish and it happens very rarely”. Another mother said “Some Maasai say they have stopped practising female circumcision…the truth is they haven’t …. they utter such words because they are afraid of the government… we don’t share razor blades any more and we treat the wounds with our traditional medicine”. The reporter found these views widely held in the area in spite of efforts by a Finnish-financed NGO (HIMW A) to end the practice. In Tarime, Mara Region, a week before this, it was announced that 25 out of 5,000 girls in the area died during circumcision each year mostly because of over-bleeding.

Parliamentary Speaker Pius Msekwa has been elected as Chairman of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association International Executive Committee. And University of Dar es Salaam lecturer Prof Haroub Othman has become the UN’s Chief Technical Advisor on Good Governance in Liberia. -The Guardian.

To avoid difficulties which have arisen from potential students using fake educational certificates, the University of Dar es Salaam has introduced its own matriculation examination which new students must now pass before being admitted -The Guardian.

Two presidents commemorated Heroes Day at the Tanzanian People’s Defence Force Kaboya Camp in Muleba (Bukoba) recently in honour of the 600 combatants who died during the 1978-79 Kagera war. President Mkapa laid a spear and shield and President Museveni of Uganda laid a wreath at the Heroes Memorial Tower which contains the list of all the fallen heroes -Daily News.

The Serengeti’s elephant population (2.015) has increased by 48% during the last four years while the buffalo population (17,000) has declined by 21% according to a 1998 census -The East African.

Eliot Kadodo a Standard Seven school pupil in Hanang, Arusha has won the ‘Guinness Stout Effort Award’ for 1999 after making a computer, a TV set and several other technological gadgets. His prize was a new bicycle -The Guardian.

The Lyamungu Agricultural Research Institute in Moshi has developed 16 high yielding Arabica coffee hybrids resistant to coffee berry disease and leaf rust. These diseases require farmers to use large quantities of fungicides. The hybrids are being tested on 24 sites and it was hoped that they could be released to farmers by 2001 -The Guardian.

The number of Tanzanian asylum seekers trying to enter Britain has fallen from 1,535 in 1995 to 80 in 1998 following the introduction of the new visa requirement in 1986 -Daily News.

The Police carried out a highly successful operation against muggers on Oyster Bay’s Coco beach in Dar es Salaam on September 5. Six men in uniform and others in mufti combed the whole beach and underneath the cliffs to fish out 12 suspects before arresting them. While they were being held in a circle surrounded by police, a disorderly mob tried to organise a rescue mission but they were rapidly dispersed and three were arrested -Daily Mail.

Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a Zanzibari of Arab origin, who was arrested in South Africa at the beginning of October accused of being involved with others in the bombing the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August 1998 and to have caused the death of 250 people, has been put on trial in New York. He is said to have bought a car and rented a house in Ilala, Dar es Salaam as part of the preparations for the bombings. A person holding dual Congolese and Egyptian nationalities and another -a Zanzibari of Arab origin -are being held in Dar es Salaam on similar charges -The Guardian.

A report from the Tarangire Elephant Project -Tarangire is a 2,600 sq km National Park 115 kms from Arusha – indicates that the elephant population there has increased from 250 in 1993 to 420 now. The Daily News reported that this was due to the successful anti-poaching activities of Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) and the international trade ban on ivory which was imposed in 1989.

Tanzania has fallen from 118th to 123rd in the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) in its latest ranking of 201 countries. Uganda is 100th and Kenya 101st. Brazil remains on top. Tanzania had been knocked out of the African Nations Cup by Burundi and its youth team had been beaten by Ghana in the Olympic Games 2000 qualifiers match.

In the latest measures taken against corruption, 14 members of the Tanzania Peoples Defence Force (TPDF) including four senior army officers were sacked following illegalities in recruitment procedures that had taken place last year. Some 12 National Insurance Corporation (NIC) employees were arrested and locked up in the Dar es Salaam Police Station when it was found that some of them were planning to destroy documentary evidence held in a local bank. According to the Daily News, some of the suspects had started consulting witch doctors and another was trying to leave the country. The NIC has recently sacked or suspended 30 of its staff and 40 of its agencies have had their services frozen. It is estimated that the NIC has lost some Shs 2 billion.

It is also reported that 120 policemen have been sacked for taking bribes between January 1998 and June 1999; 132 others have been transferred to other duties. The Police Officer commanding Rombo district was suspended in May. A TANESCO auditor has been suspended following his alleged failure to report irregularities in the issue of cards for the payment of electricity which caused losses amounting to millions of shillings.

On May 22 President Mkapa announced the appointment of new chairmen, general managers and directors general for seven agricultural parastatals. On May 22 ten medical personnel including six doctors were suspended. The Acting Director of the Tanzania News Agency was retired at the same time. On July 6 according to the Daily News, President Mkapa retired ‘in the public interest’ the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Zanzibar and the Chief Administrative Officers in the Vice-President’s and Prime Minister’s Offices. The Zanzibar Commissioner of Police was ‘given other duties’. No reasons were given for these latter actions.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch published on July 7 an informative but highly critical 36-page report under the title ‘Refugees in Tanzania Confined Unfairly’. The report said, inter alia, that tens of thousands of refugees, some of whom had lived in Tanzania for more than two decades, had been rounded up by the Tanzanian army and confined to camps for the past year in the western part of the country. ‘The army separated the refugees from their families and stripped them of their belongings in an indiscriminate response to security risks from outside the country’ the report said. The army conducted sweeps largely in late 1997 and early 1998 on the grounds that it was necessary to protect Tanzanian citizens living near the Burundian border. The Burundian government had alleged that Burundian Hutu rebels based in Tanzania were engaged in arms trafficking and cross-border incursions; it threatened to act if the Tanzanian government did not. With little or no notice the Tanzanian army then swept through villages close to the border apprehending thousands of refugees from the homes in which they had settled and developed new lives, and sent them to refugee camps. They had lost personal belongings and their schools and community institutions had been closed.

The government said that the Refugees Act stipulates that refugees must be taken care of in a particular area and not mixed with citizens. Those complaining of loss of property and separation from their families had been asked to submit their claims but none had done so.

By contrast, at the beginning of June a visiting French delegation praised the government for the care being given to refugees in Kigoma.

And on July 14 the Guardian revealed that Tanzania (and the Cote d’Ivoire) had been made the first recipients of the 1999 OAU Medal for ‘Outstanding Service to Refugees and Displaced Persons in Africa’.

At the budget session in parliament on July 9 Home Affairs Minister Ali Ameir Mohamed said that the 20,000 refugees remaining from the original 500,000 who came from Ruanda, most of whom went home in 1996, must now also return home. Many were still in Ngara pretending to be Burundians. Tanzania still had 800,000 refugees from eight countries, mostly from the Congo and Burundi.

Karibu sana katika Kisa ya Kisasa tunapo kabiliana na maneno mapya na vichekesho vya kilugha.
Welcome to the modern story where we confront new words and funny phrases.

Mgoso agundua ulimi hauna mfupa! -The white person (Mgoso) understood that the tongue has no bone.

Nilikuwa mgeni Mzizima. Nilikuwa na uzoefu wa sehemu mbalimbali Tanzania lakini Kiswahili changu wakati ule hakijakolea sawasawa. Basi nilikutana na mwanamke mmoja kwa mara ya kwanza. Tulikuwa tumeongea kwenye simu mara nyingi lakini siku hiyo ilikuwa mara ya kwanza kuonana naye ana kwa ana. Sikujua jinsi ya kueleza hivyo kwa Kiswahili. Nilikusudia kusema ‘in the flesh’ kwa kumwambia, “Nimefurahi kukutana na wewe kwa mara ya kwanza kimwili.”

My first time in Dar-es-Salaam (Mzizima). I thought my Swahili was pretty good. I had spoken to this woman several times on the phone but never met her face to-face (ana kwa ana). How to express to her that this was the first time we had met ‘in the flesh’? I proudly announce that I was pleased to meet her bodily (kimwili) for the first time; with all the implications that you would expect of such a phrase. I thus learnt a valuable lesson and a useful proverb: the tongue doesn’t have a bone (ulimi hauna mfupa; i.e. it is incontrollable). This is an acceptable phrase for excusing those numerous faux pas.

Jamaa agoma kuondoka kizimbani -the man refused to leave the dock (in court).

Jamaa mmoja alishitakiwa kwa kuiba vitu vyenye thamani ya kilo tatu. Alimwambia hakimu kuwa bora afungwe jela kuliko kuja mahakamani kila siku. Mtu huyu alichoka na ‘njoo kesho’ za mahakama kwa sababu mlalamikaji hafiki mahakamani. Baada ya kugoma kuondoka iliwabidi maafande wamtoe nje kwa nguvu, ndipo alipofunguliwa shitaka lingine la kufanya fujo mahakamani. Aidha hukumu ya kesi hiyo haitatolewa mpaka mwisho wa 1999!

The man who refused to leave the dock in court was charged with theft of goods to the value of 300,000 sh. (kilo tatu). He asked the judge if he could be imprisoned instead of the constant postponements of the court (njoo kesho, lit. come tomorrow). After striking out and refusing to leave, the police (maafande: cops) had to remove him by force. This led to the opening of a new case, that of ‘creating a disturbance’ (fujo) in court, the judgement of which will not be announced until December 1999!

Kilo has come to mean 100,000 shillings ie. the same as ‘laki’. Maafande is a common word for the police; it’s in the dictionary. ‘Njoo Kesho’ means come tomorrow, it is used here as a noun; postponings. Fujo is what English soccer fans are famous for; disturbance. It is used to describe strikes as well as violence.
Ben Rawlence

Contemporary African Art poster

Two recent, fine, contrastive exhibitions in London’s premier art district showcased work by three established artists from Tanzania: Robert Glen, Georges Lilanga and Sue Stolberger. The first was ‘Contemporary African Art from the Jean Pigozzi Collection’ at Sotheby’s; the front cover of the illustrated 132-page catalogue shown here is a reproduction by Tanzanian artist Georges Lilanga di Nyama at the exhibition entitled Uishi na jirani zako vizuri ili ukipatwana shida watakusaidia (maintain good relations with your neighbours so they will help you when you are in trouble) Acrylic on plywood 1992. The second was ‘Robert Glen and Sue Stolberger: Tusk Trust Exhibition’ at the Tyron & Swann Gallery in Cork Street in London. There was a 14-page illustrated catalogue.

With East African childhoods, the three artists describe themselves as self-taught, that is without an academic art education; nonetheless Glen and Lilanga have at times run their own workshops. It was a rare opportunity during one week to see familiar kinds of Tanzanian art -European wildlife naturalism and Makonde social imagery.

Tyron & Swann, a commercial gallery that specialises in natural life subject matter, showed some 50 objects comprising 14 bronze sculptures by Glen and 37 water-colour paintings by Stolberger. Their realistic art is inspired by the ‘uninhabited wilderness’ of Ruaha National Park, their home and studio for the past five years. Their works are complementary. Stolberger’s paintings express the changing scene –dry environment, big skies and also the small, designer details of animals and birds (often depicted together, like Robin A’s batiks from Nairobi). Glen’s sculptures fill out the space with the eternal gestures of animals; bronze is permanent and such objects exude a powerful presence. Glen’s mastery of subject and medium are superb; it makes me wonder about links to his original profession of taxidermy -in the 60’s.

The Sotheby’s exhibition, in contrast, was a group show of Contemporary African Art from the Collection of Jean Pigozzi and part of their first ever auction in this genre (Sotheby’s expertise is African ‘tribal’ art; Pigozzi’s Collection has been shown in the UK previously at prime Modernist white walled venues such as the Saatchi, Serpentine and Tate, Liverpool; ironically the gallery walls were painted mud brown). The show of 28 artists featured four paintings inclusive of the catalogue cover. Georges Lilanga di Nyama who was born in Masasi and is a practised Makonde carver, co-founded the Nyumba ya Sanaa (House of Art) in Dar es Salaam in the early 70’s. His major achievement is the transformation of Makonde shetani (spirit) imagery into two-dimensional forms for prints and paintings; a touch of nationalism is his insistence on Swahili titles. He acknowledges ‘Tinga Tinga’ (Eduardo Saidi 1937-72 at Morogoro Stores) who introduced him to painting with domestic paints on square, plywood boards. I find Lilanga’s imagery is more original, organised and dynamic than that found on most ‘square’ paintings.

The auction sales were successful beyond predictions; only one of 57 works did not ‘go’. Lilanga’s paintings fetched between £6,000 -£8,200 (3 to 4 times the asked price); the average was £4,000 and the highest price was £11,200.
For me, viewing these works was evocative, recalling work in and visits to Tanzania while also affirmative of the ongoing contribution of art to cultural identity, if not development. Indeed, for both venues, percentages of the proceeds are being shared; from the Tyron & Swann Gallery with the Tusk Trust and Friends of Ruaha Society and from the Sotheby’s Pigozzi auction with UNICEF and an artists’ fund. Maendeleo na Sanaa.
Elsbeth Court

Tanzania has been awarded a gold shield in Accra for its outstanding leadership within the Africa Travel Association following its hosting of the associations’ annual congress last year. The New York-based Executive Director said that the congress was the best ever since ATA’s establishment 24 years ago -Daily News.

The famous bearded tourist guide in Bagamoyo, Honorary Professor Samahani Kejeli, locally known as a walking encyclopaedia and who extracts visiting cards from tourists to whom he shows the historic sites, claims that he now has 12,889 pen friends in various countries. He gets some 500 letters or postcards each year and tries to reply to them all. He has just been employed by the Roman Catholic Museum in Bagamoyo to continue to help visitors -Daily News.

Following some 15 years of dispute during which he had been told to stop his unorthodox ‘fundamentalist’ teachings, the Rev Felician Nkwera (and his wanamaombi followers) have been excommunicated from the Catholic Church for causing confusion and division. He was accused of conducting devotions of a ‘dubious nature’ and unauthorised exorcisms and was said to have insulted Church leaders including the Pope and to have ‘disrespected the Holy Eucharist and caused conflicts in families -Guardian.

In a full page advertisement in the Guardian on July 22 the United States offered a reward of $5 million and the costs of relocation for persons providing information leading to the arrest of those it believes responsible for the bombing of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Pictures were shown of eight suspects headed by Usama Bin Laden.

The government had nothing to do with Zanzibaris seeking political asylum in Britain and no action would be taken against them. Most left for economic, not political reasons and they should not engage in a smear campaign to soil the image of Zanzibar -Minister of State in the Zanzibar Chief Minister’s Office answering a question in the House of Assembly.

A new ‘Copyright and Neighbouring Rights 1999’ Bill was passed into law on April 14. Any person violating the law, which is designed to protect the rights of authors, performers, sound recorders, broadcasters, lecturers, priests, musicians, and computer programmes, can be fined up to Shs 5 million or given imprisonment for up to three years or both for a first offence.

Tanzania’s thriving media now numbers 42 daily and weekly newspapers, 22 private radio stations, and 7 terrestrial and 17 cable TV stations. This was said by Foreign Minster Jakaya Kikwete when opening a regional conference of the Eastern Africa Media Institute in Dar es Salaam on May 3. He stressed that the government was committed to a free press. However, on the same day, at the launching of a new Journalists Association of Zanzibar (JAZ) complaints were heard about too much interference by the state. It was revealed in Dar es Salaam that a Zanzibar freelance journalist had been banned from practising his profession by the Zanzibar government -Daily News.

The national population census which should have been held in 1998 but had to be postponed for reasons including budgetary constraints, food shortages and roads devastated by El Nino rains, has been fixed for August 2002.

More than 1,000 kgs of trash was hauled off Mount Kilimanjaro by 110 volunteers with assistance from tour companies, the National Park and American donors in a ten-day clean up operation in April. The use of firewood for heating and cooking on the mountain has been banned -Daily News.

On the occasion of his 77th birthday Mwalimu Nyerere took over a new house at Butiama built for him through salary deductions from members of the Tanzania Peoples Defence Force (TPDF) over the years since he retired in 1985. The government is to pay for maintenance of the house. President Mkapa said that there was no due reward that Tanzanians could give to the founder president for his outstanding service except to wish him everlasting life -Guardian
Tanzania, which earned $431 million from tourism last year is now fifth in Africa in its tourism earnings -after South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritius -Kenya came sixth with $400 million.

Two Tanzanian hunters, Doug Scandroll and Peter Swanepoel, have received 1998 International Professional Hunter Awards from Safari Club International (USA). They hunt for ‘Game Frontiers Safari Club’ (in the Mbarang’undu Wildlife Management Area and in the Selous Game Reserve K3). The Club has been upgraded from 55th to 42nd among more than 530 hunting companies worldwide -Daily News.

Some 50 participants at the evaluation of the Tanga School Aids Education Programme on June 30 were astonished to hear from a health consultant that primary schoolboys had said that they were fed up with parent’s procrastination about the use of condoms and had demanded smaller sized ones. A sizeable number of primary schoolchildren, some as young as ten, were said to be sexually active. They had complained that they had to use props such as rubber bands and string to enable them to use adult condoms. The Daily Mail, which published this story on July 1, reported the next day that there had been widespread shock and indignation. Most people were totally against the issue of small condoms; they would accelerate moral decay in society. Some asked whether this demand arose from too much sex education in primary schools. One journalist said the story should never have been printed.

Four Acts are to be amended to ensure that Tanzanian culture is not distorted. One would ensure that film actors and actresses would wear clothing commensurate with the country’s culture; the country’s coat of arms was not to be used in trademarks; torn national flags should not be hoisted; and, those artists appropriating songs from people in rural areas should be dealt with under the new Copyright Act of 1999 -The Guardian.

A stray buffalo, believed to have come from the Saadani game reserve North of Bagamoyo injured several people near the Bahari Beach Hotel in Dar es Salaam on April 11 before it was shot dead by local residents. A German resident called in to help was knocked down twice having heard that there was a nyani (Baboon) in the area whereas in fact the stranger was the much more formidable nyati (buffalo) -Daily News.

It is estimated that around 1,000 tourists will be climbing Kilimanjaro on the Millennium date -December 31 1999. The National Park is doubling the fees on this occasion -Daily News.

Robert Otani writing in the May issue of NEW AFRICAN compared retirement benefits for retired leaders in East Africa. Recent legislation in Tanzania was said to be particularly generous and to be aimed at luring leaders to accept retirement as President Nyerere did some years ago. President Mkapa was said to be entitled to a gratuity equal to the total of all the salaries he had received while in office plus 24 months salary as a winding up allowance plus a generous monthly pension. This compared with President Mandela who will receive 75% of his current monthly salary plus an allowance of $16,000.

Several foreign experts claimed at a recent seminar on managing water resources in the Usangu Plains, Mbeya Region, (which feed the hydro-power stations at Mtera and Kidatu which produce 80% of Tanzania’s electricity) that too many trees were ‘drinking up the water’ and that livestock were not to blame for the drying up of the plains. But, according to the Daily News, Tanzanian water managers were amused by this and many expressed either utter disbelief or outright contempt. One said that this was ‘voodoo philosophy’ and another said there had been too many studies already and that the experts should read these first before speaking.

In a ceremony at the Sea Cliff Hotel on May 8 the Tanzania Sports Writers Association (TASWA) made various awards for sporting prowess in 1998. Winners included Rashid Matumla, the World Boxing Union’s light middleweight champion as ‘national hero’ (he defended his title again successfully in Italy on June 5); Michael Yombayomba, Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist, as the best amateur boxer; Xebedayo Bayo, Los Angeles marathon winner as best athlete; Renatus Njohole of Simba Sports Club as best footballer.

Karibu tena katika safari yetu ya kuvinjari maneno mapya ya Kiswahili. Kama mnajua, Tanzania mwanamume huoa na mwanamke huolewa, basi somo la leo linauliza: kwa nini kichwa cha habari katika gazeti moja la Dar es Salaam linatangaza kuwa ‘Vijana wa Kibongo waolewa Msumbiji’?

Welcome again to the modem story. In Tanzania a man usually marries (kuoa) and a woman is married (kuolewa). So why did a recent headline announce ‘Dar boys are married in Mozambique ‘?

Vijana wa Kibongo wanakwenda ‘Sauzi’ kubangaiza maisha huko. Wengi wanaishia Msumbuji baada ya ‘kuolewa’ na mishangingi ya nchi hiyo. Inaonekana kuna mayanki si haba waliokwama wakati wakienda Kwa Mzee Madiba. Wakipata ‘mama mlezi’ njiani hawana haja tena kwenda kubangaiza Sauzi. Kwa Mzee Chisano mama hawa huwatunza wajukuu wa Mzee Kifimbo, wanawapatia mavazi, malazi na kadhalika. Mbongo mmoja alidai: “Si unajua tena Wabongo tunavyopenda mporomoko”.

This is amusing but it is also a harsh comment on social conditions in Tanzania. Strange as it sounds the traditional gender roles are being reversed and Swahili grammar follows suit. Thus the young men of Dar (Vijana wa Kibongo) are married to, rather than marry, sugar mummys (mishangingi) of Mozambique. This occurs on the way to South Africa (Sauzi) where they go to look for a better life (kubangaiza maisha). These guys (mayanki) don’t reach Mandela’s place (Kwa Mzee Madiba) because they find what they are looking for on the way. Once they have found a sugar mummy (‘mama mlezi’) they stay in Mozambique (Kwa Mzee Chisano). One other young man of Dar is not surprised that they stay in Mozambique since young men of Dar (Wabongo) like something that makes their life easier (mporomoko).

Sauzi is the new slang for South Africa; it comes from South in English. Also known as Mr Madiba’s place -a nickname for Mandela. Mr Chisano’s place is a reference to Mozambique. Kubangaiza maisha is a colloquial way of saying ‘to get by’ literally ‘to push life’. Mayanki are the youth who ape American ways, the yanks. ‘Ma’ is a Swahili prefix for borrowed words. Mama Mlezi literally means stepmother ‘the mother of raising’ i.e. not birth. Here it has been juxtaposed to mean sugar mummy since these guys are well looked after. Bongo is another name for Dar, thus those who come from Dar are -Wabongo. Mporomoko is something that makes ones life easier, literally something that slides i.e. like the greasing of a palm. Mzee Kifimbo is the figurative Uncle Sam of Tanzania. Thus the grandchildren (wajukuu) refer to citizens of Tanzania.

According to the East African (March 29) the action of some 550 retrenched employees of the Bank of Tanzania in calling for a court order to reinstate them and pay salary arrears totalling $16.57 million, has sent shock waves through state-owned firms that retrenched heavily at the height of the economic reforms in 1993. The High Court ruled last September that the retrenchments were illegal. The employees had previously failed in their battle before the Industrial Court and on appeal to the Minister of Labour.

Speaking at a press conference in Dar es Salaam Professor Wamba-dia­Wamba, formerly of Dar es Salaam University and now President of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) otherwise known as ‘the rebels’, commended the role played by Tanzania in bringing about peace and stability in Africa -something that his country had never had.

President Mkapa has confirmed that Dodoma will be transformed into Tanzania’s capital city. He intended in future to spend most of his time as President at the Chamwino presidential lodge there and to appeal to donors to help in the development of the city. The Ministries of Works, Water, Energy and Minerals and the Planning Commision are to move to Dodoma by 2001 -Guardian.

The Asian community in Tanzania is said to have declined by 50% in the last ten years to some 50,000 now.

Tanzania’s Zebedayo Bayo finished third in the New York marathon in November in a time of 2.08:51, only four seconds behind Kenya’s John Kagwe with whom he had been running shoulder to shoulder all the way. And the Young Africans football team returned from Kampala in triumph in Jan when it won the East and Central Africa club title. -Guardian

Ohio State University Professor Lonnie Thompson has predicted that there will be no glacier remaining at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro within 30 years due to global warming. Along with this will be a loss of valuable hydrological resources. The professor was in Tanzania to get permission to study ice core records before it was too late. Kilimanjaro was the only place in Africa where this was possible. He proposed to bring six tons of equipment next year, including a light weight environmentally correct solar power ice core drill, to recover three cores and to fly a balloon from the summit to the ground below in order to rapidly transport the frozen cores to freezer trucks. The cores would be shipped to Ohio and he would then share the data gathered with the government and local scientists -Daily News.

Mwalimu Nyerere was presented with a German-made gun at the inauguration of a memorial monument at Mlambalasi (Iringa) on the 100th anniversary of death of the Hehe Chief Mtwa Mkwawa. The Chief took his own life in a cave at Mlambalasi, 60 kms from Iringa, while fighting colonial rule in 1898. The gun was one of 300 captured from German forces in 1891 -Daily News.

The new American Embassy is now open. The original embassy building was destroyed by bombing on August 7 last year. US visas cost $46.20

New radio stations are springing up all over the country. There are now over nine FM stations in Dar es Salaam and others in Arusha and Mwanza offering non-stop music and other entertainment. They include Radio One, Radio Tumaini, City Radio, Radio Free Africa. But rural areas still have to depend on Radio Tanzania -The Express.

A total of 4,525 beetles were planted in the Kagera River last year in an effort to control the water hyacinth which had first appeared in the river in 1987 and had now multiplied all over Lake Victoria -Daily News

During a visit to Tabora Region in February Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye dressed down and suspended Nzega DC Lt. Julius Manyambo and the District’s Executive Director for allegedly being lax in promoting education in their district. He gave them two weeks to explain why they should not be dismissed. He said that leaders who were not capable of implementing directives would no longer be tolerated. The Prime Minister had found the mineral rich Nzega district to be the least developed district in the region. He was said to be angry to find 6,000 primary school children sitting on the floor in a district with plenty of forests. According to the East African the ‘humiliating spectacle’ was televised and reported in the press.

Vice-President Dr Omar Ali Juma insisted recently that the government had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the controversial prawn project in the Rufiji Valley was environmentally friendly and economically viable. Those not in favour were ‘environmental fundamentalists’. Vegetation would not be destroyed because in that area there was no vegetation. However, the project still has to obtain clearance from the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) before the Tanzania Investment Centre can approve the proposed investment.

Director of Azam Marine Company which runs five of the twenty boats operating on the Dar-Zanzibar route (and has just launched one more -the Super Seabus Ill) has stated that he would like to start services on Lake Victoria where there was a severe shortage of such services. However, he was hampered by the high costs of carrying boats to Mwanza. Perhaps the solution would be an assembly plant in Mwanza he said -The Express.

At the (US) African Studies Association meeting in Chicago in November some 50 scholars came together to form a Tanzania Studies Association. The President is Dean McHenry Jnr (he can be contacted at e-Mail number: dean.mchenry@cgu.edu) The number ofpapers on Tanzania presented at the Chicago meeting (over 40) far exceeded those concerning any other country.

Tanzania has closed its embassies in Angola, Burundi, Holland and Sudan and reduced the status of its embassies in Rome and Kinshasa to reduce costs -Daily News.

Tanzania’s boxing Matumla brothers have triumphed again. Rashid Matumla beat a Hungarian boxer to win the World Boxing Union’s light middleweight title and Mbwana Matumla claimed the WBU international light bantamweight title before thousands of fans in Dar es Salaam on December 19 -Sunday News.

The government has released Shs 700 million to speed up hearing of more than 1,500 court cases countrywide. 18 additional resident magistrates have been appointed -Daily News

Wildlife exporters have called on the government to increase the number of registered bird exporting companies. Tanzania had exported only 165,000 birds worth Shs 83 million in the last three years but its world market quota stood at 1.5 million a year. At the same time some 2.4 million birds were being killed as vermin each year. They wanted the list of birds banned from exportation to be reduced from 12 species to four -secretary birds, saddle bill storms, wattle cranes and shoe bill storks -Guardian.