Mwalimu in our popular imagination: The relevance of Nyerere today

His is still the most popular name in Tanzania today. He nowadays elicits citizenry sentiments on any contemporary issue. Himself, a humble man, Nyerere would shy away from such glory.

It was just the other day I was on my way from Dar es Salaam to Arusha. I overheard and interesting conversation. In the bus the driver was discussing current issues of national concern with some passengers.

The name Nyerere came up over and over again. This Mwalimu, one passenger quipped, is responsible for what is happening now in our society. There followed a deafening silence.

Well, I thought here goes again a popular Nyerere bashing with no defence whatsoever as the passenger went on and on, attempting to show how a man who died 10 years ago set into motion what is happening today. While I was thinking the battle for a balanced view on Nyerere had been lost another passenger chipped in. What he said affirmed what I think is the main legacy of the Mwalimu in Nyerere: The ability to generate public debate on issues of importance to the society.

So, suddenly the discussion shifted to the other side of the story as this other passenger started to narrate another conventional history of how Nyerere fostered unity and tranquillity. Some other passengers also supported his narrative by noting how Mwalimu promoted Kiswahili to that end. Surprisingly, the earlier critic seemed to switch camps as he exclaimed and nodded in agreement especially after the driver cited Nyerere’s call to let our minerals remain in the ground until we have educated our engineers to be well equipped to mine them for our own benefit as a nation.

To those of us who are interested in local popular knowledge it was such an intellectually stimulating and socially activating moment to hear the driver link what Nyerere said with the ongoing plunder of our natural resources by multinationals such as Barrick Gold and Anglo Gold Ashanti. This shows to what extent our popular imagination is becoming highly conscious of the pitfalls of the neoliberal reform strategy of making us LIMP, that is, Liberalize, Marketize and Privatize. Those words recited by the driver, by the way, have many popular versions such as:

“Nyerere once said, ‘we will leave our mineral wealth in the ground until we manage to develop our own geologists and mining engineers…’” – A Comment in Taifa Letu Blog

“They have the law behind them – but should a stone that is found in Tanzania only be monopolised by a foreign company? President Nyerere said that this is the property of our children!” – Mererani citizen at a community meeting, quoted in CMI Report 2006:11

Ironically, this popular quote, which I have not yet located its original source, is invoked by politicians who in one way or another have been behind the LIMP-ing of the mining sector. In parliamentary sessions its variants have been quoted more than once. Interestingly, even the immediate former Prime Minister once paraphrased it when he was addressing mining investors.

You can indeed pick virtually any topical issue – from Agriculture to Zimbabwe – and Nyerere the Teacher will have something to do with it. Yes, there are tumultuous historical moments of our times, such the post-September Eleven ‘War on Terror’ that he did not live to see and comment on. Yet in a prophetic way he thus addressed matters related – and that led – to these moments way back in 1976 in The World: Message to America from Tanzania's President Julius K. Nyerere Message to America as published in the Time Magazine of those times:

We watch with respect, sympathy and anxiety – and sometimes almost with despair – as Americans endeavor to cope with the political and moral results of their own wealth-creating economic system, and to give international meaning to the principles laid down by the founding fathers of their nation… Americans have created a power which is frequently abused internally and externally. But Americans continue to struggle against these abuses and for the survival of the universal principles enunciated in 1776. There is therefore still hope that America's great power will be used for human beings everywhere, rather than simply for the preservation and creation of American national wealth.

What about the ongoing economic crunch one may ask – did he also foresee it? We may have not understood his ‘stiff-necked’ attitude in the wake of the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) especially when he said ‘No to IMF Meddling’ in 1980. Wasn’t he that far ahead of his time – way beyond the era of the crestfallen neoliberal project – when he said the following stinging words in that address to the diplomats during the Arusha Conference on Restructuring the International Monetary System which was ahead of its time – to the time of the current crisis?

When did the IMF become an International Ministry of Finance? When did nations agree to surrender to it their power of decision making?

Your Excellencies: It is this growing power of the IMF and the irresponsible and arrogant way in which it is being wielded against the Poor that has forced me to use my opportunity to make these unusual remarks in a New Year Speech to you. The problem of my country and other Third World countries are grave enough without the political interference of IMF officials. If they cannot help at the very least they should stop meddling.

That was Nyerere at his best. The Mwalimu we are commemorating today as we reflect on the popular themes that preoccupied his lifelong learning life. This is how the other Chachage captured our Pan-African imagination when we mourned his physical departure 10 years ago:

On 14th October 1999 Mwalimu passed away after battling against chronic leukemia – the decease which killed Frantz Fanon in 1961. The millions of the oppressed people of Africa and the world mourned his loss with profound sadness and a sense of loss, because he is among those people who in words and deeds worked for the empowerment of the powerless. It is for this reason that his influence has never been comforting for those who would like to see people revolt against the noble human ideals he extolled. SAFM (the radio station for the well informed!) announced his death first on 28th September and 11th October 1999. In both occasions, it apologized for the wrong information. Tim Modise of the same radio station in his “famous” show on 18th October 1999 quipped cryptically: “People will ask why should somebody who died in another country concern us so much? Why not go on with our own business?”

South Africans were indeed concerned so much because of the role he played in the fight against Apartheid among other social vices. SABC – South African Broadcasting Corporation – even showed his funeral live. Such is how one of the finest sons of Africa permeated their imagination.

In sum, the durability of the legacy of Nyerere in generating passionate public debate aimed at bringing positive social and economic change is what the ‘Mwalimu in Our Popular Imagination’ is all about. I think it is thus fitting to close this reflection on him with one of his motto that has been popular appropriated across his ideological divide. “It can be done, play your part”!

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* Chambi Chachage is an independent researcher, newspaper columnist and policy analyst based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
* This article will be a contributing chapter to a forthcoming Pambazuka Press book entitled 'Nyerere's Legacy', edited by Chambi Chachage and Annar Cassam.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.