V. INFORME SOBRE OTROS REQUERIMIENTOS LEGALES Y REGLAMENTARIOS
2. Bases de presentación y principios de consolidación
2.4. Principios de consolidación
TANU as a Nation-Wide Organisation
During the late colonial period, incidences of land appropriation in general and colonial land policies in particular provided a rallying point for rural opposition to colonial rule (Sundet 1997:23). In the 1950s, the colony required more Europeans to help expand the infrastructure for raw material extraction. The number of white settlers doubled from approximately 10,000 to 20,000, leading to an increased demand for land by Europeans. The colonial government responded by evicting local households to make room for the new settlers and soon its relationship with the rural people became strained (Schicho 2004:317).
The most prominent example is the Meru land case of 1951 (see Spear 1997:214; Mesaki 2013:15). In this conflict, 300 households were forced to leave their land in favour of 13 European
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cattle ranchers (Mesaki 2013:19). The Tanzanian people saw the behaviour of the colonial government as a political injustice, and they reacted by forming a countrywide organisation that later became TANU. Land allocation to white farmers became politically unfeasible as a result (Coulson 1982a:98). By 1958, TANU counted party members in almost every Tanzanian village and advocated for the rural population without opposition from other Tanzanian parties. While TANU members represented the interests of the local people, they were exclusively male and belonged to the educational and economic elite of rural Tanzania.TANU members soon extended their demands beyond land rights, proclaiming values of freedom and equality. They demanded political participation in the system of parliamentary democracy. At the end of the 1950s, the colonial government responded with the Africanisation programme, in which senior positions in the government were allocated to TANU members (Eckert 2007:231). Africanisation continued until 1961, when independence was declared. TANU took over the local government structure of the colonial state. Many Tanzanian bureaucrats who had been working for the colonial government became members of TANU after independence (Eckert 2007:264).
The new government of Tanganyika—later Tanzania—operated under the Westminster parliamentary model. The National Executive Committee (NEC) of TANU formulated and defined national policies. The National Assembly then decided when, how, and in what order these policies would be implemented (Hydén 1994:92). In 1963, TANU decided to make Tanganyika a constitutional one-party state, in which other parties were outlawed (Nyirabu 2002:100).
TANU—and later CCM (Chama cha Mapinuzi, English: party of the revolution)—followed two key policies manifested in the Arusha Declaration of 1967. The first policy was socialism and the second was “self-reliance” (see below). TANU declared the end of exploitation, the public control of the major means of production, and democracy. The party planned to achieve the eradication of poverty through hard work and education, and considered agriculture as the basis of development and growth (Dunning 1973:796). In 1977, the Afro Shirazi Party of Zanzibar united with TANU to form CCM, which remained the single party of united Tanzania until 1992.
Arusha Declaration
The Arusha Declaration of 1967158 (together with further elaborations in Freedom and
Development and Socialism and Rural Development published the same year) laid the foundation
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The Arusha Declaration was initially published in Swahili. It contains the following: (1) The TANU Creed, (2) the Policy of Socialism, (3) the Policy of Self-Reliance, (4) TANU Membership, and (5) the Arusha Resolution. The book Freedom and Socialism (Nyerere 1968a) includes the Arusha Declaration.
for massive intervention in rural people’s access to land and social organisation. This declaration framed Ujamaa policy on the village, ward and district level from 1967 until the beginning of the 1980s.
The political ideology formulated in the Arusha Declaration was based on a political theory developed by Julius Nyerere and other members of TANU. Nyerere believed that African countries should fight for international sovereignty, and that they should control their own resources, develop their own educational systems and strive to maintain African values, such as the “traditional African family” (see Nyerere 1966, 1968a, 1968b, 1974). Hence, the Arusha Declaration initiated a change in the ownership of the means of production in the economy—a radical departure from colonial models of development. The declaration covered two main topics: the implementation of African socialism, and the economic self-reliance of the country.
The term Ujamaa described the African socialism Nyerere and TANU intended to implement in Tanzania. Ujamaa aimed to transfer the concept of a “traditional” African family to the governance of villages and the nation as a whole. It focused on the equality of all citizens, state control over resources, the priority of political action to erase poverty, and the encouragement of co-operative organisations for commerce and production (Schicho 2004:327). One fundamental assumption of Ujamaa was the communal ownership of important commodities. In practice—as with land (see below)—the state owned the resource and usage was collective. The idea was that basic goods were held in common and shared among all members of the local community (Stöger-Eising and Viktoria 2000:130).
The concept of self-reliance (Swahili: kujitegemea) in part three of the declaration referred to rural development through the efforts of citizens in all sectors (see Freedom and
Socialism: A Selection from Writings and Speeches Nyerere 1968b:340). External financial aid was
rejected—instead Tanzanians were supposed to depend upon their national resources. In practice, the financial aid of international development organisations was rejected if it did not harmonise with the Tanzanian policy of socialism.
Changes in Local Government Structure
In order to remove colonial power structures from land governance, TANU created a new system of councils composed mainly of elected members and some appointed members. In 1962, an amendment officially abolished the chief’s functions and roles in the local administrative system inherited from colonial times (see Tanganyika 1962:2).159
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The native authority councils were replaced by TANU-dominated councils called Village Development Committees (VDCs). Each VDC contained the local chairmen and secretary of TANU (later CCM) as well as other appointed officials, such as agricultural field officers. The VDC also contained the local 10-cell leaders. A cell was the lowest level of government and served as the grassroots organ of TANU. It consisted of 10 houses grouped together under a single leader, who represented the cell to the VDC (Oxaal, Barnett, and Booth 2011:179).Under the new government, the provincial and district commissioners gave way to regional and area commissioners. The nine provinces that operated under the colonial government were replaced by 17 regions. Many British government clerks left the country and returned to Britain. A new court system with courts at the ward, district and regional levels was introduced (see Tordoff 1965:64).
Another turning point in the local political structure came in 1972. A number of committees with different responsibilities were established on the village, ward, district and regional levels under TANU leadership. The purpose of this decentralisation was to enable state- planned development and participation by the rural population. “Decentralization was introduced
in Tanzania in 1972 as a logical step in the implementation of the policy of socialism and self- reliance” (Maro and Mlay 1979:219). In 1977, the village committee was replaced by an elected
chairman and 25 representatives of the village.
Eckert (2007) shows that the power structures of the Tanzanian government did not change radically under TANU. Rather, a process of gradual change took place, in which former “cultural brokers” between the British and local communities negotiated their spheres of influence in an administrative structure that remained the same (Eckert 2007:167). Eckert analyses the role of Tanzanian administrators who found themselves negotiating local power structures, religious (Islamic and Christian) norms and an administration that was shaped by British colonial ideologies (see Eckert 2007:167). The actors who gained power in the course of independence were centrally concerned with control over resources. The Ujamaa policy and especially the resettlements put state actors in a position to control land distribution.
Tanzania’s Land Policy
The land policy of independent Tanzania was formulated in opposition to colonial land policy. Nyerere’s approach to socialism and democracy and his ideal of an egalitarian society with an equal wealth distribution guided the land and water policies of the country. Land rights were central to Nyerere because he believed that land was the basis for development. He promoted equal access for all:
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The objective of socialism in the United Republic of Tanzania is to build a society in which all members have equal rights and equal opportunities; in which all can live in peace with their neighbours without suffering or imposing injustice, being exploited, or exploiting; and in which all have a gradually increasing basic level of material welfare before any individual lives in luxury. (Nyerere 1968b:340)
Nyerere’s views on land access and use can be traced back to his experiences in childhood—he grew up in an acephalous society (see below). Lineage rather than individuals determined access to land in the community where he grew up. Nyerere’s education also influenced his way of thinking. Box 8 shortly reviews aspects of his biography that shaped his political thought.
Nyerere rejected the ownership of land as promoted by Europeans. He believed that land rights could only be user rights (Stöger-Eising 2000:119–21).160 In 1958 he published the pamphlet
Mali ya Taifa (English: national wealth) to comment on the colonial government’s proposal for
new legislation on land holdings. He believed that land should not be a commodity to be bought and sold because it was a gift of God (Nyerere 1974:4; Kamata 2010:57). Nyerere was also convinced that the privatisation of land would lead to class contradictions and social differentiation:
In a country such as this, where, generally speaking, the Africans are poor and the foreigners are rich, it is quite possible that, within eighty or a hundred years, if the poor African were allowed to sell his land, all the land in Tanganyika would belong to wealthy immigrants, and the local people would be tenants. But even if there were no rich foreigners in this country, there would emerge rich and clever Tanganyikans. If we allow land to be sold like a robe, within a short period there would only be a few Africans possessing land in Tanganyika and all others would be tenants. (Nyerere 1966:176–87)
Nyerere believed that private land ownership would lead to exploitation, defeating his goal of a classless society based on "African tradition". His primary concern was to prevent a situation of dependency between landlords and workers (Kamata 2010:110).
Box 8. Short biography of the most influential Tanzanian politician: Julius Kambarage Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s1 ideas dominated Tanzanian politics in the decades following independence. The figure of Nyerere as an African intellectual, an advocate, a strategist, and one of the greatest African leaders remains in the minds of many Tanzanians until today.
Nyerere was born in 1922 near Musoma, in a remote village inhabited by the acephalous Zanaki.
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At the age of 12, Nyerere attended a Catholic mission boarding school where he was confronted with Christianity and a new language—Swahili. He was later chosen to attend University College of Makerere in Uganda where he studied education and was exposed to Western political systems (Stöger-Eising 2000:128–30).
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His approach and vision of an independent Tanzania were influenced both by his childhood experiences in an egalitarian community and by his European education. Nyerere studied first at the University College of Makerere in Uganda and later at the University of Edinburgh (Stöger- Eising 2000:129). He became a committed Catholic during his studies. In Edinburgh, he learned political philosophy and practical political ideas regarding women's liberation, individual human rights and formal education. He also developed his dedication to modernisation and progress (Stöger-Eising 2000:139). Back in Tanganyika, he worked as a teacher and became part of the independence movement. He became president of Tanganyika in 1962 and was re-elected four times, in 1965, 1970, 1975 and 1980. In 1964, he promoted the unification of Tanganyika with the islands of Zanzibar (Unguja and Pemba) to form Tanzania. He was chairman of CCM (Chama cha Mapinduzi—the single political party created in 1977 by an association of TANU and the Afro-Shirazi-Party of Zanzibar) until 1990 (Schicho 2004:331). Nyerere resigned from the presidency in 1985. He died in 1999, but his political and ideological heritage had a long-lasting and massive impact on Tanzanians' ideas concerning land and water management. One major influence was the idea that water is a gift of God and should thus be free of charge (see below). Nyerere's heritage has been criticised in various ways. Usually he is blamed for “wrecking the country’s economy” (see for example Ibhawoh and Dibua 2003:59). However, influences cannot be judged by their economic benefits only. Nyerere also built a national identity, unified Tanzania, and left behind a country where many people speak the same language. To this day, Tanzania is one of the few African countries where there is relative peace and stability.The “Free Water Era”
There is surprisingly little literature about the aims and strategies of the Tanzanian government concerning water organisation during African socialism.161 Maganga describes the water policy of that time as the “free water era”. In 1965 all responsibilities of water development in rural areas were given to local authorities. In 1969, the Tanzanian government decided to meet maintenance and operation costs of all rural water supply projects. In 1971, TANU set the policy terms of providing easy access to potable water for all villagers by 1991 (Maganga, Butterworth, and Moriarty 2002:923).
During Operation Vijiji (1960s and 1970s), the government invested heavily in rural water supply systems. The result was “the proportion of the population with access to improved water supply rising from 12% to 47% in the period from 1971–80” (Cleaver and Toner 2006:214). This
161Today, many international donors and state initiatives aimed at providing drinking water are confronted with a widespread attitude
among the rural population that water should be provided free by the state or NGOs. Probably this attitude has its roots in the “free water era”.
number must be seen in relation with the resettlement program. Centralised villages were easier to supply with water than scattered farms or nomadic herders. Nyerere wanted to create centralised villages in order to also provide the rural population with services. However, the government's centralised approach to water planning also produced problems. Many rural water systems broke down after a couple of years due to a lack of community participation in planning, maintenance, and management of water pipes (see for instance Achterberg-Boness 2009:67, and Cleaver and Toner 2006:215).
As with the reallocation of land, the socialist government ignored local structures that had managed water in the past. At this point we notice a discrepancy between Ujamaa ideology and practice. On one hand, Nyerere wanted to provide access for all, based on African egalitarianism. On the other hand, he gave authority and control over these resources to government officials who had little authority in the community. In many cases, traditional water management was linked to local power structures, yet the new water systems failed to integrate customary laws or power structures. Hence, Nyerere's overgeneralisation of an African egalitarian society resulted in the undermining of long-established and working local forms of participation.
However, the integration of local power structures and customary laws would have weakened state authority. The new water systems helped to expand the authority of the state. For example, in Kilimanjaro the government announced a Rural Water Supply Programme in 1967 that aimed to provide piped water to the people living on Mount Kilimanjaro. The clan-based societies of the area had previously used a furrow system based on gravity, with which they had provided water connections to many households for hundreds of years. The new government water systems established government presence in the villages by providing a daily good. This presence was meant to undermine local forms of authority and strengthen the government's control (for a detailed analysis, see Bender 2008:841).