Tanzania: History and Today's Issues

With the announcement of my professor's trip to Tanzania, my interest was piqued.  Where, what, how and why is this eastern African country a destination of interest?

The location of Tanzania is on the East African coast, fronting the Indian Ocean and lying virtuality at the equator; sporting a tropical climate.  Described as hot and humid, after the winter I just had, it sounds like heaven.  

Tanzania is home to the tallest mountain on the African continent, Mount Kilimanjaro, which at 19,341 feet, makes it also the tallest free standing mountain in the world.  Kilimanjaro is formed by volcanoes, Kibo being the only one of the three cones (Marenzi and Shira being the two extinct cones), of this stratovolcano, that is considered dormant.  Last eruption is estimated at between 150- 200,000 years ago and could erupt at any time.  The glacier, made of 11,000 year old ice, that completely covered the top of Kibo in the 1880s, has been reduced by 80% and is expected to be ice free sometime between 2022 and 2033.  

Tanzania was formed in 1964 by combining the former countries of Zanzibar and Tanganyika.  Semi-autonomous Zanzibar, a predominantly Muslim Arab two-island country and Tanganyika, a predominantly Bantu-inhabited country and prior to World War I, part of German East Africa.  Swahili and English are the official languages with English losing ground; German has entirely disappeared. 
 

Dar-es-Salaam, the largest city, pop. 2.6 million

Tanzania has quite a diversity of nature from the more temperate highland regions, to the plains and coast.  Part of Lake Victoria resides in Tanzania and the Serengeti National Park is just one of several important wildlife parks including Gombe National Park, site of Dr. Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees.  

Historically speaking, Tanzania is of great importance to the history of man.  Evidence exists of humans and pre-humans living there over 2 million years ago, making it one of the earliest known inhabited areas on the face of the earth.  Haya people were making carbon steel 2,000 years ago, several centuries before it caught on in Europe, and the Para tribe of the Haya also produced iron.  

Tanzania has a great many natural resources including a gemstone, Tanzanite, found only in Tanzania and in 2012, a major deposit of rare earths was discovered in the collapsed volcano, Mount Ngualla.  Although Tanzania is the third largest gold exporter in Africa, agriculture counts for over half of the gross domestic product and employs 75% of the workforce on only 4% of the land in the country.   

The history of country shows diverse influence from the Sultan of Oman period with Zanzibar the center of the Arab slave trade to the Bantu tribes that moved to the area 2000 years ago to the European, Christian influence of the 17th century.  Surprisingly, the country is predominately Christian with over 63% of the population.  The Muslim inhabitants make up 35% and the remainder, various indigenous religions.  

Present day issues for Tanzania are varied in both economic and private sectors.  Agriculture and tourism represent the greatest income for the country.  Just today there is a report of world renowned author, Calestous Juma, speaking to East Africans on the use of genetically modified seeds to boost production of Tanzanian cotton, a major export crop for the country.  There are 15 villages the Kagera region that are in dire need of food now that the banana wilt bacteria has ruined 90% of this staple crop.  The mineral production is set to increase, especially with the valuable rare earth discovery.  

Cotton field at SM Holdings

As in the rest of Africa, health issues are paramount to life.  Almost half of the Tanzanian population is under the age of 15 and the culprits in most infant deaths is malaria or the rotovirus and pneumococal disease in the older children.  The average lifespan is 53 years and although HIV/Aids is a significant disease at 5.6% of the adult population, as of 2011 there has been a decrease.  One of the most prevalent problems is gender violence and this is being blamed on the early marriages practiced in Tanzania.  Here too one can find the practice of female genital mutilation but there is a concerted effort to vanquish the practice. Tanzania also has a problem with trafficking of children into commercial sexual exploitation.

The country of Tanzania has much to offer a visitor from culture to ancient history and archaeology to the geographic wonders and the wild inhabitants.  Things are looking up in the country of Tanzania and I hope they are wildly successful on their path of improvement. 

Does Reverse Apartheid Exist in South Africa?

In 1994, the South African president, F. W. deKlerk, in conjunction with revolutionary, Nelson Mandella, instituted reforms of the apartheid system that had been in place for over 50 years, for which they received the Nobel Peace prize, and began re-enfranchising the black majority in South Africa.  The end of apartheid is hailed as a very good thing but the fall out of this democratic movement has apparently swung quite the other way since that time.  

 

10 years after the end of apartheid, you read evidence in the existence of reverse apartheid.  Reverse apartheid is exactly what it sounds like, discrimination of the white population of black controlled South Africa and it's ANC controlling party.  If you are white, it no longer matters that you have a degree or experience, you are not allowed a job due to the rules of affirmative action which states that 80% of the jobs MUST be held by black South Africans.  Many white South Africans leave the country for good just so they can get a job and raise their families but this also causes a problem for the country in the form of a "brain drain".  

It may have been prudent for South Africa to phase in to the affirmative action.  What they have now is an uneducated majority attempting to run the country without the benefit of education and experience.  Reports from my friend's son who still lives in South Africa demonstrate increasing vocalization and urban violence by black citizens against white citizens.  I think South Africans should have learned more from Nelson Mandela.     

Various discriminatory allegations have arisen over the years and despite the new democratic government, corruption, crime and human rights violations still abound.  Crimes against white South Africans are at a frightful high but human rights violations are perpetrated against all colors of primarily women.  The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is unsurpassed on a global scale.   

Whites now live in shanty towns like the multiple gold winning, 15 year old runner, Irene van Niekerk, who you can watch in an interview here.  I suspect that all is not what it seems and maybe someone is trying to make some money on Irene's situation.

Since the end of apartheid, there have been increasingly violent attacks and murders on the predominantly white farmers of South Africa.  The government no longer keeps statistics on the crimes against the farmers but independent research groups say the number of murdered farmers in the last 23 years is nearly 3,000.  In 2011 the murder rate for South Africa was 31.9 per 100,000 people, 30 times that of the British murder rate.  In South Africa the murder rate for policemen is 51 per 100,000 but the statement that it is twice as dangerous to be a farmer as it is to be a policeman is accurate when you look at the farmer murder rate of 99 per 100,000 people.  Statements by victims say that the new government looks the other way  when killers "take out their hatred for all those past wrongs, and show who's in control now".

Looking at the overall violence in South Africa and it's causes, from Wikipedia we read:

In February 2007, the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation was contracted by the South African government to carry out a study on the nature of crime in South Africa. The study concluded that the country is exposed to high levels of violence as a result of different factors, including:^[3]

• The normalisation of violence. Violence comes to be seen as a necessary and justified means of resolving conflict, and males believe that coercive sexual behaviour against women is legitimate.^[3]
• The reliance on a criminal justice system that is mired in many issues, including inefficiency and corruption.^[3]
• A subculture of violence and criminality, ranging from individual criminals who rape or rob to informal groups or more formalised gangs. Those involved in the subculture are engaged in criminal careers and commonly use firearms, with the exception of Cape Town where knife violence is more prevalent. Credibility within this subculture is related to the readiness to resort to extreme violence.^[3]
• The vulnerability of young people linked to inadequate child rearing and poor youth socialisation. As a result of poverty, unstable living arrangements and being brought up with inconsistent and uncaring parenting, some South African children are exposed to risk factors which enhance the chances that they will become involved in criminality and violence.^[3]
• The high levels of inequality, poverty, unemployment, social exclusion and marginalisation.^[3]

    One can extrapolate that the current violence has come about on the backs of the fight to end apartheid.  Hopefully South Africa can rid themselves of the corruption in the government and embrace a truly democratic state, free of racism and violence, for the good of their beautiful country. 

Namibia's Exile Children

I have a friend by the name of Kim who was born in South Africa but has lived with her husband and family in Namibia for a very long time.  On March 21st she posted Happy 23rd Independence day Namibia with the following photo.  

It was her post that piqued my interest in the relatively new country of Namibia.  In researching their independence from South Africa, I discovered what a recent and violent history the young country has had.  Additionally the biggest problem now is the repatriation of the children of the freedom fighters commonly called "Exile Children" because they were born in exile camps outside of the former South West Africa.  

Rachel Valentina Nghiwete's autobiography, "The Exile Child" talks about the harsh life she and thousands of other children were born into, being the offspring of Namibian freedom fighters known as SWAPO (South West Africa's Peoples Organization) fighting under the banner of PLAN (People's Liberation Army of Namibia).  

  
  The issue now is the future of these children, many of which are orphans who were uprooted from the exile location and plopped down in Namibia, without their parents, in the name of repatriation.  800 of them are camped illegally in the capital of Windhoek, demanding help for food, housing and jobs.  Some of these children are quite young and I cannot imagine what they are going through, trying to survive and grow up.  Government assistance is mandatory for these kids that had no choice in their lives.

Sadly the most recent news reports has the children arrested for their demonstrations and demands. 4/16/13

   And once again 4/24/2013!

The exile children or "struggle kids" as the government refers to them, have been fighting for jobs and housing since 2008.  The group NEKA (Namibia Exile Kids Association) has done little to end the plight of these children.  Hopefully the continued demonstrations will bring about a resolution. 

Ugandan Crisis: The Prohibition of the Mini Skirt

Simon Lokodo and mini skirt spoof from Dutch Ugandan radio

Before you scoff at what seems to be a traditionally female past time of fashion debate, please take some time to read about the newest bill under discussion in the Ugandan parliament.  Called the Anti-Pornography bill, it contains provisions that women wearing skirt lengths above the knee are to be arrested and can spend 10 years in jail.  One of the most outrageous statements made by Ethics Minister, Simon Lokodo, a trained catholic priest, who in criticizing the wearing of mini skirts, says "they are to blame for, among other things, the increased sexual crimes against women".  Really?  One would think the that patriarchal and dictatorial past governments back to the colonial period  were not responsible for the atrocious abuses of women!  Their own fault?  Such insanity.

Back in the Idi Amin days, Amin decreed that mini skirts were prohibited and women found wearing them were caned, publicly humiliated and ended up in jail.  This is the same warm and fuzzy Amin who while the third president of Uganda, was known for human rights abuse, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement.  The same Amin whose fifth wife, "Suicide Sarah", was a go-go dancer for Amin's Ugandan Army Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band.  Not my idea of a man capable of even imagining prim and proper. 

One intervew, with a teacher Albert, was most enlightening.  His lovely and bodeaucious fiance is required to wear the mini skirt and revealing clothes as a quasi uniform for her job at the bank.  Albert laments the attention this brings to his fiancee but he cannot say anything, lest she lose her job.  Needless to say, Albert supports the new bill.  What I can't help but wonder, what part of the bill is going to change this bank's dress requirement?  I would be willing to bet the bank leaders are all men and the use of provactively clothed females to sell wares is as old as time. 

Is this not going too far?  The Anti-Pornography bill, coming on the heels of the Anti-Homosexuality bill, is being criticized for it's far reaching verbiage into Ugandan private lives.  In this day and age, many of the teeth of the bill are much needed but like we see in this country, politicians have a tendency to attach pet projects to a needed change in law, thereby further tromping on good citizens rights.  The analysis of this bill demonstrates the need for reforms, it is just not wise or fair to penalize one sex, especially since they are normally the victim of pornographic trade. 

The op-ed piece published by the Kampala Observer may have the right of it, "indeed with all the poverty, unemployment, corruption and poor healthcare, it is ridiculous to expend public resources debating how long or short women's skirts must be. In fact, coming not long after the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, this bill shows a government that is obsessed with controlling people's private lives, which is ironical.  For a government that can't provide lunch for pupils in its schools, or decent and affordable maternal healthcare for the poor in its hospitals, to take keen interest in what citizens wear or who they sleep with and how, is a sign of lopsided priorities." 

Indeed, this author cannot help but agree...................

What I find reprehensible threaded through these articles and so many more around the continent is the idea that a woman's mode of dress is thought to license male's thoughts and deeds.  In Swaziland, where they banned mini skirts and midrif baring tops in December but still allow bare breasted women to dance for the king, they believe "women wearing revealing clothing were responsible for assaults or rapes committed against them." Where, may I ask you, does it say that permission is granted to abuse the wearer in any fashion one wants?  Until this stupidity and absurdity are removed from society and the minds of the people in Africa grow respect for one another, they will continue to have this entirely preventable problem.