- Simbakalia cites the coat of arms
- TZ did not just appear, it has been built
RETIRED Col Joseph Simbakalia, who spent some decades serving for the army and the government, has singled out ‘unity’ as the main secret behind Tanzania’s unshakable stability.
In an exclusive interview with this paper recently in Dar es Salaam, the well-versed Col Simbakalia reckoned the history of the country, tracing the roots of the prevailing peace and stability.
The retired army officer shed light on a number of events that transpired during the post-colonial era that precipitated the existing social and political atmosphere in Tanzania.
He opened up on the operating realities during his time in office and his experience working with the country’s top leaders, starting from the period of Father of the Nation Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
For Simbakalia, credits should go to Mwalimu Nyerere who created a strong foundation for the country’s unmatched stability as he successfully united the nation, with over 120 tribes, having led it to independence.
“The major issue that I think we should always embrace is unity. In fact, the coat of arms has only three words but it tells many things, it communicates a lot of things through its picture,” Mzee Simbakalia pointed out.
“The three words on the coat of arms ‘Freedom and Unity’ inform us that freedom of our country is inseparable from our unity,” he added.
He argued that the independence was attained thanks to a strong unity; warning that the day when Tanzanians destroy the unity of this country is the very day, they will lose their independence and find themselves sliding back to the old colonial days.
“Go back and read the history of our country, when colonialists came to rule our nation, the tribal chiefs were contesting, but because they were fragmented it was easy for colonialists to conquer them,” he said.
Later on, they had realised that their failure was due to being disunited; hence they started joining efforts to fight together. A good example is the ‘Maji Maji’ war (1905-1907) which brought together seven tribes including Ngoni, Yao, Zaramo, Matumbi and Ndengereko fighting against colonialists.
After they had lost the war, the Africans started forming small associations such as farmers associations and workers associations in demanding for their rights.
During that time, the Tanganyika African Association (TAA) was formed which later in the year 1954 became the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) which was intended to bring together small associations with the aim of removing colonial rule.
“So, when speaking of our country’s independence you cannot downplay the role of the tribal chiefs,” he insisted, adding; “What I want to insist is that this nation did not just appear, but was built,” he argued.
Tanzania has over 100 tribes divided with regional borders but despite the existence of numerous tribes it is still united and stable while its surrounding neighbours have faced troubles.
“Considering the big number of ethnic groups, this country is supposed to face more troubles than all neighbouring nations, the problems in our neighbouring countries could have been duplicated here, this is very abnormal,” he said.
But, contrary to that, Tanzania is peaceful and they (neighbours) find it as a safe zone where they could seek asylum during chaos in their countries.
The divide-and-rule is the root cause of conflicts in neighbouring countries. Fortunately, for Tanzania from early days since the era of TANU the big agenda was unity.
The founders of TANU had also published Ten Commandments for building the context of Tanganyika, which was aimed at uniting people to struggle for independence.
The document basically emphasises on unity, with a term ‘We Tanganyikans’.
Actually, Tanganyika was not there before but it started within the TANU party.
“So, we got independence under one party and our unity as Tanganyikans started there.
“But it was not an easy task, and it is not an easy task to make over 100 tribes united,” he narrated.
“Therefore, freedom and unity remain crucial for us as a nation. If one day, the unity is broken, we are in trouble. And, let me be open here, not because I am a member of CCM, but the only political party with an image of unity in this era of multi-party system is CCM because it is the product of TANU.”
Col Simbakalia said CCM is the only party which can brag that it has members from all corners of the country and a good leadership structure from the grassroots to the top level.
“It will be very unfortunate in the future, if it happens that this party collapses. I don’t know if that would happen…I pray to God that it should not happen.
I am not speaking of party members quitting the party, but I am speaking of party collapsing. Members have been quitting but the party has still remained strong,” Rtd Col Simbakalia said as he asked people to read the book by Julius Nyerere titled ‘Uhuru na Umoja’ (Freedom and Unity) to understand the deep foundation.
Mzee Simbakalia also explained that another technique used to unite people was through education.
“I studied at Kibaha Secondary School and Tabora Boys and during those days, you would find that in a classroom there were three or four students from each district, thus forcing students to speak a similar language for them to communicate to one another. The language used was Kiswahili,” he said.
Then, he said after secondary school people would meet in the compulsory National Services (JKT) training and later on at university level, this resulted in inter-marriages, something which killed tribalism.
Speaking about the role of the National Services (JKT) in building national unity and patriotism, Mzee Simbakalia suggested that the previous arrangement of 18-month training for the youth be retained, unlike the current arrangement whereby the candidates spend only three months.
“During those days when you complete the JKT training you become a totally different person. I suggest we re-introduce that system of training our youths intensively for 18-months,” he said.
He noted that the 18-month training is an ideal period for preparing the youth well and even the culture at the higher learning institutions would change because the youth would have learnt the origin of this country and challenges it had faced.
“The youth would go to the university with different mindsets over which courses they should pursue,” he argued.
The National Service which is operating under a set of laws passed by Parliament ‘National Service Act No. 16 of 1964 (Re 2002), requires all youths graduating from secondary schools to join the army for military training and other national service activities.
Through the National Service, Tanzania is envisaged to be a country whose youths are well nurtured so as to constitute a productive part of the society which has a high sense of confidence, self-discipline, patriotism, brotherhood, cooperation and responsibility.
The government announced the re-introduction of compulsory national service in parliament ten years ago, following calls for its revival as a tool for social cohesion.
The service was established in 1963 by the first president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
It was suspended in 1994, due to a lack of funding.
In addition to military training, the programme provides training on human rights, civics, and the history of the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.
It also aims to impart students with a sense of unity and patriotism.
