Tanzania-South Africa: deep ties evoke Africa’s sacrifices for freedom

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As the South African presidency noted, ties between the two nations date back to Tanzania’s solidarity with the anti-apartheid struggle.

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The ConversationThe Conversation
URL: 
https://theconversation.com/tanzania-south-africa-deep-ties-evoke-africas-sacrifices-for-freedom-202448https://theconversation.com/tanzania-south-africa-deep-ties-evoke-africas-sacrifices-for-freedom-202448
Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
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Tags: 
MK, ANC, OAU, Archive, Solidarity, Pan-Africanism, Organization, Communist party, SWAPO, Turkish coup d'état, Marriage, ZAPU, Woman, Central, Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College, MPLA, Indian Congress, History, Tambo, Achievement, Government, Movement, Congress, United front, Hospital, PAC, Khmer National Liberation Committee, Nursing, Organisation of African Unity, Pan-African Freedom Movement for East and Central Africa, Colonialism, Liberation, African National Congress, Drug, Film industry, Tourism, Mazimbu Graves, Julius Nyerere, African, Central Africa
Geotags: 
LONDON, MOZAMBIQUE, SOUTH AFRICA, LESOTHO, ANGOLA, LUSAKA, ZAMBIA, TANZANIA
Summary
Key Points: 
  • As the South African presidency noted, ties between the two nations date back to Tanzania’s solidarity with the anti-apartheid struggle.
  • This history is an important reminder of the anti-colonial and pan-African bonds underpinning international solidarity with southern African liberation struggles.
  • It’s also a reminder of the sacrifices many African countries made to realise continental freedom.

Liberation struggle bonds

    • Tanzania’s support for South Africa’s liberation struggle needs to be understood as part of its broader opposition to colonialism, and commitment to the achievement of independence in the entire African continent.
    • Nelson Mandela addressed the conference with the aim of arranging support for the armed struggle in South Africa.
    • It was the first external structure set up by the two liberation movements.
    • Its capital was chosen as the operational base of the OAU’s Liberation Committee.
    • Also stationed there were the armies of other southern African liberation movements – ZAPU, Frelimo, SWAPO and the MPLA.

Hitches in the relationship

    • In spite of Tanzania’s support for the liberation movements, their relationship was not without its contradictions or moments of ambivalence.
    • In 1965, for example, the ANC had to move its headquarters from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro, a small upcountry town far from international connections.
    • The Tanzanian government had decided that only four members of each liberation movement would be allowed to maintain an office in the capital.

Lived spaces of solidarity

    • But Tanzania remained a significant place of settlement for South African exiles.
    • In the late 1970s and 1980s, additional land donations from the Tanzanian government enabled the ANC to open a school and a vocational centre near Morogoro.
    • Its other aim was to counter the effects of Bantu education, a segregated and inferior education system for black South Africans.
    • These became unique spaces of lived solidarity between the ANC and its international supporters.
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