To prevent a repetition of such a deadlock as took place in January 1961
when neither side won a majority the number of seats to be contested was
raised from 22 to 23. One more constituency was created.
ZNP/ZPPP ALIANCE
For this fresh election of June 1961 the Nationalist and People's Parties
agreed and publicly announced that they would contest the election as a
unified alliance. That is to say that the two parties would support each
other and would not contend with each other. This stratagem arose
in order to strengthen unity and because of an increasing awareness that
the principles and aims of the ZNP/ZPPP regarding the welfare and interests
of the country were similar. Our brethren of the ASP on the contrary had
completely opposite principles and aims. The welfare of the country was
not in their interest. Theirs were purely selfish partisan motives.
AFRO-SHIRAZI PLOTTING
DISTURBANCES
When the leadership of the ASP were convinced that they would not win against
the new alliance they plotted disturbances to take place at polling stations.
They started with pushing about the ZNP/ZPPP voters particularly women
and elderly people. They went on removing such people from the queues going
to cast their votes in the ballot boxes. When this failed to intimidate
the would-be voters, they resorted to beating and kicking them, and ultimately
using lethal weapons, knives, machetes and stones. The disturbances started
at the polling stations and then spread to the people's homes in the town's
neighbourhoods and in villages.
When the leaders of the two alliance parties saw the disturbances
escalating and their people being harassed and killed they ordered them
to stop voting and await further instructions from their parties.
The rioting caused the death of 68 supporters of ZNP/ZPPP and hundreds
sustaining injuries, many of whom suffering major physical handicaps.
Disturbances started at 6 in the morning, well before the opening
of the polling booths. By that time also the police had already been stationed
in all the town and rural polling stations, and yet they acted as if they
were not seeing anything unusual or likely to disturb the peace happening.
When the people continued to be attacked, maimed and murdered the colonial
government called the assistance of a company of General Service Unit (GSU)
from Kenya to help quell the trouble, which could have been prevented had
the trouble been nipped in the bud by Zanzibar's own internal security.
The Kenya re-enforcement arrived at about one p.m. After dispersing themselves
in the residential areas of the town they succeeded in bringing back the
country to some semblance of order. At that time, however, many had already
been killed and maimed.
Although the ASP had confidently believed that by terrorism they
would prevent the ZNP/ZPPP voters from casting their votes, the latter
vowed by the One God they would not be scared away from exercising their
democratic right. After vote counting the ASP found themselves with no
more than their 10 seats of January 1961, while the ZNP/ZPPP won the remaining
13 seats.
The rural area of Bambi witnessed the worst atrocities during the
June disturbances. One local school teacher named Ali Muhsin Mshirazi collected
a number of his pupils and put them in an underground copra kiln pretending
he was protecting them from terrorists. He in cooperation with the terrorists
removed the ladder by which the children had descended to the bottom of
the kiln, poured gallons and gallons of petrol and then set them on fire.
Those children were left burning to cinders. The kiln became their grave.
What was the crime of those children? Is there any crime that anyone can
commit that deserves such punishment, unless it was the type of crimes
that the ASP and their allies have been committing? In the religion of
Islam it is forbidden to punish by fire even a ferocious and dangerous
animal. The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small.
We see the recompense to the evil doers with our own eyes, here in this
world. What awaits them later, is within God's own inscrutable knowledge.
What was surprising and most disturbing was that the colonial government's
High court of Zanzibar under a British Acting Chief Justice convicted no
one of homicide, although 68 people had been killed openly, and individually
before the eyes of the people. Almost all were all acquitted or received
various light sentences. No murderer was sentenced to death or sentenced
to life imprisonment In the case of the murderous teacher, Ali Muhsin
Mshirazi, one of his pupils who had hidden himself and saw and identified
the murderers gave evidence in court with convincing precision. The
acting chief justice paid tribute to the boy saying: "The evidence given
me by this boy and the way he delivered his evidence facing the court bravely
deserve commendation. However I regret to rule that his evidence is inadmissible
because it is not corroborated by evidence from a grown- up person. I
have therefore no alternative but to acquit the accused."
This is how the colonialists used to deal with us, and yet one would
hear Nyerere keep on repeating his allegation that the colonialists favoured
the Zanzibar Nationalist Party. That absurd and sarcastic song is being
repeated by Nyerere's stooge government, the so-called Revolutionary Government.
. Far from being in favour of the ZNP, had the colonialists only maintained
a semblance of neutrality the so-called revolution would certainly not
have taken place.
ZNP/ZPPP ALIANCE FORMS
GOVERNMENT
The Swahilis have a saying: "Kohl from Oman is no cure for blindness".
In other words cosmetics do not alter the substance. After all the bragging
and hullabaloo of the Afro-Shirazi that they were certainly going to come
out victorious, they were defeated. 13 seats went to the Alliance of ZNP/ZPPP
and 10 went to the ASP. This stage of government was called "Responsible
Government", the first rung of the ladder towards the coveted goal of Uhuru,
Independence. Sheikh Muhammad Shamte became the Chief Minister of this
government.
FAILURE OF FIRST
CONSTITUTIONAL TALKS
Within ten to eleven months of its existence the ZNP/ZPPP government managed
to get the British Government to accede to talks on further constitutional
development. These talks were held in March-April 1962 at Lancaster
House, London. Government and Opposition met. Unfortunately that conference
failed to result in any development, far less to set a date for Independence.
The Afro-Shirazi leaders adamantly refused any discussion regarding
constitutional advancement unless fresh elections were held. After the
results of those elections it should then be possible to discuss about
the date of independence. The government side urged the opposition not
to create obstacles that could only delay our march towards Freedom. When
the government failed to break through the intransigence of the opposition
the ZNP/ZPPP delegates offered the ASP the formation of a Government of
National Unity. In that government the ASP was to have all the three additional
ministers to be added to the five already in the responsible government.
In addition to that the ASP ministers would have the power of veto, which
would amount to the fact that the two sides would be sharing voting power
equally within the cabinet. That stage would be the stage of what is called
Internal Self--government, only one step before complete Independence.
The ASP leaders wanted a day to consider the proposals and promised to
give the reply the next day. All indications were that they were
satisfied with the proposals and a favourable response was eagerly awaited
by the government side, which however felt that the most the opposition
would demand would be that they should have four ministers to four of the
ZNP/ZPPP. Indeed the government side were prepared to accommodate
the ASP in that respect if they were insistent. The next morning
the ASP leaders led by Karume came to the ministers. While remaining standing
and refusing to sit down, Karume spoke: "We have considered your proposals.
They are good. But we do not want to associate with you." They turned on
their heels and walked out.
As a result of that inauspicious meeting the Colonial Secretary
Reginald Maudling , the chairman, terminated the constitutional conference
which achieved nothing whatsoever. He thanked the delegations of both sides
and asked them to return when they were reconciled. At that time the British
government would be ready to discuss constitutional development All
the delegates, except Ali Muhsin, returned home without the Freedom of
their country in their pockets as had been anxiously expected by all their
people. The ASP were jubilant in that they had succeeded in blocking the
granting of independence to Zanzibar.
After the so-called revolution of January 1964 the General Secretary
of the Afro-Shirazi party, Thabit Kombo while addressing an open air rally
of the party in front of their headquarters at Kisiwandui said: "We are
grateful to Mwalimu Nyerere for having saved us from the trap that the
ZNP had set for us at the time of the first constitutional conference in
London. In their attempt to trick us the nationalists offered us three
ministries in order that we might associate with them in forming a government
of national unity. But Mzee Karume before making any decision consulted
Mwalimu Nyerere by phone. Mwalimu told Karume not to accept the ZNP offer,
for that was only a plot to eliminate opposition. 'If you seek my advice,
I say: Refuse!'" So said Thabit Kombo publicly quoting Mwalimu verbatim..
Many times one would hear Mwalimu repeat that he had nothing to do
whatever with the political wranglings of Zanzibar. We do not know to what
further extent should he have involved himself? It was Mwalimu
personally who established the Afro-Shirazi party in 1956 and thus laid
the foundation stone of political conflict. It was he who master-minded
the invasion of Zanzibar, which is called a revolution in 1964. Most of
those who took part in that "revolution" were men who came from his country
Tanganyika. It was in that country that they had had their training in
the use of lethal weapons. The arms themselves came from his country.
If indeed he had no hand at all in all these evil deeds, it is enough damnation
that he was guilty of one terrible evil deed, the worst of them, that of
dragging Zanzibar into his iniquitous Union only four months after his
invading the country. That Union has been in existence for more than thirty
years, and not a single neighbouring country has been attracted to come
near it, let alone to join it. This is our damnation alone.
