Challenging such liberal notions are those harsher critics who hold that Nyerere's image as a wise leader who understood the people's needs has been tarnished, if not destroyed, by his social policies. The sternest critics suggest that the suffering of the people under Ujamaa hangs over Nyerere's reputation and defines the character of his authoritarian regime.
According to Source CC, what was Nyerere’s greatest contribution as an African statesman?
According to Source DD, what risks did Nyerere’s policies involve for Tanzania?
Why have African nationalist views been so favourable towards Nyerere?
According to Source EE, why, when assessing Nyerere’s achievements, does a distinction need to be drawn between the individual and the community?
Nyerere was one of the first native African leaders of a modern African state. Is it important to be ruled by people like yourself? (History, Emotion, Reason, Ethics)
Excerpt from Who’s Who in Africa by Alan Rake, published by Scarecrow Press, Lanham, uSA, 1992, p. 366.
He ruled his country for 25 years and tried to involve all his people in his homespun brand of socialism. Though his economic policies were not successful, he did create a moral and social climate superior to most of the rest of Africa and he gave his people good educational standards and a strong belief in his philosophies and themselves.
Source DD
Excerpt from The Shackled Continent by Robert Guest, published by Macmillan, London, UK, 2003, pp. 46-47.
Nyerere nationalized local industry, expropriated foreign businesses, shut down Indian and Arab traders, and tried to replace them all with bureaucrats Nyerere favoured price controls. Peasants were obliged to sell grain to the government for as little as a fifth of its value, which was like a supertax on Tanzania's poorest citizens. Nyerere also forced two thirds of the rural population into collective farms. This was a policy that had caused millions of people to starve to death in China.
World History
