Tanzania and South Africa share a deep-rooted history of solidarity, dating back to Tanzania's support for South Africa's liberation struggle against apartheid. This historical bond continues to shape their bilateral relations, fostering cooperation in various sectors.
Historical Ties Forged in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle
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.
Tanganyika, as Tanzania was known before independence in 1961, was the first safe post for South Africans fleeing in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960, when apartheid police shot dead 69 peaceful protesters. The apartheid regime banned liberation movements shortly thereafter.
Not many people will know that on 26 June 1959 Julius Nyerere, the future president of Tanzania, was among the speakers at a meeting in London where the first boycott of South African goods in Britain was launched. Out of this campaign, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement was born a year later.
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. In 1958, Nyerere helped establish the Pan African Freedom Movement of Eastern and Central Africa to coordinate activities in this regard.
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This was extended to the Pan African Freedom Movement of Eastern and Central and Southern Africa at a conference in Addis Ababa in 1962. Nelson Mandela addressed the conference with the aim of arranging support for the armed struggle in South Africa.
In February 1961, James Hadebe for the ANC and Gaur Radebe for the PAC opened an office in Dar es Salaam representing the South African United Front. It was the first external structure set up by the two liberation movements. Their unity was short-lived.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital, grew into a centre of anti-colonial activity after independence from Britain in December 1961. William F. At independence, Tanzania faced a shortage of nurses as British nurses left in droves rather than work for an African government.
On President Nyerere’s request, Tambo arranged the underground recruitment of 20 South African nurses (“the 20 Nightingales”) to work in Tanzanian hospitals.
In the early 1960s, Tanzania was the southernmost independent African country from which armed operations could be carried out into unliberated territories in southern Africa. Its capital was chosen as the operational base of the OAU’s Liberation Committee.
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The committee provided financial and material assistance to liberation movements. Its archives remain in Tanzania. In 1963, the ANC officially established its Tanzania mission, with headquarters in Dar es Salaam.
, who had returned from training in other African and socialist countries, was opened in Kongwa. The Tanzanian government donated the land. In 1964, the PAC also moved its external headquarters to Dar es Salaam after it was pushed out of Lesotho.
It established military camps near Mbeya and later in Mgagao, and a settlement in Ruvu. Both the PAC and the ANC held important conferences in Tanzania, in Moshi in 1967 and in Morogoro in 1969, respectively.
In the 1970s, ANC headquarters moved to Lusaka, in Zambia, and uMkhonto we Sizwe operations moved to newly independent Angola and Mozambique. 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. The Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Mazimbu and the Dakawa Development Centre were set up to address the outflow of young people from South Africa following the June 1976 Soweto uprising.
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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. They accommodated up to 5,000 South Africans.
Some of them died before they could see a liberated South Africa. Their graves are in Mazimbu. Besides educational facilities, the camps included an hospital, a productive farm, workshops and factories. Tanzanians, too, contributed to these projects through their labour.
Many Tanzanian women became entangled in South Africa’s liberation struggle through intimate relationships, marriage and children. Thanks to these everyday social interactions, Tanzania became “home” for many South African exiles.
The ANC handed over the facilities at Somafco and Dakawa to the Tanzanian government on the eve of the first democratic elections in 1994.
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Navigating Challenges and Maintaining Support
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. This reflected Tanzania’s anxiety over the growing numbers of revolutionaries and trained guerrillas it hosted.
In 1969 Tanzania, Zambia and 12 other African countries issued the Lusaka manifesto, which was also adopted by the OAU. It expressed preference for a peaceful solution to the conflict in South Africa over armed struggle.
There were also rumours of ANC involvement in an attempted coup against Nyerere. In this climate, the ANC had to evacuate its entire army to the Soviet Union.
Contemporary Relations: Strengthening Economic Cooperation
Tanzania and South Africa have agreed to continue working together to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. The agreement was reached during a meeting between the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Hon. Ambassador Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, and the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Hon. Ronald Lamola, held at the Ministry’s offices in Dar es Salaam.
The meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Ambassador Dr. Samwel Shelukindo; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Gerald Mweli; Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Dr. Hashil Abdallah; Tanzania’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Hon. James Bwana; South Africa’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Hon. Noluthando Mayende-Malepe; and other senior officials from both countries.
During the meeting, Tanzania and South Africa agreed to continue working together in various sectors and to hold regular consultations to address challenges hindering the growth of economic cooperation between the two nations.
Speaking at the meeting, Minister Kombo reiterated Tanzania’s readiness to collaborate with South Africa in advancing trade and agricultural activities to strengthen ties and bring mutual benefits. “I wish to reaffirm the commitment of the Government of Tanzania to enhancing bilateral cooperation, especially in advancing economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of our people. By maintaining, sustaining and promoting our enduring partnership, we can achieve even greater success,” emphasized Minister Kombo.
He called on Tanzanian stakeholders to work closely with their South African counterparts to enhance economic collaboration.
On his part, Minister Lamola stated that South Africa will ensure the implementation of the signed agreements by preparing a joint implementation and monitoring plan. He also urged authorities in both countries to engage in dialogue and finalize the processes for signing agreements and memoranda in various sectors to strengthen cooperation with Tanzania further.
“It is important to establish a monitoring mechanism to address the agreed issues effectively. South Africa-Tanzania relations are bilateral relations between South Africa and Tanzania.
Tanzania established official diplomatic relations with South Africa Immediately after the end of apartheid in 1994. In 2006, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete made an agreement to abolish visa requirements between both countries.
South Africa is one of the top contributors of foreign direct investment in Tanzania and in 2023 attributed to about 10% of the total investment in the country. South Africa has a strong positive trade balance against Tanzania.
South Africa enjoys good bilateral relations with the United Republic of Tanzania, and both countries share a common foreign policy vision for peace, security and development on the African Continent. As a stable African country, Tanzania has and continues to play an important peace-building role in initiatives to broker peace and security in the region.
South Africa has and continues to collaborate with Tanzania on numerous peace-building initiatives, including currently Peacekeeping missions in the Great Lakes Region, and brokering peace talks in South Sudan.
The United Republic of Tanzania is a strategic partner for South Africa and formal diplomatic relations were established in 1994, after attaining freedom.
President Cyril Ramaphosa undertook a State visit in August 2019 to Tanzania and visited Mazimbu, Morogoro, where the educational Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO), was established by the exiled ANC in 1978.
The United Republic of Tanzania holds dual membership of SADC and EAC and the High Commission is accredited also to the EAC who’s Head Quarters is in Arusha, Tanzania. The mission’s engagement with Tanzania thus also incorporates the strengthening of South Africa’s multilateral links with the AU, SADC, COMESA and the EAC.
South Africa-Tanzania relations are deeply rooted in history. These relations have strengthened over the past decades from the Presidency of its late first President Julius Nyerere in 1961; to late President Benjamin Mkapa in 1995 to President Jakaya Kikwete in 2005 to the late President John Magufuli.
Following the sad death of the late President John Pombe Magufuli, the then Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan was inaugurated as President of the United Republic of Tanzania. President Samia Suluhu Hassan nominated Dr Philip Mpango as Vice President.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan is the first woman to occupy the Presidency in the United Republic of Tanzania and in the East African Community region.
Key Facts About Tanzania
- Location: Eastern Africa, between longitude 29o and 41o East, Latitude 1o and 12o south.
- Formation: Formed out of the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar on 26th April, 1964. Tanganyika became a sovereign state on 9th December, 1961, and Zanzibar on 10th December, 1963.
- Size: The biggest (land area) among the East African countries.
- Landscape: Three physiographic regions: Islands and coastal plains, inland saucer-shaped plateau, and the highlands. The Great Rift Valley runs through central Tanzania.
- Wildlife: Largest concentration of wild animals.
- Landmarks: Pristine sandy beaches and Africa’s highest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
- National Parks: Home to world-famous National Parks and Game Reserves such as Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, Gombe Stream, etc.
- Capitals: Dodoma is the capital city, and Dar es Salaam is the commercial capital and major sea port.
- Ports: Dar es Salaam serves neighboring land-locked countries. Other sea ports include Zanzibar, Tanga, and Mtwara.
- Government: Presidential and Parliamentary Elections (general elections) held every 5 year period since 1961.
- Economic Policy: Committed to sound, consistent, and predictable macro-economic policies with low inflation. Focus on promotion of sustained and shared economic growth.
- Investment: Pro-investment and pro-growth policies with promotion of public-private sector partnership.
- Stability: Vibrant national consultative process that cements national unity and social cohesiveness, promoting peace, security, and stability.
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