Caroline Nalule and Anna Nambooze
including colonies11, the League of Nations gave Britain the mandate to administer Tanganyika
Territory.
The League of Nations mandate directed Britain ‘to respect the rights and safeguard the
interests of the native population’12. Moreover, the Indians who had for long lobbied to be
moved from the “native” to the “non-native” category were protected under Article 7 of the
mandate which provided for the equal treatment of all members of the League of Nations. India,
being a League of Nations member (the only non-self-governing territory to be recognised as
such), meant that Indians in Tanganyika were almost at par with the British, hence they got
elevated to ‘non-native’ status13, thus making them higher in hierarchy than the Africans14.
Britain retained control of Tanganyika after World War II, when it became a United
Nations trust territory in 194615. It is argued that under the British colonial rule in Tanganyika,
racial segregation was entrenched in the laws and institutions16. Noteworthy though is the fact
that the Trusteeship Agreement neither conferred sovereignty over Tanganyika on the British
Crown nor did it render the inhabitants British subjects17. The position in British law was
articulated in the British Nationality Act (BNA), 1948 and the British Protectorates, Protected
States, and Protected Persons Order in Council, 1949 (‘1949 Order in Council’).
As a distinct category, citizenship appeared in British laws in 1948 under the British
Nationality Act, chapter 56. The purpose of the Act was ‘to make provision for British
nationality and for citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies’. It contained provisions
on acquisition of citizenship under the following categories; by birth, descent, registration,
naturalization and citizenship by incorporation of territory18.
As it has been argued, the colonial powers were not concerned about African
citizenship, but rather, were more concerned about the citizenship status of children born to
British parents and other Europeans residing in Tanganyika19. Hence the BNA provisions on
‘citizenship of the UK and colonies’ were meant mainly for people of British ancestry living
in that territory. The Africans were categorized as natives and native laws, primarily consisting
of local customary laws, applied to them. Moreover it seemed like the determination of whether
11
Article 119, Treaty of Versailles signed on 28 June 1919 and came into force on 10 January 1920. See
Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Treaty of Versailles’ available at https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-ofVersailles-1919, accessed on 3 November 2019.
12
‘British Mandate for East Africa, Article 6’ as cited in J R Brennan (2012), Taifa: Making Nation and Race in
Urban Tanzania: Ohio University Press, p. 29.
13
In addition, when India attained independence in 1947, India gained dominion status under British law, and
thus Indians were considered British Subjects prior to the enactment of the British Nationality Act of 1948,
under which they became Citizens of the UK and Colonies. As British subjects, Indians enjoyed a more
privileged status than British Protected Persons- See S Ansari (2013), ‘Subjects or citizens? India, Pakistan and
the 1948 British Nationality Act’ The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 285312 at 286-7.
14
Ibid, p. 30. The legal distinction between native and non-native was mainly that the latter were governed
under British common law, while the former were governed by their respective customary laws. – See C J Lee
(2011) ‘Jus Soli and Jus Sanguinis in the Colonies: The Interwar Politics of Race, Culture, and Multiracial Legal
Status in British East Africa’ Law and History Review, vol. 29, No.2, pp. 497-522 at 512.
15
Encyclopaedia Britanica, Tanganyika, Historical State Tanzania’, available at
https://www.britannica.com/place/Tanganyika, accessed 28 September 2019
16
Brennan, supra note 12, p. 49.
17
J R S Cole & W N Denison, Tanganyika: The Development of its Laws and Constitution (Stevens & Sons,
1964), p. 8.
18
British Nationality Act, 1948, sections 4-11 define which persons fall under each of the categories of
citizenship acquisition and status.
19
C L Miller (2011), Who are the “Permanent Inhabitants” of the State? Citizenship Policies and Border
Controls in Tanzania, 1920-1980: PhD thesis, University of Iowa, p. 96
RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/6 - © 2020 Author(s)
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