Report on Citizenship Law Tanzania Caroline Nalule and Anna Nambooze 1. Introduction The United Republic of Tanzania as it is known today comprises approximately 120 indigenous ethnic groups1, and was formed following a union of two newly independent states, mainland Tanganyika and the island of Zanzibar, on 25 April 19642. Prior to independence and while under colonial rule, Tanganyika was modelled on a three-tiered racial segregation comprising the native Africans, at the bottom of the hierarchy; the Indians and Asians who had settled there mainly through prior trade links and as labourers on the construction of the railway; and the Europeans who colonized the territory. The segregation was maintained in political, social and the economic spheres of life. The Africans had their land confiscated by the colonialists and they ended up working as labourers or peasant farmers. Additionally they had limited access to educational opportunities, further marginalising them, both economically and politically3. The Asians enjoyed better privilege than the Africans did, especially economically. They specialised in commerce and professional services and enjoyed some level of representation in the government. So while the Europeans treated them as second class citizens, the Africans perceived of them as advantaged to the latter’s disadvantage. At the top of the hierarchy the Europeans took over the governance of the country and run each and every lucrative economic venture including corporation and the plantations from the confiscated land of the Africans and other natural resources4. The struggle for African independence, and not least in Tanganyika, aimed at turning the tables in favour of Africans governing themselves and, expectantly, accessing better socio-economic opportunities. The issue of race was central to the citizenship debate in Tanganyika as they prepared for independence. While some wanted the new citizenship law in Tanganyika to distinguish between citizen and non-citizen on the basis of race, others, including Tanganyika’s first President, Julius Nyerere favoured a non-racialised law that focussed on equality for all5. The latter won the day, and their views shaped the citizenship law upon independence in 1961. 1 World Atlas, Ethnic Groups of Tanzania, available at https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/ethnic-groups-oftanzania.html, accessed on 28 September 2019. 2 Both Tanganyika and Zanzibar gained independence from British rule, the former on 9 December 1961, and the latter two years later on 10 December 1963. 3 B Heilman (1998) ‘Who Are the Indigenous Tanzanians? Competing Conceptions of Tanzanian Citizenship in the Business Community’ Africa Today, 45:3/4, p.372-3. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid, p. 374; R Aminzade (2013a) Race, Nation and Citizenship in Post-Colonial Africa: The Case of Tanzania: Cambridge University Press, p. 115. RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/6 - © 2020 Author(s) 1