The death of Tanzania’s former Prime Minister, Edward Moringe Sokoine, caused by a car accident involving a young ANC freedom fighter, Dumisani Dube, in the Wami-Dakawa area of Morogoro on April 12, 1984, left the ANC party leaders in confusion, considering the difficult period the party was going through.
The accident occurred during a time when the ANC began to feel isolated from frontline states after Mozambique signed the Nkomati Accord with the South African apartheid government. This agreement required Mozambique to prevent South African freedom fighters from using its territory to launch attacks.
This came just a month after the ANC started packing its bags and leaving Mozambique and Swaziland, an action that created tension between the frontline states and the South African freedom fighters. The ANC was in distress, as Mozambique had been a strategic area for launching attacks in their liberation struggle.
During this difficult time for the ANC, only Tanzania stepped up to support them openly and encouraged them, while understanding Mozambique’s stance. However, tragically, while the ANC was still in that situation, they received the news of the death of a prominent Tanzanian freedom fighter, who had died in an accident caused by one of their members.
This accident instilled fear and anxiety in ANC leaders, who feared that the incident might negatively affect Tanzania’s relationship with the ANC. These details are covered in a recently launched book titled Edward Moringe Sokoine: His Life and Leadership, produced by the Uongozi Institute in collaboration with the Sokoine University of Agriculture and published by Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.
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The book describes how, just a few days after Sokoine’s death, on May 2, 1984, ANC President Oliver Reginald Tambo, addressing ANC followers at their Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Mazimbu (now part of Sokoine University of Agriculture), expressed deep sorrow over the involvement of his party in the accident.
Tambo said that after the ANC began facing difficulties at that time, they visited Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, the President of Tanzania, to seek his stance on what was happening with some of the frontline states.
“Nyerere gave us strength. He appeared very calm, and everything he said was spot on. He was fully with us. He understood the situation very well. We returned home rejuvenated, with renewed hope and faith. When the President of Mali visited him a few days later, Nyerere made a statement supporting the ANC,” Tambo is quoted in the book.
Tambo continued, “Suddenly, a tragedy strikes in the country that has supported us in every way for the past 24 years. We have never found ourselves in such a situation. President Nyerere and his people have stood with us for all those years, and now this tragedy strikes, worse than any other tragedy.”
Due to the gravity of the incident, at Sokoine’s funeral in his home village of Enguiki, Monduli district, Arusha, Oliver Tambo and then ANC Secretary-General Alfred Nzo attended and conveyed condolences to the Sokoine family and the people of Tanzania. Given the involvement of an ANC member in the accident, the ANC requested to take care of Sokoine’s family until his children grew up.
However, in a letter to the ANC president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere thanked the ANC leaders for their concern but informed them that the responsibility of caring for Sokoine’s family would be borne by the Tanzanian government.
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Despite the magnitude of the incident, Tanzania did not hesitate to continue supporting the ANC freedom fighters, who continued to use Tanzanian soil as a base for preparing their military operations against the oppressive apartheid government in South Africa.
Dube, who caused the accident that led to Sokoine’s death, was reportedly driving a small truck heading to the ANC camp in Dakawa with two other ANC members, Boycen Moyer and Percy George. He was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to all five charges presented at the Morogoro Resident Magistrate’s Court, presided over by Magistrate A.R. Maneno.
By pleading guilty, Dube was convicted of driving without a license, disrupting and obstructing an official government convoy, causing the death of Prime Minister Sokoine, causing bodily injury to Sokoine’s driver, Ali Abdallah, and security officer Yusto Chuma, and causing injuries to two other individuals in the convoy.
When admitting to the charges, Dube said, “The deceased was at the forefront of South Africa’s liberation. It is my belief that this incident will not break the relationship between Tanzania and my ANC party.”
Sokoine’s death was not just a blow to Tanzania but also to the freedom fighters of Southern Africa. In his various positions as Minister and Deputy Minister, Sokoine played a key role in contributing to the liberation of Southern African nations.
First, as Deputy Minister for Communications and Transport from 1967 to 1970, he oversaw preparations for the construction of the Freedom Railway, famous TAZARA. This railway, often called the “Freedom Railway,” was vital for transporting liberation fighters and weapons to the frontline states in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) via Zambia.
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In 1970, Sokoine was appointed Minister of State in the office of the Second Vice President, responsible for defense issues. It should be remembered that at that time, defense matters in Tanzania were under the office of the Second Vice President, led by Rashidi Mfaume Kawawa. In that role, Sokoine coordinated issues related to Southern Africa’s liberation, as Tanzania was the headquarters of the OAU’s Liberation Committee since the OAU’s establishment in 1963.
Even when defense matters were moved out of the Vice President’s Office and the Ministry of Defense and National Service was established in 1972, Nyerere appointed Sokoine as the Minister to lead the ministry until 1977, when he was promoted and appointed as Tanzania’s Prime Minister.
Sokoine served as Prime Minister on two separate occasions, from 1977 to 1980, when he resigned due to health reasons, and then again from 1983 until his death in April 1984.
