TANZANIA: Fears and cases of religious tensions still on the rise

Political analysts in Tanzania have always been claiming that if the ‘spark in waiting’ in Kenya is always tribalism, then in Tanzania it is religion bigotry, and they are not quite wrong.

On Monday February, 2013 one small town of Buselesele which is closer to Geita, a town which was promoted recently from being the headquarters of a district to that of a region has become another Kosovo after a bitter battle between Christians and Moslems.

By 11 A.M. when this news reached Dar es Salaam one person had lost his life after the so called Islamic activists (fundamentalists?) had invaded butchery where the cattle were beheaded by Christians.

Evangelist Mathayo Kachila 45 years was slaughtered mercilessly by irked Muslims who had attempted to stop Christians to sell meat in their new meat shops following a misunderstanding of who should behead the cattle.

When he received information that there were invasions by the irate Muslims he rushed at the scene to rescue followers of his congregation just to end paying his own blood as Jesus Christ himself did to his worshippers, Christians. At least 15 people were injured five more seriously.

This butchery debate is not quite new in Tanzania in general and in Geita in particular. It is claimed that the Mwanza Regional Commissioner Eng. Evarists Ndikilo had even amplified the debate further after having said that only Muslims had the sole right to butcher the cows and that this is a tradition that had stood for long.

This was met by a strong resistance from the Christian community who sad that Tanzania is a secular state and no one religion can claim any form of superiority over the other. This then prompted responsible Cabinet Minister Stephen Wassira to intervene but also failed to resolve the matter.

It is claimed that the chairman of the Mwanza region from the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), i.e. the revolutionary party, Mr. Anthony Diallo had intervened the matter and it is not known whether it s out of that meeting that it was decided to have separate meet shops for Muslims and Christians should be established.

But the religious followers from the Christian sects of Pentecostal and Protestant Churches (African Inland Church-AIC) told their followers not to buy meat from butcheries of Muslims because beheading is affiliated to certain religious sacrifices.

To those Christians whom some might term as ‘fundamentalists’ this is a matter of a serious concern, it is very difficult to predict what will be the end result of these well calculated religious resentments.

But this wave of religious tensions in Tanzania has given rise to serious debate as to the timing and motives behind such happenings, which have never been seen before occurring at this tempo.

Religious disturbances such as the one which was triggered by the disgusting juvenile crime of one Emmanuel Josephat, when arguing with his fellow youngsters about the powers of the holy books, probably the Holy Bible versus the Holy Quran, became catalysts for unprecedented violence in Mbagala, leading to the destruction of church property.

But despite all these commotions the good news is that there are ongoing efforts to ensure that such appalling disturbances will not be repeated. Towards the end of this month, an NGO emanating from Germany, the Konrad-Adanauer Stiftung, will launch two books, one being a reflection on the discussions and deliberations that took place in November last year at the Serena Hotel.

These discussions, which were a joint effort by the KAS and their partner, the Tanzania Development Initiative Programme, were given the title “Violence, disregard of the law, killings – Is our peace under threat?”

The book is a reflection of ideas from more than 350 sources representing the civil society, academia, professionals, the media, religious leaders, and students. There were also representatives from political parties, the police and prison officials, who came up with inspiration about how violence, social conflict and tensions could be resolved amicably.

Bringing up the salient points was the chairman of the discussion panel Dr Camillius Kassala, who had this to say: “Let us go for the ultimate goal, objective and target of whatever we do: be it in politics, economics, religion, or something else. This ultimate goal, object or target – as long as we are on this earth – is the inviolable dignity of the human person,” he commented.

Historically, complaints that Muslims are backward have always been there within living memory, but the recent responses of certain so-called ‘Islamic activists’, especially the torching of churches, are not normal in any sense. We might think they wanted to prove they are backward, or barbarous!

Earlier, in 2009, KAS convened a meeting between representatives of religious organizations to discuss matters of mutual concern to people of different beliefs, in Tanzania.

With the title: “Interfaith dialogue in Tanzania, – the role of Faith-Based Organizations in Good Governance”, the meeting provoked a good discussion which many had anticipated would calm the situation down. Muslims in particular had a number of claims; the serious ones were as follows:

There is a common opinion among the Muslim community that they lag behind because the system (government) deliberately (not accidentally) works against them, by design.

It was claimed by the same group that Muslim presidents have always come under fire from Christian religious leadership (the incumbent president Jakaya Kikwete is a Muslim). Moreover they suggested that the Kadhi Islamic Court could have enforcement powers only if it operates within the country’s legal system.

This group observed also that the government is not responsive to the needs of the Muslim community. However they suggested that the socio-economic inequality between Christians and Muslims should not be blamed on Christians, but rather be tackled collectively through a new national vision.

The group went on to express the idea that any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and Christians, like that of 1992 by the Christian Social Services Commission, should be exposed to public suspicion that the government was serving the interests of Christians at the expense of Muslims.

On the Christian side, it had been suggested that the FBOs be regarded as important organs in leadership formation, because there can be no authorities formed outside the dominion of God.

They also suggested that the FBOs prepare guidelines for their mutual co-existence and co-operation. Further they proposed that FBOs be regarded as major stakeholders in the National Civic Education Programme.

Further it was mooted that the constitution be reviewed, seeing that the existing one confers enormous powers on the president and that he might misuse the power at his disposal. At least these were the main proposals from their side.

Four years later there has been violence and fiery exchanges of words, including diverse opinions based on matters that were never given any attention previously. This then would suggest that some of the demands from both sides have not been fulfilled.

But whether this is deliberate, sheer arrogance, or maybe that there are resistances within and without the national government, no one knows exactly the main causes, and thence we have returned to the vicious circle.

In Mwanza and Geita; which are not hot spot areas with regard to religious tensions, there have been incidents which have provoked unnecessary emotion concerning who should behead animals (cows) in preparing them for the meat shops.

This ‘butchery debate’, one of its kind in this country has never been heard before. Mwanza Regional Commissioner Eng. Evarist Ndikilo, in an attempt to resolve the matter said that it was only Muslims who should butcher the animals, and this provoked even more anger among the Christian community.

“It is well known that the Muslims are the ones who should do the butchering,” said the Mwanza regional boss. This sparked a reaction from Christians, who came up with a resolution recently saying that if need be, there should be separate butchers for Christians and Muslims.

Muslim leader and activist Jafari Saidi Mneke defends his faith about butchering: “There is no competition in this, the Islamic religion does not allow Muslims to eat animals that have not been slaughtered by its tradition,” he commented when speaking to shoutafrica.com.

He further claimed that those who are now campaigning against this well entrenched tradition in Tanzania have their own “hidden agenda”.

On a separate occasion, the Assistant Director in the Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sport, Raphael Hokororo, said that his ministry was well informed that there are certain media outlets, particularly radio stations, which are fuelling religious tensions in Morogoro and Mwanza.

He warned that if this trend goes unstopped the peace of this country will be endangered: “We have warned them several times, verbally and in writing, we will not hesitate to take stern action against these radio stations,” he stated.

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