'For more and better water, choose pipes!' Building water and the Nation on Kilimanjaro, 1961-1985

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 34, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 841-859

  Bender, Matthew V ^a  

^a The College of New Jersey   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPMENT PROJECT; PIPELINE; RURAL PLANNING; RURAL POPULATION; WATER SUPPLY;

AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; TANZANIA;

EID: 57249084100     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: 14653893     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057070802456789     Document Type: Article

References (109)

1. Tanzania National Archives (hereafter TNA) 558/RCD/167/A, Water Development and Irrigation Division, Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development, A Rural Water Supply Programme for Kilimanjaro Region, 1967.
2. Mount Kilimanjaro is comprised of six distinct climate zones: Glacial, alpine desert, moorland, heath, rainforest, and temperate forest. The rainforest, which lies in an altitude zone between 1,800 and 2,750 m, is the primary source of rainfall for the mountain, and also the origin of most groundwater for the lower slopes. Areas of settlement on the mountain lie between 900 and 1800 m, directly beneath the rainforest.
3. Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development, Tanzania, This Land is Ours! The Story of the Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development (Dar es Salaam, Government Printer, 1968), pp. 12-13.
4. Nyerere articulated the policy of Ujamaa in several speeches and documents, the most important of which can be found in two compilations: J. Nyerere, Freedom and Socialism (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1968)
5. and J. Nyerere, Freedom and Development (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1973).
6. See also The Arusha Declaration (Dar es Salaam, Government Printer, 1967) 7 and Tanganyika African National Union's [TANU] Policy on Socialism and Self-Reliance and Arusha Declaration: Answers and Questions (Dar es Salaam, Government Printer, 1967).
7. For more on the Dar es Salaam School, see H. Campbell, 'The Impact of Walter Rodney and Progressive Scholars on the Dar es Salaam School', Social and Economic Studies, 40, 2 (1991), pp. 99-135.
8. Examples of relevant scholarship include J. Boesen, B. St. Madsen and T. Moody, Ujamaa - Socialism from Above (Uppsala, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1977)
9. L. Cliffe and J. Saul, Socialism in Tanzania: An Interdisciplinary Reader, Volume 2 (Nairobi, East African Publishing House, 1973)
10. A. Coulson (ed.), African Socialism in Practice: The Tanzanian Experience (Nottingham, Spokesman Books, 1979)
11. Z. Ergas, 'Why Did the Ujamaa Village Policy Fail? - Towards a Global Analysis', Journal of Modern African Studies, 18, 3 (1980), pp. 63-94
12. M. von Freyhold, Ujamaa Villages in Tanzania: Analysis of a Social Experiment (New York, Monthly Review Press, 1979)
13. G. Hydan, Beyond Ujamaain Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry (Berkley, CA, University of California Press, 1980)
14. H. Kjekshus, 'The Tanzanian Villagization Policy: Implementational Lessons and Ecological Dimensions', Canadian Journal of African Studies, XI, 2 (1977), pp. 269-82
15. W. Rodney, 'Tanzanian Ujamaa and Scientific Socialism', African Review, 1, 4 (1972)
16. and J. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1998).
17. The TAZARA Railway, a turnkey project developed by the People's Republic of China between 1970 and 1975, provided a rail link between landlocked Zambia and the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, bypassing Rhodesia and South Africa. See J. Monson, 'Defending the People's Railway in the Era of Liberalization: TAZARA in Southern Tanzania', Africa, 76 (2006), pp. 113-30.
18. Many writers refer to these furrows using the Kiswahili term mifereji. 9 This figure does not include branch lines, of which there were thousands. See R. Burra and K. Van den Heuvel, Traditional Irrigation in Tanzania, Volume One (Dar es Salaam, SNV, 1987).
19. Although several scholars of Kilimanjaro have examined the history of water furrows, almost no attention had been paid to the Rural Water Supply Programme, or to piped water more generally. I rely on several series of documents housed in the Tanzania National Archives (Tanganyika Secretariat, Series 5, 69, 471 and 474), in addition to the published works of the Water Development and Irrigation Department.
20. These interviews were conducted as part of the fieldwork for my PhD dissertation. I chose these three sites in particular because they represent three distinct geographical and hydrological regions of the mountain, and also due to their significance in the pre-colonial and colonial history of the mountain. In total, I interviewed more than 70 men and women, representing a range of different occupations, ages, and social standings. The questions I asked examined water issues, both past and present, as well as other issues of relevance to the history of the region. Most interviewees were chosen at random, though I did target several people who were recommended for their extensive knowledge of the region's history related to water issues. For the sake of privacy, actual names have been replaced with aliases.
21. Throughout the 1950s, African populations in rural areas of Tanganyika were governed through Native Authorities, governing bodies comprised of local chiefs, clan heads, and elders. This system derived from the British strategy of Indirect Rule originally put in place in the 1920s. See J. Iliffe, A Modern History of Tanganyika (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979), pp. 318-34.
22. This is discussed in greater detail by Cranford Pratt in his book The Critical Phase in Tanzania 1945-1968: Nyerere and the Emergence of a Socialist Strategy (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 108-14, 194-201.
23. Government of Tanzania, African Chiefs Ordinance (Repeal) of 1965.
24. Pratt, The Critical Phase, pp. 201-8.
25. Tanzania African National Union, The Arusha Declaration and TANU's Policy on Socialism and Self-Reliance (Dar es Salaam, 1967).
26. For more on Nyerere's articulation of these values, see Julius Nyerere, Freedom and Socialism.
27. Before the Ujamaa period, villages were the exception rather than the rule in Tanzania, with more than 80 per cent of rural peoples living in dispersed homesteads rather than consolidated communities. In fact, the only two areas where village life was 'the norm' were Rungwe and Sumbawanga. See J.E. Moore, 'Traditional Rural Settlement', in L. Berry, Tanzania in Maps (London, University of London Press, 1971), pp. 124-7.
28. P. Nugent, Africa Since Independence: A Comparative History (London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 141.
29. United Republic of Tanzania National Website, 'Water', available at http://www.tanzania.go.tz/waterf.html, retrieved on 25 July 2007.
30. R. Yeager, Tanzania: An African Experiment (Boulder, CO, Westview, 1982), p. 28.
31. J. Nyerere, Freedom and Development: A Selection from Writings and Speeches 1968-1973 (Dar es Salaam, Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 320.
32. Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development, This Land is Ours! The Story of the Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development (Dar es Salaam, Government of Tanzania, 1968).
33. J. Boesen, Aiming too High, Planning too Much and Achieving too Little (Copenhagen, Center for Development Research, 1986), p. 2.
34. 'Water Supply - Service to the Nation to Speed Development', Tanzania Notes and Records, 76 (1975), p. 191.
35. A. Grove, 'Water Use by the Chagga on Kilimanjaro', African Affairs 92, 368 (1993), p. 434
36. see also O. Therkildsen, Watering White Elephants? Lessons from Donor Funded Planning and Implementation of Rural Water Supplies in Tanzania (Uppsala, Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1988), p. 191.
37. 'Water Supply - Service to the Nation to Speed Development', Tanzania Notes and Records, 76 (1975), p. 191.
38. G. White, D. Bradley and A. White, Drawers of Water: Domestic Water Use in East Africa (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1972), p. 81.
39. For more on the political and social organisation of Kilimanjaro, see S.F. Moore, Social Facts and Fabrications: 'Customary' Law on Kilimanjaro, 1880-1980 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986).
40. Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union, Annual Report 1960-61.
41. Iliffe, A Modern History, p. 445.
42. 'Look What We Can Do!', Time Magazine (August 25, 1958).
43. For a thorough discussion of local politics on Kilimanjaro in the 1950s, see J. Samoff, Tanzania: Local Politics and the Structure of Power (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1974).
44. Samoff, Tanzania, pp. 21-4.
45. Also 'Look What We Can Do!' Time Magazine (August 25, 1958)
46. Of the 7,710, nearly 5,000 lived in the district seat of Moshi Town, not on the mountain. See Iliffe, A Modern History, p. 513.
47. Samoff, Tanzania, p. 27.
48. Moore, Social Facts and Fabrications, p. 213-16.
49. Estimates as to when the first furrows were constructed on Kilimanjaro range from as little as 300 years, to more than a thousand. For histories of the Kilimanjaro furrows, see M. Bender, 'Water Brings No Harm'
50. A. Grove, 'Water Use by the Chagga on Kilimanjaro', African Affairs 92 (1993), pp. 431-8
51. F. Masao, 'The Irrigation System in Uchagga', Tanzania Notes and Records, 75 (1974), pp. 1-8
52. D. Mosgrove, 'Watering African Moons: Culture and History of Irrigation Design on Kilimanjaro and Beyond' (Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, 1998)
53. A.G. Pike, 'Kilimanjaro and the Furrow System', Tanganyika Notes and Records, 64 (1965), pp. 95-96.
54. Japanese International Co-operation Agency, Water Master Plan Kilimanjaro Region, Volume VI (Ministry of Water, Energy and Minerals, The United Republic of Tanzania, 1977)
55. cited in Grove, 'Water Use by the Chagga', p. 431.
56. See Bender, 'Water Brings No Harm', Chapter One.
57. TNA 474/1022, Application for a Water Permit.
58. Bender, 'Water Brings No Harm', pp. 239-41.
59. Ibid., pp. 140-51.
60. Ibid., pp. 159-73.
61. Government of Tanganyika, Blue Book, 1921 (Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika Government Printer, 1922).
62. P. Maro, 'Population and Land Resources in Northern Tanzania, 1920-1970', BRALUP Research Paper No. 40 (December 1975), p. 76.
63. For more on the issue of increased water consumption in this period, see Bender, 'Water Brings No Harm', Chapter Four.
64. Field Notes, Mkuu Rombo, 2004.
65. Bender, 'Water Brings No Harm', pp. 247-56.
66. TNA 558/RCD/167/A, Water Development and Irrigation Division, Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development, A Rural Water Supply Programme for Kilimanjaro Region, 1967.
67. Ibid., p. 5.
68. The report calculated the demand for water to be 26,500,000 litres per day, based upon estimated need of 75 litres of water per capita. The remaining 7,500,000 litres were set aside to handle population growth and also rural industries such as coffee pulping. Ibid., pp. 5-6.
69. The WD & ID chose the reticulated design in order to compensate for the lack of adequate surface water resources on the eastern side. The eastern side featured few rivers capable of supplying enough water year-round for even a single pipe system. The designers compensated for this by designing a system that had several intakes, the largest of which was actually located on the southeast corner of the mountain, and combining the inflows together to ensure adequate water regardless of season. See Ibid., pp. 5-6.
70. Ibid.
71. The phrase 'more and better water' appears in several water development documents of this period. See TNA 474/w.2/1 v.2, Water Development Policy and Instructions.
72. Bender, 'Water Brings No Harm', p. 269.
73. TNA 558/RCD/167/A, Water Development and Irrigation Division, Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development, A Rural Water Supply Programme for Kilimanjaro Region, 1967, p. 7.
74. TNA 474/w.2/1 v.2, Water Development Policy and Instructions, 1956-1965.
75. The Kilimanjaro Region Water Advisory Board and the District and Regional Water Officers for Kilimanjaro declared that over time pipes would take the place of all furrows in the upper areas of settlement. See TNA 518/c.50/3, Kilimanjaro Region Water Advisory Board. Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water, 1963.
76. Belief that irrigation was largely unnecessary on the mountain dates back to the 1920s, when British colonial officials first began to be concerned with the mountain's water supply. A 1959 study by the WD & ID again confirmed this conclusion. See A.H. Pike, Water Resources, Moshi District (Moshi, Water Development and Irrigation Division, 1959).
77. From Field Notes, Mkuu Rombo, 2004.
78. Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development, This Land is Ours! The Story of the Ministry of Lands, Settlement, and Water Development (Dar es Salaam, Government of Tanzania, 1968), pp. 12-13.
79. Relations between Britain and Tanzania became more turbulent in the late 1960s and early 1970s for several reasons. Britain and much of the West disapproved of Nyerere's socialist reforms and his friendship with China, while Tanzania strongly criticised Britain's tolerance of the white minority regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa. For more on these issues see Pratt, The Critical Phase.
80. Village Clean Water Wells and Small Piped Water Supplies. Oxfam Project File 2307 (1972), Oxfam Archives.
81. Grove, 'Water Use by the Chagga on Kilimanjaro', p. 434.
82. Yeager, Tanzania: An African Experiment, p. 71.
83. Government of Tanzania, Census 1978 (Dar es Salaam, Government Printer, 1979).
84. Field Notes, Mkuu Rombo, 2003-2004.
85. During the rains, they would make use of temporary streams that were located in considerably closer proximity. Interview with Mary Masawi, Kelamfua, Mkuu Rombo, 2004.
86. Interview with Edita Motesha, Mokala, Mkuu Rombo, 2004.
87. Ibid.
88. Ibid.
89. Interview with Mark Kusafiri, Maua, Kilema, 2004.
90. Interview with Gerard Mkala, Kimaroroni, Kilema, 2004.
91. Ibid.
92. From field notes and informal discussions with Chris Maruro, Machame, 2003.
93. Maro cites several factors including the importance of maintaining kin ties, unwillingness to give up kihamba agriculture for less lucrative forms of agriculture, and desire of men to maintain claims on the land of their fathers. See P. Maro, 'Population Growth and Agricultural Change in Kilimanjaro - 1920-1970', BRALUP Research Paper No. 40 (Dar es Salaam, University of Dar es Salaam, 1975), p. 40.
94. Ibid., p. 40.
95. Grove, 'Water Use by the Chagga on Kilimanjaro', p. 434.
96. Ibid., p. 438.
97. Burra and Van den Heuvel, Traditional Irrigation in Tanzania.
98. Interview with Hubert Buwana, Kilema Chini, 2004.
99. Ibid., p. 34.
100. Ibid., p. 35.
101. Interview with Stanley Moshi, Mkyashi, Kilema, 2004.
102. Interview with Albanus Mti, Mkyashi, Kilema, 2004.
103. See Grove, 'Water Use by the Chagga'; Mosgrove, 'Watering African Moons'; and F. Vavrus, '" Shadow of the Real Thing": Furrow Societies, Water Use Associations, and Democratic Practices in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania', Journal of African American History, 88, 4 (2003), pp. 393-412.
104. Grove, 'Water Use', p. 434.
105. Moore, Social Facts and Fabrications; also 'Post-Socialist Micro-Politics: Kilimanjaro', Africa, 66, 4 (1996), pp. 587-606.
106. Ibid.
107. Incidences of sabotage seem to have occurred sporadically, as isolated events, and usually in response to a current event. Interview with Michael Laswai, Kiliwater Ltd., Mkuu Rombo, 2003; also Field Notes, Mkuu Rombo, 2003-2004.
108. Frances Vavrus provides an excellent example of the debate over paid water in 'A Shadow of the Real Thing', pp. 405-7.
109. See Ergas, 'Why did the Ujamaa Village Policy Fail?', pp. 387-410.