| Randal Sadleir's
Tanzania: Journey to Republic is a good example of the memoir as a historical document,
intended to inform as much as entertain. This is more than the rebuttal of a general
myth. Sadleir had a pivotal role in the manoeuvres and negotiations leading up to
Tanzania's Independence and he uses his knowledge particularly of Julius Nyerere
to illuminate the motivation and actions of the leading players on both sides. I take
it that this account must be accurate, or at least as Nyerere himself wished his
version of the truth to be known, otherwise the Mwalimu of Tanzania would hardly
have contributed the admiring foreword that he has done to this book by a former
colonial civil servant. Nor is Sadleir's tribute to Nyerere confined solely to
sycophantic praise. He records faithfully how the leader made himself scarce when
the army mutinied soon after independence.
The difficulty for all of us who have been involved in seminal events, even in a
small field, is the temptation to make ourselves appear more important than we
really were. It seems that Sadleir's usefulness at a time of change sprang very
largely from his fluency in Swahili and therefore his value as an interpreter. His
actual responsibilities seem to have been more peripheral. At times, indeed, his
frequent references to his own linguistic skills can be faintly irritating, not least
because his less gifted colleagues may appear dense by comparison. Also rather
intrusive is his tendency to total recall. It is impressive but not enthralling that he
can remember the name of the cricket captain of an opposing team at his prep
school. Moreover, (a return to the theme of the differences between commercial and
vanity publishing), a profit-orientated editor, aiming to attract the page-turning
public, would surely have talked him out of a purple passage on the very first page;
"it was the garden, girt by the river and pierced by the tranquil waters of the
millrace, that we loved the most".
Having said all that, however, I hope that the rather atypical readers of this
journal will buy both this book. It is the stuff of our lives and the memories
of our service. Besides, if we don't encourage each other to support the writers of
colonial memoirs, then who will buy ours?
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