Man, who was involved in Mixing Tanganyika and Zanzibar Soils during the 1964 Union, dies in Moshi

One of the persons who were involved in the act of mixing mounds of soil from Tanganyika and Zanzibar when the two countries were uniting in 1964, has just passed away in Kilimanjaro Region.

Mzee Elisaeli Mrema, aged 80, died at his Mdawi Village in Old Moshi Division of Moshi, in Kilimanjaro, leaving a historical legacy behind him.

Born in 1944, the late Mrema was a retired soldier as well as a reliable cadre in the then Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) the political party which led the country during the struggle for independence.

The Tanganyika and Zanzibar Union recently celebrated its 60 years in the formation of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The event took place on April 26, 2024 and eight days later, Mzee Mrema, one of the important components in the historical union, died in Kilimanjaro.

The figurative act of mixing the soil from Tanganyika and Zanzibar was experienced on April 26, 1964.

In the immortalized photos two young men are seen on bended knees supporting a pot into which the soils from the mainland and isles were mixed.

One of the men is the late Elisaeli Mrema, then aged only 20, but now dead at 80.

There were also two young women seen presenting two calabashes of the earth mixture to the former Head of State, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

These two young ladies were Sifael Shuma of Tanganyika and Hadija Abbas from Zanzibar.

The mixed mounds of soil from the two parts of the union were taken to the State House where two mango seedlings from Zanzibar and Tanganyika were planted into a single hole.

This grafted mango tree can still be spotted at the Dar-es-salaam State House to-date.

Elisaeli Mrema had since been living as a farmer at Mdawi Village in Kombele Ward.

Even 60 years after the soil-mixing act, the old man remained very popular in the locality.