Tanzanians criticise Nyerere statue in Ethiopia

Some Tanzanians online are expressing concern that a new statue in honour of their founding president Julius Nyerere does not look like him.

The statue was unveiled on Sunday outside the African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

“I know the gesture counts most but this statue’s face has very little or no resemblance to Mwalimu Nyerere (old or young),” Maria Sarungi says on X (formerly Twitter).

“That is not our Nyerere,” another says.

Nyerere was the leader of what is now Tanzania from independence in 1961 until 1985.

He was a committed pan-Africanist and hosted independence fighters opposed to white minority rule in southern Africa.

Last year, a statue honouring Zambia’s first President, Kenneth Kaunda, had to be removed after weeks of ridicule, with people similarly saying that it did not look like him.