Professor Ali Mazrui of Africa (Born in Mombasa, Kenya in 1933) has taken leave from our lonely cosmos for eternity. That is the place from which no traveller returns, yet the inevitable destiny for all earthlings. Such a universal saint of all seasons and our own oracle, the way Chinese think of Confucius or the Greeks of Plato or is it Socrates? Memories of Professor Ali Mazrui are worldwide and his scholarship was global as that of W. E. B. Du Bois. I got to know of him during the roaring 1960s when I was a freshman University student in Philadelphia, Pa., USA and initially met him in person at one of the Pan-Africanist Indabas in Washington, D.C.
Other such exciting encounters would follow later in New York, at Colombia University and last but not least at the Temple University where I had done my political science and foreign affairs readings. His focus was then more on that world popular BBC T.V Series called “The Africans: A Triple Heritage.”
It stirred up cultural introspection and ideological rupture as we debated socialism versus PAN-Africanism and South-South Solidarity against imperialism. That and his timely book for me titled “Tanzaphilia” raised challenges but also introspection in early 1960s.
Not all issues of public debate that he continued raising have been resolved yet, but our common vision is clear, thanks to him.
Professor Mazrui became fully international as eminent scholar, writer and public intellectual and recognisable persona with that agreeable white head. The whole world got to know his intellectual substance and hefty debating skills not only about political philosophy or generally about Pan-Africanism. During his last visit in Windhoek as eminent guest of PACON to deliver the Annual Sam Nujoma Public Lecture, which not only contextualised The Kaiser’s Holocaust in Namibia but exposed also fully the usurpation of the land and impoverishment of the indigenous communities. He knew it all.
The holocaust took place first in the 20th century and it took place here in Namibia.
My memories of all that I have been privileged to know of Professor Ali Mazrui and his legacy will and must endure for the African Youth and not least the committed African leaders who themselves must revisit his legacy and widely published writings. During that, now his last visit to Namibia and personal encounters, Professor Mazrui paid me a brotherly visit, accompanied by his wife, at the Speaker’s Office on May 23, 2013. After sharp yet random views on Africa and the world affairs, we also exchanged views on current affairs, including what was then his latest book “Julius Nyerere: Africa’s Titan On A global Stage,” co-authored with Lindah L. Mhando (2013).
I got that book which I am now studying.
I will not repeat here what my dear comrade, close brother and current President of Julius Nyerere Foundation, Salim Ahmed Salim wrote in sharing his intimate thoughts on Mwalimu and he endorsed thoughts and intimate appraisals of the book. Of course Mwalimu, Nkrumah, Cabral and others, let us not forget their ideals and legacies, live on. In that, PACON has got its own mandate enlivened! For his part, the story of brother Ali Mazrui itself is a brilliant source of eternal enlightenment.