#KarumeDay: SIX interesting facts about Karume (1905-1972) that you never knew

#KarumeDay: SIX interesting facts about Karume (1905-1972) that you never knew

His mother was a slave.

Sheikh Abeid Karume was the son of a slave woman from Ruanda-Urundi who moved to Zanzibar when the boy was young.

Abeid Karume was not born in Zanzibar

The first President of Zanzibar, Sheikh Abeid Karume, was born in Nyasaland, now Malawi, on August 05, 1905.

Karume hated and feared the educated.

Karume greatly feared the founding members and stalwarts of the ASP and educated administrative officers who had deep political convictions and could articulate a soundly argued political critique, mobilize the population, and oppose his power. 

As Issa Shivji asserts, ―Karume had an intense hatred for and suspicion of the educated‖ (2008: 112), who he perceived as his political rivals.

Karume gave Simba its current name.

Tanzania Champions, Simba Sports Club was formerly known as Sunderland, bearing the British name Karume did not like as he saw it as upholding colonial legacy. 

Karume banned pugilism in Zanzibar

To this date, pugilism is illegal in Zanzibar, it was Karume who banned the sport and other sports such as cricket, and golf as allegedly too dangerous, as cover for political meetings, or an alien, colonial sports. 

Karume banned Mwadui to play in Zanzibar.

Karume banned the famous football club in Shinyanga to play in Zanzibar due to its bad fouls against Zanzibar players. Karume loved football as he contributed to constructing the Headquarters of two prominent football clubs in Tanzania, Yanga and Simba, in Dar es Salaam, but never liked roughs.