Wolfgang Dourado: A man who did not hesitate to call a spade

By Bernard Mapalala
The Citizen Correspondent


Dar es Salaam. In May, 2007, I had the privilege of meeting Wolfgang Dourado for the first time, much as I had known him by reputation for quite a long period. Dourado had been an outspoken critic of the Union while serving as Zanzibar Attorney General under Zanzibar leader Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, then officially known in both Zanzibar and on the Mainland as simply the Vice-President of Tanzania or chairman of the Zanzibar Revolutionary Council.

I arrived at his ‘White House’ residence in Stone Town, Zanzibar about an hour before noon. I rang the bell, and Old Dourado, peeping from a window upstairs, after satisfying himself that I was the visitor he had been waiting for, came downstairs and personally opened the door.

I had seen pictures of Dourado constantly in the press in his heyday, but now both his face and gait clearly indicated that years had taken their toll on his body. His speech was both slow and stammering, and at times inaudible. Having flown all the way from Dar es Salaam for this landmark interview, I had finally chanced to meet this fearless man, who, according to his testimony, had people in Zanzibar saying “huyu kweli dume,” due to the fact that after the Zanzibar Revolution, most Zanzibaris of Goan origin had fled to other countries, yet he chose to serve as attorney general under Sheikh Karume, a man who brooked no opposing views. Wolfgang Joseph Dourado was born in Zanzibar on September 20, 1929.

Called to the bar
From 1939 to 1946, he studied at St Joseph’s Convent School in Zanzibar. In the mid 50s, he studied at Middle Temple, London, and was called to the Bar in February, 1957. He told me that while studying at Middle Temple, he met first Botswana President Seretse Khama, with whom they shared a room. In 1958, he married Yvonne Agnes.

Again in 1962, he went back to studies at the London School of Economics, where he studied economics, politics and philosophy.Dourado had joined the colonial Zanzibar civil service in 1947 as a clerk, rising to the position of permanent secretary in the ministry of Home and Legal affairs in 1963, just a year before the revolution.

As we sat in his modest sitting room in the presence of his wife, Yvonne, he told me how his quick tempered father, Domingo Constancio Dourado, had told young Wolf that the civil service was not for him as only yes-men could survive.  However, Dourado chose to do the opposite.

As we talked, he recounted how he met Sheikh Karume for the first time, plus his opinion of the legendary Zanzibar leader, Dourado said: “One thing, he was always neatly dressed, starch and all that.”
He added: “For example, he came to my office during the colonial days, his eyes were brown...very brown, and was putting on a very neat vest. On the paper he was holding was written a case number related to a widow.

Karume asked: ‘Why are you delaying dealing with this case?’  I (Dourado) answered: It is not me who is causing the delay. There are  several people who handle a particular case.”
Dourado then sent for the clerk who was dealing with the matter, who informed him that the widow had not been paid yet, although the accounts were all ready, and they were only waiting to pay.
Dourado recalled telling the clerk: “You make this payment right now in front of Mzee Karume, otherwise you go home and never come back.”

The payment was made. So Karume went out, then came back holding some money. He said: “You have helped us, and we must help you also.”
Dourado responded, “People are saying that we are corrupt, and this is corruption!” Karume said: “Now I tell you this: I trust you. When the day comes for me to lead the government, I will make you the Attorney General.”

That was before the Revolution. And of course, after the Revolution he called me, and from that time I was his Attorney General, Dourado recalled.
I asked Dourado of his assessment of Abeid Karume as a leader. He said that Karume had good ideas, as he wanted equality among the people. “You now can’t do it the way he was doing, but he has done a lot of good. The Michenzani housing is a good thing, except that he flooded Stone Town with people. There are too many people in Stone Town,” he said.

Responding to a question on his views on Amani Karume, who was president of Zanzibar at that time, he said President Amani Karume was a very gentle person, and the flogging by Mzee Karume that they had together, had brought them together. “Whenever we meet we embrace each other,” he said.

The story, according to Dourado, goes like this: He was very close to Karume. However, while still serving as attorney general, he opposed forced marriages in which members of Zanzibar’s ruling elite married girls of Arab descent by force in 1970.

“When I opposed forced marriages, I told Ali Karume (Amani`s brother) ‘Don’t marry anyone by force. It (the marriage) will break up.’ So he told his father: ‘Dourado has told me this, and he is an intelligent person.’` And Amani told his father: ‘Why implicate Mzee Dourado in this matter? He has nothing to do with it. ` So he was also thrown out of the house.

Sent to prison
According to Dourado, he and the two Karume sons were flogged by Sheikh Karume, and he was sent to prison for a day. “Then Karume came to prison to see me. I asked him: ‘Mzee, umefanya haya?’ (Old man, why did you do this?) He answered: “Even though we do not agree with you on this matter, we shall still support you to continue holding the position of Attorney General. So you can go back to work now.”
Knowing that he had been a staunch opponent of the Union, I wanted to record his stance on the matter, only to find out that his stance had evolved over the years. I had specifically asked him to comment on both its legality and legitimacy.

His response: “As for the legitimacy (of the Union), since it has succeeded, well, there it is! The Sultan has been thrown out. By and large the people are happy about it.” He added: “Since it has come into existence, now it is 40 years. It is legitimate. There are people on both sides. Some criticize it, but not openly.”

I also asked him whether opponents of the Union would succeed at some point, Dourado said: “No! No! Too much time has passed. They will not succeed.”
At that time, certain individuals from Zanzibar had gone to court seeking to compel the Union government to show the Articles of the Union to the public. Dourado said the Government should produce those documents, although he did not  know who was having them.
Due to the fact that he had been around when the Union came into existence, I inquired as to whether he had seen the Articles. He replied, “Oh yeah! I had seen them. Where they are now, I don’t know.”

Treason trial
I was also keen to know his feelings about the conduct of the Zanzibar treason trial that took place following Karume’s assassination in 1972, during which he served both as prosecutor and defence lawyer. Was this not a flawed system?

He replied: “Of course it was flawed, and it was not my choice. Karume had called me before the Revolutionary Council, and he said: ‘Hii ma-lawyer, ma-lawyer hatutaki.’ (We don’t want these lawyers).
“We don’t want the system of private lawyers defending individuals, because poor people can’t afford lawyers. I told him he would face a lot of problems, and Mwalimu would not prefer such a legal system. He responded: ‘Leave Mwalimu in my hands. I will handle him.’

“So it was decided that there was no private practice in defence matters. Some of the members of the Revolutionary Council who opposed me on this issue were later to appear in the treason trial as accused persons.
“When the trial was over, I reminded them that they had been opposing the commissioning of private lawyers and they were now experiencing the result of their stance.”

On whether the accused had got justice, given the circumstances, the former Zanzibar AG said: “Not one was hanged. Some got light jail terms. I think they got justice, given the circumstances.”
When the interview was over, after lunch, I asked him who had masterminded Karume’s assassination. He said: “Abdulrahman Babu.”

All in all, what I got from him was that he had chosen to serve the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar by seeking to make changes from within, as he was of the belief that if all qualified Zanzibaris chose to boycott the civil service, and everything left into the hands of radical revolutionaries who were inexperienced in government matters, the situation would be so much worse.

Deeply respected
I also deduced that he deeply respected Sheikh Karume and saw him as a committed, well-meaning leader in spite of his erratic behaviour. They also saw the Union from two opposing perspectives: Karume being a committed pan-Africanist while Dourado harboured strong primordial attachments. Despite walking on a tricky political landscape over the years, Dourado was able to outlive so many of his contemporaries in the Zanzibar political arena, that is, including Karume himself.

Dourado, on the same Union issue, did not see eye to eye with Mwalimu Nyerere, who later jailed him sometime after Karume’s assassination following a fiery anti-Union speech that he gave at a Tanzania lawyers’ association function.

Showing me a photo that captured Mwalimu Nyerere and Dourado walking together, with Dourado staring directly into Mwalimu’s face, Nyerere chose to gaze straight ahead instead. “Nyerere would never look into his (Wolf’s) eyes,” Yvonne said, just to stress how Nyerere was incensed by Dourado.

Dourado, who was serving as a judge of the Zanzibar High Court, passed away at his Vuga residence in Zanzibar on March 19, 2012 in the presence of family members.
He had chosen to walk a controversial path in his life, yet he was convinced that his was the right direction. May his soul rest in peace.

- See more at: http://www.kenyacentral.com/news/27902-wolfgang-dourado-a-man-who-did-not-hesitate-to-call-a-spade.html#sthash.mau7fBdS.dpuf

BABU ACCUSED AS MASTERMIND OF PLOT TO OVERTHROW ZANZIBAR GOVERNMENT
http://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1973ZANZIB00148_b.html


THE UNION BETWEEN TANGANYIKA AND ZANZIBAR
http://www.zanzinet.org/files/legality_union.pdf


A PROMINENT lawyer and the former first Zanzibar Attorney General (AG), Wolfango Joseph Dourado, who died late on Monday
http://archive.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/3158-former-zanzibar-ag-laid-to-rest

http://lukemusicfactory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/mazishi-ya-wolfgang-dourado-katika.html

http://machibya.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/maziko-ya-aliyekuwa-mwanasheria-wa.html


Wolfango J Dourado Obituary
http://www.goanvoice.ca/2012/issue06/obituary.php

Wolfango Dourado - An Appreciation
http://www.goanvoice.ca/2012/issue07/peopleplacesthings.htm

Tanzania under Mwalimu Nyerere: Reflections on an African Statesman
http://internationalpublishers.tripod.com/id25.html

Opening of the Palais De Justice on 17th June 2013 at Ile Du Port, Seychelles

Post  Sirop14 Today at 1:41 pm

This morning the furor at Home - that Sechelles Seychelles over the issues of former Attorney General and Judge Wolfgang J Durado of Zanzibar - our past associates and colleagues, their respective views/position.

We did not address this issues just to be annoying, a nuisance - there are deeper implications.

The base/foundation for any nation very positive, coexistence, existence/workings is its Justice and Judicial values from ages gone by, today and the future. What we understand and term as History have enable the human race to appreciate and respect this.

It had/have been indicated after the article of Attorney General and Judge Wolfgang J Durado of Zanzibar we/I ought not to come back to this article issues.

We had expected and waited that the Seychelles Judiciary, the media and the NGO's may/would have addressed their due observation upon the first Anniversary of the Palais de Justice Inauguration and the very distinguish and high parties present, involved and witnessed. We will link the address of Chief Justice Egonda-Ntende afterwards.

We have tried/endeavored very hard and extensively to stress that SIROP program contributed very importantly to countless historic Judiciary events, process and Interdisciplinary working.

Having written again time and time that unlike many exile/refugee Repatriation program - whereby a road map or outline of the details of the program is set out in great details and like building a large construction project - all those involved/participating their respective role, deadline and how they have to work/contribute as the plan has been laid out and agreed by the many high parties and small/opposition factions/forces.

In those/those details - a high portion/percentage would have been allocated to Judiciary/Justice issues and related issues. This was not the case in that SIROP program - we were left to work out the issues across a very wide area, renegotiating them and battling them as we went along arrived at a given point. Hence when we write and say to the International communities and their Institutions - that SIROP program played a very important role in many modern - current development in Judiciary what this means and imply/relate to. In the first place the former COMECON, the USSR, NATO Justice and Judiciary workings, this said how it impacted and affected the workings of the International court of Justice, the European court of Justice and the International Criminal court of Justice and the Justice system of each respective EU/Europe Nation.


{"For example - We had to work the issues of the reintroduction of the Royal Institutions, the Illuminati values, Christian and other wise back or new in the former East Europe - their Justice and Judiciary correlation/implications")


From our position and experience that of France and Britain and they were both founding Justice and judiciary institutions of our Nations in the Indian Ocean - be they Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, South Africa, East Africa, India, Australia, West Africa and Central Africa and North Africa.

To go back to the difference between a Voluntary Refugee/exile/repatriation program organised and impute bu the International Institutions and governments as against our exile/refugee Voluntary return/Repatriation program - all those involved and participated. The resources , the media, reporting and accountability and nature of debates. The disadvantage we have and experience is that we were unable to record, report and take due note of the many events as would have been the so call norm and procedure. Then everybody like it or not would have been able to read and study the Judiciary process. development we are talking about.

However - there exist alternative and other mode of working and managing such issues - beside the important role of the WWW and the Social media, the discipline which have evolved and in place enabling those who are trained and understand this science - other source of information, other source of reporting other source of record and archive related and picture libraries, books, court cases, media coverage of important court cases, National debate at Parliament and Senate national debate,  election and local government debates. Beside the Communication, media and social, policing discipline, science which took place and developed.


These impacts in a highly develop/European nations or East European is/are allowed to be entertained/considered, but in the workings of African, Latin American and Small Nation the tendency to exclude such debate and reporting and how those take credit and explain the process. This is another major disadvantage and negative aspect of that program we had to live with and experienced.


Beside the interrelated Conflicting issues - collateral fall outs, wars and related and the Judiciary/justice issues be they regional and International impacts.

In that Old Sechelles Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion - French and British Justice and Judiciary working - they had the capacity, they had the discipline to entertain such debate, reporting, logic and overall oversight and look into greater complexities and impact of our Justice and Judiciary workings even if we were a very small and colonial nation.

Having said the above we would have thought - our Justice system would have benefited, acquired the experience and positivity of outside influences and international development in Judiciary issues and their by benefit the people, the citizens and those who have to do business and work with us.


Because we understood those/these issues - a new Supreme Court Build was on the agenda of that SIROP program - the very marked difference into the Management of the Judiciary it would have seen and introduced in that Sechelles Seychelles had the changes gone as had been planned, discussed and expected.

We have indicated we are very unhappy at the Legal System/the Bar Association in Seychelles working and approach towards that SIROP program - having said the foundation and core working of any good and positive nation is their Justice and Judiciary - the moment President  FA Rene and his then Cabinet and the SPPF, those in Africa, those in Russia, those in former East Europe, the Vatican, the UN - the manner and approach our Legal, the Bench and the Justice System should have become involved and engaged.


From Europe, Canada, Australia - those who did contribute and our manner and way of impulsing and contributing and those of the International Justice and Judiciary Institutions , receptive Bodies and personalities. In spite of that the very mark contrast, the reluctancy of the Seychelles Justice and Judiciary to become engage, to acknowledge this program and the ongoing process and create due parameters and mechanism to help for a Justice and Judiciary, legal to help work and progress this program and the issues.


There is the need to note and stress those Opposition, NGO, Church, individuals,  who pointed and pressed the government and the National Assemble and the police on very very many burning and important issues. On record and documented. This made and left little impact.

Given that time and time over the past 23 years our politicians have stressed the importance and serious relation between Mauritius Justice and Judiciary workings and Seychelles - yet how they have failed to deliver.

The point and conclusion,  if had we the same benchmark of Justice and Judiciary workings as Mauritius - let alone Reunion - our society, nation and political would have been markedly different.


Across the world many former Communist and dictatorial countries and governments,  the amount of money and resource they have invested and spent to put into place a semblance or their due view and perception of the best Justice and judiciary system, the media and other associated institutions they have build and strived to build. The sum up, the conclusion and results.

Given the speed we work in that Seychelles or have been workings and implementing the many aspect of economic, social and related national issues - One year to draw such conclusion may be very early - we believe the more reason we do not sit on our laurels - the Government, the ruling party and its institutions are boasting and bragging how goo and great a Justice and Judiciary institutions we have in Seychelles and particularly in Africa/comparatively. We ought to be ashamed.


The reason for addressing the Judge Wolfgang J Durado issues is the fact that we/there is the need to draw a bilance, to sum up - Zanzibar and Tanzania development and progress in their Justice and Judiciary since the Colonial departure, those nation embracing Independence and building their Justice and Judiciary system, infrastructure and workings - policing.

Even if we are not qualify as a lawyer and Barrister, we have undertaken a great deal of associated studies, research - in the grater field of Interdisciplinary Management Science - the past 30 years and have worked, made highly practice impute and active management of Justice and Judiciary workings, process almost across the world and in some of the leading nations institutions. The due role and functionality of IOIMF in the Indian Ocean Region, European Justice system and the Indian Ocean Justice/Judiciary system.


Having been involved in the perception, requirements to change the COMECON, Russia Social values, democratic values and they can only be build upon a positive and adequate Justice and Judiciary system. Noted and concluded that the OAU Justice and Judiciary was far from the European Benchmark and emerging East Europe. As such those who misrepresent why the equation of getting a person as President Qaddafi involved - we had to be aware and know their Justice and Judiciary working of Libya and other nations - particularly those of the Arabs and Muslim nations. The many who concluded and judge at the time we were right in getting President  Qaddafi to lead and spear head the change from OAU to African and the Justice and Judiciary mechanism, benchmarks and Institutions that would have to be build and put into place, the education process and the media role.


Having worked in the NGO and Europe voluntary sector form some 30 years - their own short comings and inadequate Justice and Judiciary system and workings. We can write a list of important observations and in instance contributions.


As a half decent Farmer or Builder it is all those positive and negative accumulated experience and knowledge that makes then and like wise in the workings of Justice and Judiciary -


Some/those of you who have noted - the links under the Judge Wolfgang Durado article - current Court of Justice system in the African Union and the court of Human Rights.

All of use who have been privileged to have good teachers, instructors and individual who have inspired us -in Mauritius the many brilliant past Judges and their famed and in Seychelles ours. It is from their work and benchmark that we draw and arrive a t our conclusion - view of things relating to Justice and Judiciary.

We have stated we partook in the debacle and decision where to site which of African Union initial high Institutions like/as in Europe - the decision to site/seat African Court of Justice and Human Rights and events in East Africa, Tanzania and Zanzibar and the region. What this implied and required most important the impacts on their then OAU Socialist Justice and Judiciary system. {"The role use and abuse of that highly corrupted system/benchmark, rave, rage, mad cow and cjd mechanism being applied and for part of the justice and policing procedures - Benchmark. "}


There are very very many issues we cannot and may not be permitted to address in public. Those in Tanzania during the OAU era and then Seychelles One party system the Judiciary of the Communist/socialist State. The progress if one can say so and process did not just come, it took efforts and difficult decisions and the person and personality as Judge Wolfgang J Durado was in the know and reasonably aware. Judge EJ Stiven had been one of his important mentor as any such mentor - events and the 3rd Republic, the constitutions - the country or the place where your or such mentor is laid to rest - OAU and later African Union view of such/those issues. The better position of Seychelles Justice and Judiciary working. Judge EJ Stiven had left his mark and impact - beside his judgement, the workings issues of that SIROP program from Britain, the many leading past colleagues from the colonial Service and those individuals how did and have worked with him in former East Africa, particularly Zanzibar. Those who judge/hold the view he ought to be dispatched to the bin of time and history.


We have currently and since the 3rd Republic many expat Judge and Justice personal working in Seychelles , baring and adding their brand and bland of knowledge and experiences positive and negative.

Having addressed the situation in African Union Court of Justice and Human Right Court workings - the old Supreme court Building/infrastructures and the  Palais de Justice. One year on those who care and can make a positive of negative sum up or report the NGO's. What about the manner Judge Sauzier was made to leave this world, his health issues, medical practice in Seychelles - benchmark and Justice related issues. These are very serious implications - the fact that we lack and just do not have adequate Justice and Judiciary capable personal of Seychelles Person  to drive, enable and help of Justice/Judiciary progress and process.


We were very curious and eager to see if any impute/statements had been made in the media - we did and have noted President JR Mancham visit to Bulgaria and the article/coverage. As opposition and exile the need to understand greater world diplomatic language, practice and interpretations - we in Seychelles know the Benchmark of the nation and Bulgaria workings, the Justice, Judiciary, Economic, diplomatic it is not one which we would be proud/respect and appreciate when summing up and writing about one year workings of our new Palace of Justice and its Institutions. Beside - President J R Mancham was present,  alive when we implemented that SIROP program, those other former East Europe nations, involved, the wars and their culture and today role and stand in EU. For former President Mancham to have allowed this article to be brought forward/publish is not brilliant it reflect of his notion and understanding  of Justice and Judiciary benchmark, values and discipline.


We want to impress and stress to everybody in that Sechelles, Seychelles AND THOSE FROM Mauritius, we had so hope that with the new buildings and infrastructure - we,  our nation and those exile would have been delivered a different justice - our rights and sufferings goes unabated, our oppression and exclusion goes on unchallenged, the evil done to us/we who build that nation and island gone uncorrected - if anything by what we seen on the Streets, the media and the political aggressiveness things of worse to come, unless something happens.


In writing what we have from an exile, NGO and citizen have indicate showed we care and take the issues , shortfall and short comings seriously.


Comment - we are experiencing hacking and crash will publish this thread as it is and will edit later.


Opening of the Palais De Justice on 17th June 2013 at Ile Du Port, Seychelles
http://www.seylii.org/content/opening-palais-de-justice-17th-june-2013-ile-du-port-seychelles

Mancham describes visit to Bulgaria as “most successful”
http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=242031

Bulgaria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria

'Dear Muammar': Tony Blair's letter to Colonel Gaddafi reveals collusion between UK and Libyan regime
The former prime minister thanked Gaddafi for the 'excellent co-operation' between the two countries and apologised for failing to deport the tyrant's enemies

Tony Blair wrote to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi apologising profusely for being unable to deport the regime’s dissidents, it has emerged.
The letter, written on Downing Street headed note paper, was penned in 2007, at a time when the two governments were allegedly collaborating in efforts to send dissidents back to the country despite fears they would be tortured.
Mr Blair began by writing, "I trust that you, and your family, are well" and signed the letter in his own handwriting, "Best wishes yours ever, Tony".
The letter was among hundreds of pages of documents recovered from Libyan government offices following the 2011 revolution which ousted the dictator from power.
The documents are now in the hands of a team of London lawyers, who are bringing damages claims on behalf of a dozen Gaddafi opponents who claim they were targeted by the two countries' agencies.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11367104/Dear-Muaamar-Tony-Blairs-letter-to-Colonel-Gaddafi-reveals-collusion-between-UK-and-Libyan-regime.html

New Libya case reveals UK-Gaddafi intelligence ties
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/01/24/foreign/new-libya-case-reveals-uk-gaddafi-intelligence-ties/

New Libya case reveals UK-Gadhafi intelligence ties - See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Jan-23/285114-new-libya-case-reveals-uk-gadhafi-intelligence-ties.ashx#sthash.sMR5zUwq.dpuf

Letter between Tony Blair and Colonel Gaddafi revealed as part of documents seized following Libyan revolution
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/letter-between-tony-blair-and-colonel-gaddafi-revealed-as-part-of-documents-seized-following-libyan-revolution-10000009.html