Nyerere claimed socialism and democracy were already rooted in African tradition

Evidence

To Nyerere, for example, acceptance of the idea of Africanity initiated by Tempels took (in part) the form of rejecting Western ideologies. Nyerere’s (1977, p.12) words are to the point: “We, in Africa, have no more need of being ‘converted’ to socialism than we have of being ‘taught’ democracy. Both are rooted in our own past – in the traditional society which produced us”. The “we” refers to Africans, and the quotation suggests that African traditional societies were, arguably, socialistic and democratic. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 115

Categorization

• XREF: Ujamaa as the practical application of this claim — connects to the reader’s interest in political philosophy grounded in traditional values.