TALGA’S Dr. Robert Ngude, “We want to create a programme which can facilitate interaction with the Tanzanian Government in a way that allows us in the diaspora to contribute to the development of the country.” r. Robert Ngude is a permanent resident of South Africa of Tanzanian origin. He doubles up as a State Pathologist as well as a lecturer at the Wits University School of medicine. Having arrived in South Africa in 1995, he has had the opportunity to work in various parts of the country including Durban, Pretoria and the Free State. He spoke to Expatriate magazine about the Tanzanian association he heads up here in Gauteng. “The association is called Tanzanians Living in Gauteng, abbreviated as TALGA. It is a nongovernmental organisation whose patron is Her Excellency the Tanzanian High Commissioner to South Africa. I am in fact the acting chairman now that the duly elected chairman of the organisation, Dr. Faustin Ndugulile has moved back to Tanzania. He was actually elected a member of parliament during the recently concluded 2010 General Elections,” Ngude said. The father of three confesses that it has not been easy to unite Tanzanians in Gauteng as the committee comprises of people who have full time jobs and so it is difficult to find time to coordinate activities. “But the High Commission has been very supportive. In fact, it is them who keep pushing us when things seem so difficult. So far we have conducted about five meetings during the course of 2010. We were planning to have an AGM at the end of the year but it proved difficult as
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most of our members were travelling during the festive season” From Ngude, we learnt that TALGA is the first organisation of its kind for the thousands of Tanzanians living in the province. He said at present there are no plans to extend the organisation beyond the provincial borders. “In my opinion, it is better to have one strong organisation that caters to people locally than a very large weak one with tentacles stretching all over the country that is not effective at the ground level. South Africa is a very big country, a place like Cape Town is like an entirely different country so it would be difficult for me as chairman to effectively cater for the needs of members there,” he explained. TALGA is fairly new as it is only about a year old. Currently the 12 member committee is in the process of recruiting members through their database of over three hundred individuals. The committee has people representing various interest groups such as women, business people, general workers and students. “Unlike other associations from other countries, TALGA represents people irrespective of their social or economic standing. As you know, Tanzanians have a very communal outlook towards interaction since our socialist days of ujamaa and so we cannot really profess to be an association for say only professionals.” Ngude further explained that the organisation has a broad mandate and a set of key objectives.