TANZANIA NATIONALIZES THE BANKS
; On February 6 Julius Nyerere announced that all the banks in Tanzania were being nationalized forthwith. The announcement was made at a rally sponsored by the Tanganyika African National Union [TANU] in Dar Es Salaan.
"The banks must become the property of the people," Nyerere said. The banks, he declared, had been chosen as the base of departure in exercising the country's "option" to move in. the direction of socialism. The proclamation met with enthusiastic response from the crowd of some 30,000 persons. The exact nature of the measure was not clear, however. The Ministry of Information stated in a press release that "nationalization" did not mean "confiscation" and that "possible compensation" was not excluded. The main banks are foreign owned. . ;
In a program adopted February 5 the TANU barred ministers and other high government officials from owning stocks, managing any private enterprises, receiving more than a single salary or renting out lodgings.