Roshanali Hassanali Fazal Master

Partners

Children

Roshanali, the second child of Hassanali and Sakinabai was born in Gisenga Street, Zanzibar on 25th May 1926. After the death of his mother, Sakina-bai, Mohamed Rafik, her eldest son, briefly took over the management of the press and the editorship of The Samachar. But due to his ill health, shortly after, he passed on the editorship to his younger brother Roshanali.

Even though Roshanali was the real Editor of The Samachar, he chose the newspaper to circulate under the name of his older brother, Mohamed Rafik Master.

At this point, due mainly to the dedicated efforts of their father, Hassanali, The Samachar was the most widely circulated, most popular, and the most influential Anglo-Vernacular weekly newspaper in East Africa.

During his time as editor, Roshanali endeavored to re-modernise the printing press by replacing the old metal types with a semi-automatic Heidelberg Machine. The Golden Jubilee issue of The Samachar was issued in May 1952 in sacred memory of Mr and Mrs Fazal Master and Mr and Mrs Hassanali Master. Today, it can still be found on display in the Zanzibar National Archive.

Copy of the Golden Jubilee issue of The Samachar – May 1952.
Hasan Mohamed-Rafik Master and his wife Rehana visiting The Samachar Press in the 80’s.
Rubab Roshanali Master visiting The Samachar Press in the 80’s when it was run by the Zanzibar army.

Some of the historical and literary material appearing in the Golden jubilee was taken from The Samachar Silver Jubilee, published in 1929, as well as from The Samachar Special Silver Jubilee issue published in 1936. In August 1954, amongst a party of Central and East African teachers and journalists, Roshanali, as editor of The Samachar, was invited by the British Government on a month long tour of England. This included visits to many places of interest including the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, British Broadcasting Corporation House, car factories, cotton mills and steel works.

The delegates were also taken to hydro-electric stations, farms, schools, welfare centres, and they were even invited to the official launching of a 16,000-ton British tanker.

In his memoirs of Zanzibar, Mr. Abdul Razak Fazal writes that "Once, in December 1959 when I was at my aunt's place, I had the privilege of accompanying the late Roshanali Master, to watch a match between Zanzibar and Kenya at the Khalifa ground. He held a special pass and we were made to sit in the VIP section just behind the British Resident and the Sultan's family members. Zanzibar's Majham and Boti displayed thrilling football but eventually Kenya prevailed. Elijah Lidonde, Kenya’s star footballer, scored twice to beat Zanzibar 2-1."

3On 10th December 1963, Zanzibar gained its independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy under the Sultan. This state of affairs was short-lived, as the Sultan and the democratically elected government were overthrown on 12th January 1964 in the Zanzibar Revolution led by John Okello. Okello, was a Ugandan citizen who invaded Zanzibar with British trained Ugandan soldiers from the mainland.

Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume was named president of the newly created People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba.

An estimate of between 5,000-12,000 Zanzibaris, an ethnic minority of Arabic descent and Indian civilians,weremurdered and thousands more detained or expelled and their property confiscated. The Samachar newspaper continued publishing until August 1967 when it was confiscated by the army.

The Proprietor of The Samachar, Roshanali, was then invited by the revolutionary Council of Zanzibar to run the press, under the watchful eye of the Zanzibar army.

He refused the offer and was taken by the army and imprisoned, thereafter a personal plea was asked for his release from his wife Rubab Master, his younger brother Anverali, and a prominent member of the Shia Ithnasheri jamaat, Mustafa Rajabali who was working in the police department.

After meeting with Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, they successfully secured Roshanali’s release upon which he immediately fled to safety on mainland Dar es Salaam. Regrettably The Samachar ceased publication after his departure.

The press remained in the hands of the army and some small printing work continued until the machines were decommissioned.

The Indian community, which had hitherto dominated the most important business branches, left the island, and, as a consequence, the Asian papers disappeared. Thus, the Revolutionary Government’s monopoly on the Zanzibar press began.

This led, ultimately, to the demise of all the political press. The colonial Information Office was replaced with the Zanzibar Information and Broadcasting Services (ZIBS) shortly after the revolution. Following the guidelines of the Arusha Declaration, the government started to nationalise the most important economic sectors in 1968.

On 26th April 1964, the mainland colony of Tanganyika united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar; this lengthy name was condensed to The United Republic of Tanzania, on 29th October 1964. After unification, local affairs were controlled Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, while foreign y President affairs were handled by the United Republic in Dar es Salaam. Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.

After fleeing from Zanzibar in 1967, Roshanali started working for a Norwegian printing supply company, Thoresen & Co. Ltd in India Street, Dar es Salaam. A few years later, he opened his own stationery and book shop called Husaini Stationers. In late 1975, he suffered a major heart attack.

Sadly, he passed away on 16th December 1976 in London at St Thomas’ Hospital at the age of 50, after an unsuccessful heart bypass operation. He was buried in Dar es Salaam, leaving behind his wife Rubab, two daughters, Fatima and Fehmida and three sons, Mussadiq, Arif and Murtaza.