Communist Party of China Deepens Ties with Six Ruling Parties in Southern Africa

 The Respondents posted on 20 May 2026 an article titled "CCM, China's CPC Deepen Ties with Southern African Liberation Parties."

Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi hosted a meeting with the head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China and senior leaders from the ruling political parties in Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.  The parties launched the Research Centre for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. 

Tanzania's Election Violence: US and EU Reassess While China and Russia Expand Ties

Chatham House published on 4 December 2025 an analysis titled "Tanzania's Election Violence: Deflecting Blame Will Only Do More Harm" by Fergus Kell. 

Tanzania held elections last October that resulted in extensive violence and hundreds of civilian deaths.  Key opponents to President Samia Suluhu Hassan were prevented from competing.  Polling stations were nearly empty on election day.  The government declared Samia the winner with 98 percent of the vote and a turnout of nearly 33 million in a country where the entire voting age population is 35 million.  Violence quickly broke out.

The United States and European Union have been critical of the election and are reassessing their relationship with Tanzania.  China and Russia have remained uncritical.  China is moving forward with a $1.4 billion project to refurbish the Tanzania-Zambia Railway while Russia continues to pursue its $1.2 billion uranium project.  

Chinese Communist Party Diplomacy in Africa

 Megatrends Afrika published in October 2024 a policy brief titled "Pragmatic, Strategic and Wide-Reaching: The CCP's Party Diplomacy in Africa" by Christine Hackenesch and Julia Bader.  

The policy brief analyses recent patterns and motives of China's party diplomacy in Africa.  It finds that the CCP maintains close ties with the main ruling parties in southern Africa and in some countries in East Africa, while engaging with a broad range of parties in countries in North Africa.  Beijing's party diplomacy in Africa seeks to promote China's core foreign policy interests, advance an alternative narrative on global China, and normalize China's authoritarian system.

Beijing's Political Training School in Tanzania

 Axios filed on 20 August 2023 a story titled "In Tanzania, Beijing Is Running a Training School for Authoritarianism" by Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian.  

Beijing established in Tanzania the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School, a partnership between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the ruling political parties of Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.  

At the school, the CPC teaches how it fuses the ruling political party and the state making a clear departure from Beijing's previous, more subtle attempts to peddle influence on the international stage.  Economics takes a back seat to political training.  The school's program contradicts CPC assertions that Beijing isn't exporting its authoritarian model for governing.

Historical Review of China-Tanzania Relations

 World Politics Review published on 3 March 2023 an analysis titled "Tanzania and China's Upgraded Relations Aren't as Solid as They Seem" by Alex White, University of Cambridge.

During a visit to Beijing in November 2022, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Xi Jinping announced the formation of a "comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership."  The author suggests the declaration marked an important turning point in relations between China and Tanzania but could also open up new challenges that might further expose the limitations of Beijing's historical personalized diplomacy in the country.

Communist Party of China Solidifies Ties with Six African Ruling Parties

IPP Media posted on 17 July 2018 an article titled "African Freedom Parties Team Up in New Leadership College Venture" by Aisia Rweyemamu. China is building and financially supporting a $45 million Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School in Tanzania with the engagement of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The six ruling African political parties involved in the project are Tanzania's CCM, Angola's MPLA, South Africa's ANC, Namibia's SWAPO, Mozambique's FRELIMO, and Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF. The school will offer short, mid, and long-term training in political ideology and leadership skills with the aim of hastening the economic liberation of Africa.

Zimbabwe's The Herald published on 17 July 2018 an article titled "Groundbreaking Ceremony of Julius Nyerere Leadership School Held." The article reported a congratulatory message from Chinese President Xi Jinping that the CPC is taking the opportunity of this leadership school to enhance exchanges with political parties in Africa so as to jointly promote the construction of a closer community with a shared future for China and Africa.

The Daily Maverick posted a commentary by Susan Booysen on 1 August 2018 titled "Hues of the ANC's Chinese Homecoming" on the ANC's connection with the Tanzanian-based leadership school and the longer relationship between the CPC and the ANC. It appears that the joint school in Tanzania will substitute for a national ANC political school in South Africa that has been under discussion with China.

It is interesting that southern African countries such as Zambia where political power has changed from one party to another party or those such as Botswana where democracy is more firmly implanted are not part of this project. This begs the question: should one conclude that the six ruling parties that are part of the project expect to remain in power in perpetuity?