The metamorphoses of Tanzania's political elite in the multiparty system era

In 2025, the United Republic of Tanzania will have another presidential election - exactly 30 years after the return of multiparty system to the political reality of this East African country. What have these three decades been like for Tanzania, its ruling CCM party, in the absence of their Founding Father Julius Kambarage Nyerere? Will his followers be able to continue the winning streak in the presidential elections? The successors of Mwalimu (Teacher in Swahili), as the Tanzanians call him, some openly, some with caution, set a course to reform the party-state structure of society created by him. The article examines the formation and genesis of the trend of change that emerged more than 30 years ago, the role of multiparty system in this process; the peculiarities of the behavior of party and political elites under different presidents of the «post-Nyerere» time - from Ben Mkapa to Mama Samia. Describing the features of the rule of Nyerere's heirs on the basis of system-historical and theoretical-analytical approaches, the author comes to the conclusion that Tanzania managed to remain almost the only African country th at in the new millennium avoided political turbulence with its inherent military coups and civil wars, preserved exclusively the constitutional mechanism of transfer of power and adherence to the main covenant of Mwalimu - the unity of the nation.