When Moroccan footballer Sofiane Boufal declared after the 2022 FIFA World Cup that his country’s success belonged to “Arabs and Muslims”, many of us dismissed it as a careless remark from a young man carried away by excitement.
But across Tanzania, and within Pan-Africanist circles, his statement was viewed quite differently.
It was seen as a slight against Africa itself, a refusal to acknowledge the very continent to which Morocco geographically belongs.
The backlash on social media was fierce enough to force Boufal to issue an apology, describing his original comment as a mere omission.
Whether it was truly an omission or an insight into how Moroccans are socialised to see their “true” relatives, while Africans are relegated to a lower tier, remains a subject worthy of deeper examination.
My reflections on this question stem from personal experience. What I endured over the past week has sharpened my understanding of Morocco’s attitude towards other Africans.
It has also led me to conclude that any Tanzanian who uncritically cheers for Morocco, whether in football or diplomacy, might need a reality check about how Moroccans actually perceive us.
In Tanzanian football culture, it is common for a Simba fan to support a Moroccan club competing against Yanga, or for a Yanga supporter to back a Moroccan team playing Simba.
This is done in the spirit of rivalry, with no malice attached.
Yet judging from what I have witnessed, Moroccans do not see these gestures in the same light. To them, our internal club loyalties are irrelevant. Their attitude towards Africans, regardless of which Tanzanian team one supports, seems to be imbued with a sense of superiority.
This realisation struck me more forcefully when I received an invitation from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to attend this year’s Africa Investment Forum Market Days in Rabat.
I assumed, rather innocently, that attending an African event hosted in an African country would be a simple process.
Surely, I thought, the hosts would facilitate the participation of invited Africans. But that assumption collapsed the moment I walked into the visa process at the Moroccan Embassy in Dar es Salaam.
I have travelled extensively in my career: across Europe, the Middle East, India, China and many African nations including Nigeria and South Africa.
Never have I encountered a visa procedure as unnecessarily complicated, opaque and frankly humiliating as that imposed by the Moroccan Embassy.
It began on Tuesday, November 18, when I travelled from the Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) offices in Tabata to the embassy in Masaki, an almost Sh50,000 round trip, only to be turned away by a guard because it was a public holiday in Morocco.
He was polite enough to provide email contacts for online applications, though this courtesy did not extend to the officials whose job it was to process visas.
Back at MCL, I sent a letter and key documents immediately. With fewer than five days before my trip, far short of the five to ten days Morocco demands, there was little hope of meeting their timeline.
AfDB attempted to intervene with Moroccan authorities, believing their co-host would expedite matters. That faith, as I later discovered, was misplaced.
The next day, I returned to the embassy, another Sh50,000 spent, only to be denied entry again.
Unlike every other embassy I have ever visited, Morocco’s will not even allow applicants inside to make inquiries. One is made to stand outside like an unwelcome visitor. It is an experience that strips one of dignity.
Only after persistent phone calls did I receive a curt email instructing me to consolidate all my documents into a single PDF. I complied immediately.
Just when I thought progress was being made, another email arrived demanding my last two months’ salary slips and proof of travel insurance, requirements absurdly disproportionate for attending an African continental event.
I reluctantly paid Sh46,000 for insurance and submitted everything.
On Friday, November 21 I postponed a personal trip to Morogoro to await the embassy’s decision.
At around 11am, they phoned to inform me that I had not completed an official visa form and gave me barely ninety minutes to deliver it.
Travelling from Toangoma to Masaki within that timeframe was nearly impossible, but I took the risk, boarding a bodaboda and paying Sh40,000 for the rushed journey.
I arrived at 1:03pm, only to be told the decision-makers had left for Friday prayers, and would not return. My documents, once again, remained unseen.
This is the Morocco that seeks to strengthen ties with Tanzania; the same Morocco lobbying African nations to endorse its claim over Western Sahara, or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
Yet the contempt displayed by its embassy officials towards Africans raises serious questions. Is this the appropriate country to host African continental events?
Is this the partner Tanzania should trust in deeper economic or political cooperation?
And how can a nation that treats fellow Africans with such disdain expect solidarity on matters affecting its own geopolitical ambitions?
Do Moroccans think theirs is the sweetest or most desirable country to a Tanzanian like myself?
Did they expect me to change my name to resemble that of an Arab or a Muslim in order to fit into their narrow definition of Morocco’s ‘true’ relatives?
These are questions that demand honest reflection.
To be continued tomorrow….
Samuel Kamndaya is The Citizen’s News Editor. E-mail: [email protected]
