Fatma Karume

Fatma Karume was born on 2 February 1929 at Bumbwini Misufini in North Unguja, Zanzibar, to Gulamhussein Ismail and Mwanasha Mbwana Ramadhani. She received her primary education at Bumbwini School and married a year after finishing her studies. She was raised in a household shaped by Islamic faith and Zanzibari culture, which later observers linked to the measured public presence she kept for decades.

While still young she joined a women's group active in Zanzibar's independence politics, serving as clerk and campaigning for women's suffrage. Colonial rules required voters to be literate and to hold at least three shillings; she later described how women organised sewing and cooking enterprises, using materials including cloth from China, so that many could meet those thresholds and register. She recalled speaking to a Lancaster House delegation about women's demands and taking part in the Revolution of 12 January 1964.

After the Revolution her husband, Afro-Shirazi Party leader Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, became Zanzibar's first president and she became its first First Lady. She supported the new government and the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. After his assassination on 7 April 1972 she continued as a living witness to those years, giving interviews that preserved women's roles in the struggle. She was also associated with Young Africans S.C. as a trustee and was credited with helping the club acquire land for its headquarters at Jangwani in Dar es Salaam.

She married Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, who led Zanzibar after 1964 until his assassination in 1972. Their children included Amani Abeid Karume, later the sixth president of Zanzibar, and Ali Abeid Karume, who served as a diplomat and ambassador. After her husband's death the family faced a hard period; she later recalled receiving comfort from Julius Nyerere. In old age she lived at Mbweni and Maisara and received visits from national leaders while in hospital and at home.

Mama Fatma died at her home in Mbweni on the night of 21 September 2026, aged 97, after health problems linked to advanced age. Zanzibar's Second Vice President, Hemed Suleiman Abdulla, announced the death. Funeral prayers were held at Zinabar Mosque and burial took place on 22 September at the Karume family cemetery in Mbweni. President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi paid public tribute, and Young Africans president Hersi Said spoke of her as a wise trustee of the club.

She was widely called the Mother of Zanzibar and remembered as a participant in the independence struggle, the Isles' first First Lady, a witness to the Union, and an elder whose counsel was sought by later generations of leaders. Tributes after her death stressed women's organising for the vote, her steadiness after 1972, and her support for Young Africans. Her life spanned Zanzibar's passage from colonial rule through revolution and union into the present United Republic.