Masasi District Council is one of the six districts of the Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Lindi Region, to the east by the Newala District, to the south by the Ruvuma River and Mozambique and to the west by Nanyumbu District.
According to the 2012 Tanzania National Census, the population of Masasi District was 247,993 and in Masasi town the population was 102,696.
THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD MASASI
Historically, in Masasi there were only forests, with lions and other wild animals. But in the 1400’s, groups of bandits known as Wandonde came to the area. So before the advent of the Makua Masasi it was known as Undonde, but in the 1700s to the 1800s in the land of Wandonde new settlers from Mozambique came in known as Wakamkua. The Makua lived there and are the most popular residents in Masasi district at the moment.
In the 1840s after the growth of the slave trade and other trade, in the land of Masasi there was the arrival of foreigners who were Arabs who came there as traders. In the years 1850-1890 Masasi areas visitors from Europe from those missionaries to the colonists themselves entered.
The origin of the name MASASI, as I mentioned earlier, before the Masasi area was called Masasi was known as Undonde and this is due to the first inhabitants being known as Wandonde. But soon after the arrival of the Makua and Wayao, the name of Masasi was born.
Thus the name Masasi has very strong ties to the Makua and not the Wandonde. It is explained that the word Masasi comes from the old word “Machasi” meaning “sorghum husks”. For the years when the Makua reached there on Mount Masasi there was a lot of sorghum cultivation which was very prosperous.
From this word came words like “Umachasini” and others abbreviated and found “Umachasi” and “Machasi”. But with the arrival of various visitors to Masasi Town new pronunciations emerged which led to the birth of the word masasa due to its ease of pronunciation.
Masasi District Council was first established on 1/3/1958 and was terminated in 1972 when Regional Decentralizationof Government was established.
The reintroduction of theLocal Government occurred in the beginning of the 1980s, when the ruralcouncils and rural authorities were reestablished. Local Government Electionstook place in 1983 and the establishment of functioning councils in 1984 underthe Local Government Act (District Authorities) of 1982. In 1993 the one-partypolitical system was abandoned and replaced with a multiparty system ofgovernment, the first multiparty elections taking place in 1995.
Following theliberalization of the political field, was a major public sector reform, whichincluded a Local Government Reform Programme (LGRP). The LGRP covered fourareas: political decentralization, financial decentralization, administrativedecentralization and changed central local relations, with the mainlandgovernment having overriding powers within the framework of the Constitution.This process of local government reform is still ongoing. It aims to promotedemocratic, accountable and autonomous local government authorities, with widediscretionary powers and a strong financial base implemented by 2011. For more details open the link
Masasi District Council is among seven councils comprising Mtwara Region.
The district shares a border with Nachingwea and Ruangwa Districts to the North, Lindi and Newala Districts to the east, Ruvuma River to the south and Nanyumbu district to the West. The council’s headquarters is situated 210 kilometers west of Mtwara Municipality which is the regional headquarters. The Masasi district council is also surrounding a new Masasi town council which started its operations in July 2012.
Wards
The Masasi District is administratively divided into 18 wards below as follows:
Chigugu
Chiungutwa
Lipumburu
Lukuledi
Lulindi
Mbuyuni
Mchaura
Mkululu
Mkundi
Mnavira
Mpindimbi
Mwena
Namajani
Namalenga
Namatutwe
Nanganga
Nanjota
Sindano