From 1967 to 1986, Tanzanians passed through a very testing period full of challenging situations against ujamaa and self-reliance-the model of social and economic development Tanzanians choose. In Fear of the Unknown-a story and a prose narrative, Prince Kagwema presents the “truth” about socialism and capitalism in an artistic way. In Fear of the Unknown, the dialogue on socialism and capitalism is presented by the diehard capitalist and an unflinching, steadfast socialist. This paper examines the role of prophecy in Kagwema’s Fear of the Unknown. The paper argues that in Fear of the Unknown prophecy is used as a driving factor of a story, a sort of motivation to the writer and an outline of where events should go. Moreover, this paper argues that through literary skills the author has managed to predict and foretell the future of Tanzania. This paper uses the sociological approach to literary criticism. Under sociological approach, the assumption is that since literature is produced in a social context then literary writers affirm or criticise the values of the society in which they live. As such, in Fear of the Unknown, Prince Kagwema, the writer addresses the social economic and the political contexts in which this literary text was produced.