Opinion / Columnist
Binga declaration an outside force
09 Sep 2014 at 07:49hrs | Views
I see some people celebrating the move by the Binga RDC declaration to have Tonga as the only language learnt at Primary Schools in the entire Binga District.
While I appreciate it as a very bold move and one that shows the true character of the frustrations of the people not only of Binga but of Matabeleland Region, on the other hand I see it as efforts of external forces trying to give a dent to our fight for the equal recognition of our languages in Matabeleland as enshrined in the constitution.
Our fight has been very clear as Matabeleland as the true rainbow region of the country. Our fight has been and shall always be to eliminate the domination of any one language over another or others.
We have been specific that as a region which has at least 12 of the 16 official languages we are demanding for an EQUAL recognition and development of these languages nothing more nothing less. In that endeavour for us to remain true to our cause, we agree that we can not fight Shona dominance and promote Ndebele dominance as a matter of fact and principle. Consequently, as we fight Shona and Ndebele dominance there is absolutely no way that we can now be seen to be promoting Sotho, Venda, Kalanga or Tonga dominance for that matter. Once we do that we expose ourselves as being double standard and lose our cause.
According to the council chairman's press statement, one of the major reasons for making the blanket declaration is that Binga and Tonga culture have been marginalised for a long time and now it appears it has to be pay back time. Its so unfortunate that we are in a country that has so many unresolved grudges and with a leadership that cares less about healing and resolving all those past imbalances and bring truce amongst the citizens. That as it may be we can not be found to be trying or wanting to turn around and use our constitution to fight our unsettled scores.
Our fight should be to see to it that government and all its tiers which include councils Binga RDC included, implement our constitution exactly as we desired it to be. At the same time we the citizens must also uphold the constitution as it is, after all it is us who voted for it whether knowing or not knowing what we were voting for.
If we go through the founding values and principles of the country laid out in the constitution, one of them is that Zimbabwe is founded on the respect of "the nation's diverse cultural, religious and traditional values." That being the case it automatically means that we can not have sections of the country declaring themselves no go areas of this and that language or culture. Section 6 which the council is quoting on the languages is also very specific that all the state institutions must ensure that all the 16 official languages are treated equitably and that the language preferences of people in an area are taken into cognisance.
What am I saying then? The Binga declaration can not be defended constitutionally. It will be wrong to declare that Tonga will be the only language learnt at Binga Schools and anyone wanting Ndebele or Nambya must leave the area and go else where. This defeats our whole fight and exposes us to ridicule by those who have always marginalised us. The council should have instead demanded that children preferring to learn Tonga must be accorded an equal opportunity to learn Tonga and not be compelled to learn Ndebele or any other language for that matter. The same would go for Ndebele or Nambya learners.
It is a fact that Tonga is not the ONLY language available in Binga. There is Ndebele people to the South bordering Lupane, Nambya to the West bordering Hwange, Shona to the North bordering Kariba. So declaring Tonga as THE language of Binga District is unconstitutional and can not hold water.
Already I see social media flooding with excited people from other Districts also making their own declarations. I read one that says Gwanda District where I come from should also declare Sotho as the ONLY language of Gwanda. It doesn't work. I come from Nqameni area of Gwanda and we do not speak Sotho so are people from Mzimuni area and Mtshabezi area they speak Ndebele, far Gwanda South they speak Venda how do we come up with a declaration like that? It doesn't apply.
It is my belief that as people of Matabeleland we should be very careful of elements that seek to divide and manipulate us. I smell an extremely dirty agenda in the Binga declaration from forces outside Binga not the people of Binga themselves. We as the people of Matabeleland have never minced our words nor got confused on the way, what we want is equal recognition of ALL our languages. No Shona, No Ndebele, No Kalanga dominance but equal recognition and protection of our cultures. So these rogue elements that nicodemus at night and push clandestine agendas should not be given a chance to dilute us.
Government must train Tonga, Sotho, Venda, Kalanga teachers and professionals and deploy these to teach and work amongst those of us who PREFER to be officially addressed in those languages as a constitutional right.
To sum it up, when the issue of the national languages was discussed at the constitution making process, at a meeting in Manama Gwanda, we made a call to establish a National Languages Board. In fact I personally made that call directed at Mrs Senator Mohadi who was leading the discussions there. I tried to make my point clear to her that now that we have accepted 16 languages as the officially recognised languages there will be a need for a regulatory body to ensure the smooth implementation of the national languages policy. My point was that if the policy is not regulated it will be exposed to vultures who will deliberately go around at night and dilute the whole idea and cause disharmony in the people particularly the people of Matabeleland just to divide them and fail the multi official languages idea.
I made as a point of reference the Pan South African Languages Board in South Africa which is tasked to make sure that there is a smooth, fair and equitable recognition and development of all the national languages in South Africa. I still go back to that point, in the wake of the Binga declaration, we need the National Languages Board to be set up to administer our languages and control these vultures rushing to Binga by night and misleading the people of Binga to make such divisive and impractical declarations.
Zimbabwe more so Matabeleland must never be a divide and rule "colony" again.
Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo is an independent political and social commentator. The views expressed here are his personal views and he can be contacted at bekezelamaduma@yahoo.co.uk
While I appreciate it as a very bold move and one that shows the true character of the frustrations of the people not only of Binga but of Matabeleland Region, on the other hand I see it as efforts of external forces trying to give a dent to our fight for the equal recognition of our languages in Matabeleland as enshrined in the constitution.
Our fight has been very clear as Matabeleland as the true rainbow region of the country. Our fight has been and shall always be to eliminate the domination of any one language over another or others.
We have been specific that as a region which has at least 12 of the 16 official languages we are demanding for an EQUAL recognition and development of these languages nothing more nothing less. In that endeavour for us to remain true to our cause, we agree that we can not fight Shona dominance and promote Ndebele dominance as a matter of fact and principle. Consequently, as we fight Shona and Ndebele dominance there is absolutely no way that we can now be seen to be promoting Sotho, Venda, Kalanga or Tonga dominance for that matter. Once we do that we expose ourselves as being double standard and lose our cause.
According to the council chairman's press statement, one of the major reasons for making the blanket declaration is that Binga and Tonga culture have been marginalised for a long time and now it appears it has to be pay back time. Its so unfortunate that we are in a country that has so many unresolved grudges and with a leadership that cares less about healing and resolving all those past imbalances and bring truce amongst the citizens. That as it may be we can not be found to be trying or wanting to turn around and use our constitution to fight our unsettled scores.
Our fight should be to see to it that government and all its tiers which include councils Binga RDC included, implement our constitution exactly as we desired it to be. At the same time we the citizens must also uphold the constitution as it is, after all it is us who voted for it whether knowing or not knowing what we were voting for.
If we go through the founding values and principles of the country laid out in the constitution, one of them is that Zimbabwe is founded on the respect of "the nation's diverse cultural, religious and traditional values." That being the case it automatically means that we can not have sections of the country declaring themselves no go areas of this and that language or culture. Section 6 which the council is quoting on the languages is also very specific that all the state institutions must ensure that all the 16 official languages are treated equitably and that the language preferences of people in an area are taken into cognisance.
What am I saying then? The Binga declaration can not be defended constitutionally. It will be wrong to declare that Tonga will be the only language learnt at Binga Schools and anyone wanting Ndebele or Nambya must leave the area and go else where. This defeats our whole fight and exposes us to ridicule by those who have always marginalised us. The council should have instead demanded that children preferring to learn Tonga must be accorded an equal opportunity to learn Tonga and not be compelled to learn Ndebele or any other language for that matter. The same would go for Ndebele or Nambya learners.
Already I see social media flooding with excited people from other Districts also making their own declarations. I read one that says Gwanda District where I come from should also declare Sotho as the ONLY language of Gwanda. It doesn't work. I come from Nqameni area of Gwanda and we do not speak Sotho so are people from Mzimuni area and Mtshabezi area they speak Ndebele, far Gwanda South they speak Venda how do we come up with a declaration like that? It doesn't apply.
It is my belief that as people of Matabeleland we should be very careful of elements that seek to divide and manipulate us. I smell an extremely dirty agenda in the Binga declaration from forces outside Binga not the people of Binga themselves. We as the people of Matabeleland have never minced our words nor got confused on the way, what we want is equal recognition of ALL our languages. No Shona, No Ndebele, No Kalanga dominance but equal recognition and protection of our cultures. So these rogue elements that nicodemus at night and push clandestine agendas should not be given a chance to dilute us.
Government must train Tonga, Sotho, Venda, Kalanga teachers and professionals and deploy these to teach and work amongst those of us who PREFER to be officially addressed in those languages as a constitutional right.
To sum it up, when the issue of the national languages was discussed at the constitution making process, at a meeting in Manama Gwanda, we made a call to establish a National Languages Board. In fact I personally made that call directed at Mrs Senator Mohadi who was leading the discussions there. I tried to make my point clear to her that now that we have accepted 16 languages as the officially recognised languages there will be a need for a regulatory body to ensure the smooth implementation of the national languages policy. My point was that if the policy is not regulated it will be exposed to vultures who will deliberately go around at night and dilute the whole idea and cause disharmony in the people particularly the people of Matabeleland just to divide them and fail the multi official languages idea.
I made as a point of reference the Pan South African Languages Board in South Africa which is tasked to make sure that there is a smooth, fair and equitable recognition and development of all the national languages in South Africa. I still go back to that point, in the wake of the Binga declaration, we need the National Languages Board to be set up to administer our languages and control these vultures rushing to Binga by night and misleading the people of Binga to make such divisive and impractical declarations.
Zimbabwe more so Matabeleland must never be a divide and rule "colony" again.
Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo is an independent political and social commentator. The views expressed here are his personal views and he can be contacted at bekezelamaduma@yahoo.co.uk
Source - Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo
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