Opinion / Columnist
The deliberate mutilation of the Ndebele language unacceptable
17 Dec 2014 at 07:43hrs | Views
In a country like Zimbabwe which has been ruled on tribal lines since independence, all fair-minded and forward thinking organisations and individuals should be very sensitive when it comes to language use of different ethnic groups in Zimbabwe.
All groups should feel that their language is being respected and not deliberately mutilated. In Zimbabwe there is a developing trend in private and public organisations to use incorrect Ndebele words or sentences.
Ms Nokuthula Ncube the ZAPU Europe Secretary for Arts and Culture expressed her disgust over the Chicken Slice advert "Concerns over the atrocious spelling of Ndebele words and the general grammatical mistakes that is contained in various communications coming from supposedly Zimbabwean organisations have been noted".
"Cultural imperialism is a violation of human rights. The racist regime of Rhodesia was very notorious for mutilating African languages to the extent that wholesale changes and renaming of towns, cities and streets had to be done. It was a form of subjugation of one race by another and the war of liberation was meant to correct this. It is therefore unfortunate that in an independent Zimbabwe one group of people still carry on with such arrogance and disregard of other people's cultures and languages" fumed Ms Ncube.
The Zimbabwean government has been the leading culprit in mutilating the Ndebele language, for example the national asset such as the Passport; it contains no fewer than five mistakes.
This disregard of other people's languages should come to an end, but above all, one wonders whether these public and private organisations do not employ Ndebele speaking people. Could this be the evidence of marginalisation which many Ndebele people have been talking about and being dismissed as tribalists?
"ZAPU as a people's Party will champion the rights of all ethnic groups in Zimbabwe, including the much aligned Ndebele tribe and ZAPU invites all freedom loving Zimbabweans regardless of tribe to stand up a defend the Ndebele language" said Ms Ncube
"Today it may be the Ndebele language being destroyed, but tomorrow it may be Shona, Tonga, Khalanga etc, therefore let us stand up and reject destruction of other people's languages in Zimbabwe" continued Ms Ncube.
The Chicken Slice advert was as follows ‘umkwenyana uqobo uyabuya lechicken slice', for starters this sentence does not make sense at all. Nobody can tell what this sentence intended to convey. There nothing called umkwenyana in isiNdebele language, one may just guess that maybe they were trying to say umkhwenyana, but then if this was the intention the whole sentence defeats the intended purpose, except if the true intention was to insult people.
The government of ZANU PF is well known for its Grand Plan of assimilation, which should never be allowed. The situation calls for redress otherwise the Ndebele language and culture is doomed to extinction.
Many organisations suffer in silence in fear of being labelled tribalists by ZANU PF. ZAPU will not keep quiet anymore, in the past the tribalism tag worked against ZAPU, but not anymore. ZAPU will stand for the rights of all citizens regardless of tribe. There are more than four million Ndebeles in Zimbabwe, for any organisation to publish anything in poorly or incorrectly written Ndebele language is unacceptable.
Source - Thulani Nkala
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