News / National
'Change Zimbabwe's provinces' names'
31 Mar 2018 at 06:11hrs | Views
Bulawayo Metropolitan Senator Dorothy Khumalo has urged government to rename the country's 10 provinces, arguing the current names create divisions among people.
Khumalo - an MDC official - told the Senate in a motion she presented recently that renaming the provinces would help "reunite the nation".
"...why do we have Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Manicaland and so forth? This...creates tension. There is no Mashonaland. In Mashonaland, you have some Ndebeles in some of the areas, they were moved there. With that, there is no school for them to continue with their language," she said.
"There are Ndebeles in Buhera and there is no school for them to continue with their culture and tradition. Why is it in Manama and Msase there used to be Matabeleland South?
"It was changed and chingezi used to be singezi. Those Ndebeles there were forced to say chingezi and to learn chingezi," Khumalo argued.
"How do you call a province Manicaland where there are Ndau speakers, Karanga, the Shanganis are all there. Masvingo there are Karangas, Ndebeles and so forth. All these I think should have better names."
"Can you coin names for them so that you do not hurt me a muNdebele because I come from Matabeleland, because you have all been put together as standard Shona to hate and fight the Ndebele. Let us be one.
"Diversity is good for us with different languages," Khumalo said.
She further said: "Anyway, we are one and we will never be separated– the Tongas, Kalangas, the Tswana, the Sotho, the Ndebeles, the Nambyas, the Manyikas and the Ndaus, name them.
"We were put together by God. That is a design by God himself who decided that we live like that together and we have to live and accept one another, let us help to build that."
National Council of Chiefs (NCC) president Fortune Charumbira weighed in saying "people were created equal by God".
"We are one and we will never be separated - the Tongas, Kalangas, the Tswana, the Sotho, the Ndebeles, the Nambyas, the Manyikas and the Ndaus, name them.
"We were put together by God. That is a design by God Himself who decided that we live like that together and we have to live and accept one another, let us help to build that," he said.
"As Parliament, my own frustration is that we are debating culture and development.
"Who is going to take these things on board? I think I will give that to Parliament.
"We are just talking here. When you close this motion, what action by whom, I just wonder."
Khumalo - an MDC official - told the Senate in a motion she presented recently that renaming the provinces would help "reunite the nation".
"...why do we have Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Manicaland and so forth? This...creates tension. There is no Mashonaland. In Mashonaland, you have some Ndebeles in some of the areas, they were moved there. With that, there is no school for them to continue with their language," she said.
"There are Ndebeles in Buhera and there is no school for them to continue with their culture and tradition. Why is it in Manama and Msase there used to be Matabeleland South?
"It was changed and chingezi used to be singezi. Those Ndebeles there were forced to say chingezi and to learn chingezi," Khumalo argued.
"How do you call a province Manicaland where there are Ndau speakers, Karanga, the Shanganis are all there. Masvingo there are Karangas, Ndebeles and so forth. All these I think should have better names."
"Can you coin names for them so that you do not hurt me a muNdebele because I come from Matabeleland, because you have all been put together as standard Shona to hate and fight the Ndebele. Let us be one.
"Diversity is good for us with different languages," Khumalo said.
"We were put together by God. That is a design by God himself who decided that we live like that together and we have to live and accept one another, let us help to build that."
National Council of Chiefs (NCC) president Fortune Charumbira weighed in saying "people were created equal by God".
"We are one and we will never be separated - the Tongas, Kalangas, the Tswana, the Sotho, the Ndebeles, the Nambyas, the Manyikas and the Ndaus, name them.
"We were put together by God. That is a design by God Himself who decided that we live like that together and we have to live and accept one another, let us help to build that," he said.
"As Parliament, my own frustration is that we are debating culture and development.
"Who is going to take these things on board? I think I will give that to Parliament.
"We are just talking here. When you close this motion, what action by whom, I just wonder."
Source - dailynews
