Why in the World Speak Shona in Bukalanga (i.e. Matebeleland)?
Yes, you heard me.
Why in the world should we be required to speak Shona in our government
offices, police stations, streets, etc? I am sick and tired of people who happily
speak Shona when a Shona person walks into the house, only to complain behind
their back that Shonas are destroying our nation. Did they force you to speak
Shona? Yes, I know they are in virtually every government office, every border
and every roadblock, but did they man-handle you and force you to switch code
and speak Shona?
Make no mistake, I
love Shona people, but I totally reject the idea that being Zimbabgwean is
equivalent to being Shona. Why in the world should I prove my Zimbabgweanship
by speaking Shona? Look, I have been in offices and places in Harare where
people have asked me what country I come from since I only speak English and a
language that sounds exotic to them, TjiKalanga, despite Shona elites and
scholars claiming TjiKalanga is a Shona dialect (I still do not know why Shonas
don’t understand this “Shona dialect”). When I state that I am Zimbabgwean,
they look at me askance and go like what kind of Zimbabgwean can’t speak Shona.
What? Who said all Zimbabgweans should
speak Shona? I am proudly Kalanga and fully Zimbabgwean, and I don’t need to
prove my citizenship by speaking Shona. There is no correlation between the
two.
But now let me
come back home here is Bukalanga, the so-called Matebeleland. This is our
ancestral land since time immemorial. This land has never at any point in
history been Shona land (see my book, The
Rebirth of Bukalaga. The first three
chapters are provided here in this blog for free). The Shona have no historical
nor ancestral claim to this land whatsoever. So why is it that when they come
to work and settle amongst us we assume that somehow they are better owners of
Zimbabgwe than us? Why do we take the psychological posture that says we have
to switch our language and defer to them? Why exactly should we switch code and
speak Shona when we meet them in our land? Do they do the same in Mashonaland?
Do they ever switch code for you and speak isiNdebele, TjiKalanga, Sesotho,
Tshivenda, TjiNambya? So why switch code yourself when Shonas can never switch
code for you? Who said that Shonas cannot learn, understand and speak our
languages?
People of
Matebeleland, you disappoint me. You can’t just keep deferring your languages
to the Shona and later claim lafa elihle or hango yapalala when you are complicit
in the same. The other day I challenged two taxi drivers why they are switching
code when a Shona speaks to them but would not switch code to me when I speak
Kalanga. And one of them goes like well, Shonas are in every place, so for
things to work well for you, you have to speak Shona. What? Is that not giving
our land and the job, economic and political opportunities to the Shona in a
silver platter? Is that not in other words saying that the Shona are superior
to us? In what way really?
Come on people of
Bukalanga, people of Matebeleland. You are smatter than this. You can do
better. I dare you. Take pride in who you are. Hold your fort. Stick to your
language. Let the Shona know that we love them too much to allow tribal
domination which may lead to ethnic conflict. Yes, I mean you who are reading,
not somebody else. It begins with you
as the HIV/AIDS advert goes. If you are Kalanga stick to Kalanga. If you are
Venda stick to Venda. If you are Nambya stick to Nambya. Are you Sotho, then
stick to Sotho. Yes, even when you meet a Ndebele-speaking person. Who said the
Ndebele should or cannot learn our languages? Who said isiNdebele is a regional
language? Its not, its just one tribal language amongst many! So hold your
fort. If they tell you andinzwi or angizwa, also tell them you speak
TjiKalanga, Sesotho, Tshivenda, TjiNambya, not their language.
Yes. If they don’t
understand why do they assume that you understand their language? I dare you
ladies and gentlemen. Now is the time for justice, freedom, equality and
fairness. I say to us all let us stick to our languages and as they do in
multi-lingual India (with over 200 languages), let us use English as a link language. This is not far-fetched
an idea after all. We are looking forward to the signing of the Copac
Constitution into law very soon (assuming it gets through). It declares sixteen
of our languages official. The era of Ndebele and Shona being so-called
official languages will be over. No one will tell me their language is
official. So will be mine. So the burden lies with us all to learn each other’s
languages. And that includes the Ndebele and the Shona. The time of andinzwi and angizwa is over. Now is the time!
I really hate it
when I see somebody switch code and speak Shona as if Shona people are any superior.
They are the settlers in our land, and the burden lies with them to learn our
languages. Look guys, nobody can arrest you for refusing or failing to speak
Shona. There is no such law in this country. Let us take our freedom into our
hands. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr said no man can ride your back unless it is
bent and you allow them to. Let us not allow our beloved fellow nationals from
the north and east of the country, the Shona, to ride our backs. No no no! For
his reason I refuse to speak Shona, not because I don’t understand it, but
because I cannot allow another man to ride my back.
Yes, we will be
called tribalists. But come to think of it. Who is a tribalist I who can speaks
and understands about ten languages,
and a Shona who only speaks Shona and English? I mean, let’s face it, the
tribalist is the guy who thinks they are superior and whoever wants to relate
with them has to change and adopt their language. Such are the real tribalists!
LET US TEACH THEM A GOOD LESSON AND HOLD OUR FORT, STICK TO OUR LANGUAGES, AND
MEANWHILE MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THEIRS. Come one guys, this works.
South Africa is a prime example of how it works. Sothos converse with Zulus,
Tsongas with Xhosa, especially in the cosmopolitan areas. Let then no Shona tell
me they can’t understand or speak Kalanga or Venda or Ndebele.
In fact, its sheer
arrogance that says they somehow own Zimbabgwe better than everyone else. For
why is it that when they go to Botswana they switch code and master Ikalanga or
Setswana? Why do they switch code and stammer through South African languages
once in South Africa? That means they can also learn our languages. Not only
can they, they MUST and they WILL. Let us show them the way. Stick to your
language brother, stick to your language sister. Let us save our land, let us
save our languages. It lies within our power. Let us stop the shonalization of the land of our
forefathers. Not because we hate our Shona brothers and sisters, but because we
love them too much to let them go on with a system that sows the seeds of
conflict as the experience of many countries the world over has shown us.
Ok, let me close
with reference to us Bakalanga. Bakalanga with us the challenge is not only to
stop shonalization but to also stop ndebelecization. Our language is dying
first in the hands of isiNdebele and secondly in the hands of Shona. Look, we
love our fellow Ndebele brothers and sisters. But we know too that any kind of
tribal domination, be it Ndebele or Shona, is bad and bound to lead to conflict.
The Ndebele too have a burden to learn our languages. Let us teach them too by
refusing to switch code. In fact, if anything they too have some bit of
arrogance. Some where born amongst us and have lived with us for the rest of
their lives, but claim they cannot speak TjiKalanga or Tshivenda or TjiNambya,
yet when a Shona walks in, they are quick to switch code to Shona, and yet they
have never lived in Mashonaland! Are they suggesting to us that Zimbabgwe is
some kind of hierarchy with the Shona at the top, the Ndebele in the middle and
us in the bottom? Perish the idea!
Ladies and
gentlemen, now is the time for equality. I don’t have to look like you or speak
your language for us to be united. Unity and uniformity are two different
things. There is absolutely no need for us all to be Ndebele for us to be
united. We can certainly be united as Bakalanga, Vhavenda, Banambya, Babirwa
and amaNdebele. That is my challenge to us all this week. Let us hold our fort.
Let us stick to our guns. Let us refuse to switch code. But let us try as much
as possible to learn each other’s languages. Thank you very much all. God bless.
Ndili Ndzimu-unami
Emmanuel Moyo waMakulukusa
U no penga, u no nyepa, u sa ti tuke
ReplyDeletewell. there is some legitimacy in your claims but also a lot of erroneous assumptions. everything u say of shona, is equally true of english and i don't see you saying anything about it! infact, u r are using it as a media of communication..... why didnt you have your blog in Tjikalanga or sindebele? that could be a good start and definitely less hypocritical. or the least u could have done is to have nambya or tjikalanga versions of your blog. i do strongly feel that no language should be held superior and indeed each of us should be able to understand the other but you, perhaps, directing your venom to the wrong person. as matter of policy, every child beginnig school should he exposed in one way or another to some of the subjects and i do not c such a policy orientation in any political party. in many countries, people speak to each other in different languages and understand each other.... why you display such frustrations and advocate for something you yourself are not doing in you blog i.e. 'Venecularisation' boggles my mind. is this still in the offing? or is this another attempt to get sportlight? or perhaps, you genuinely do not the fruits of ommunicating in tjikalanga in you blog to drive your poing and achieve your goal. if t is the latter, which is perhaps the case, then case closed. you now understand why the taxi driver has to switch to shona when he wants his fares paid or the beggar begs in shona in matebeleland etc. these are very complex issues at hand - survival for an individual sometimes becomes a more attractive option than survival of a language. food for thought!
ReplyDeleteI hear you. But do you accept that no-one has ever in recent times complained of marginalization or oppression of the English language? That's has hardly ever been raised, and in any case, British colonialism was defeated, but almost the world over people have accepted English not only as an international business language but as a 'link language' in multilingual countries. And no one feels compelled to speak English, instead many do so out of their own volition. For that reason English is no longer considered an oppressive language. But also, the general feeling amongst many Africans (at least in Southern Africa) is that English is as language foreign to us all, and as a result, is not considered oppressive.
ReplyDeleteYou can not publish anything here, I have failed. They give you indecipherable words to enter! Is it to protect Ndzimu for having been bought to split the Ndebele nationalistic outlook? Robot - my foot!
ReplyDelete