Minority languages promotion lauded

Walter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
A VISITING professor from South Africa has hailed government for coming up with a law that promotes all minority languages and offered to assist in the publication of books. Addressing delegates during a Great Limpopo Transfrontier Cultural Festival in Chiredzi on Thursday, Professor Cornelius Marivate commended Zimbabwe for considering the importance of minority languages in the new constitution.

The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Cultural Fair is a platform that unites Tshangana and Venda communities from either sides of the Limpopo River.
The communities come from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

The new constitution has observed 16 languages as official languages of Zimbabwe: IsiNdebele, Shona, Tshangana, Ndau, Venda, Tonga, English, Sign Language, Sotho, among others.

“The Zimbabwean government should be commended for realising that all languages are equal and deserve the same consideration. We need to praise you for having a considerate government like this one which values all languages. The new constitution now values 16 languages as official, including Xitsonga (Tshangana),’’ said Prof Marivate.

“This initiative has been long overdue and it is a positive step in the right direction.’’
The former Venda University professor said indigenous languages retain someone’s dignity and identity and should be developed.

He said language remains the storehouse of culture and when one does not know his or her culture, that person would be suffering from an identity crisis.
‘’We are who we are because of our languages, culture and values. I offer myself to help in packaging information on minority but indigenous languages in Zimbabwe through producing set books. We should know our languages as Africans not to be masters of the western world’s languages’ at the expense of our native languages,’’ Prof Marivate said.

He took a swipe at colonialists who disrespected black people’s languages as they did not consider Africans as equal beings.
“Black people’s languages and culture were not regarded as relevant by white supremacists, we were not seen as fully fledged human beings. What was important to the master was a means to clear communication.

“Promotion of indigenous languages promotes development hence the need to preserve them. Minority languages need correct packaging from the lowest school grade,’’ said Prof Marivate.