<div dir="ltr"><div style id="stcpDiv"><h1>'Be proud of being Ndebele if you're a Ndebele'</h1>
<div class="">by Staff reporter</div>
<div class="">27 October 2014 | 3034 Views</div><div id="Related" style="float:right;clear:right;margin-right:0px;margin-left:10px">
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</div><div id="story_body">The Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture is
in the process of drafting a national language policy amidst outcries
from civil society, marginalised communities and the general public over
the lack of use and promotion of various indigenous languages.<br><br>Speaking
during the official launch of the 8th edition of the Shangano Arts
Festival in Lupane , Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Andrew Langa
noted that it was important for people to celebrate their different
cultures and languages.<br><br>"There is no tribe that is special over
another and no-one should undermine anyone's language. If you undermine
yourself you have a problem. Be proud of being Ndebele if you're a
Ndebele, be proud of being a Khalanga if you're a Khalanga or a Tonga if
you are Tonga,<br><br>"If three English people get in here, all of you
will start speaking in English. If there are five Khalangas and two
Ndebeles all of them will start speaking in Ndebele. If there are nine
Ndebele people in a Kombi (commuter omnibus) and three Shonas get in
all of them will start speaking in Shona .<br><br>"That is why the constitution recognises 16 languages," he said.<br><br>In
an Interview with Radio Dialogue after the launch, the Principal
Director in the department of Sport, Arts and Culture, Paul Damasane
said that work on the language policy was in progress.<br><br>"This is a
political, social and technical issue and is infact as a result of
colonisation. It is a complex issue that needs to be looked at from a
cultural perspective, language perspective and an identity perspective,"
said Damasane<br><br>"In the constitution 16 languages have been
officially recognised and it pushes for a language policy that
determines which ones of those languages is the language of record. So
it means the next step would be to determine what would be the language
of record."<br><br>Rev Damasane further noted coming up with the
language policy would be determined by a number of factors including the
needs of the people, their activities and the economy.<br><br>"The
language policy understanding in Zimbabwe is that it has to follow
sequentially from the review of the national cultural policy. The
national cultural policy is at an advanced stage and we are now editing
the latest review document. <br><br>The issue is you don't just jump
into language you have to look at culture first because culture will
determine what language you will use," he said.<br><br>Reflecting on the
statements made by Adrew Langa on the lack of use of cultural
languages, the Reverend however noted that personal behaviors who be
harder to control.<br><br>"l don't think that a language policy will
have a control on individual behaviors of people or over such kind of
issues," he noted.</div> - See more at: <a href="http://www.bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-56395.html#sthash.XNShtpiv.dpuf">http://www.bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-56395.html#sthash.XNShtpiv.dpuf</a></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************
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