[lg policy] South Africa: eThekwini mayor: All councillors must speak Zulu

[Harold Schiffman]

eThekwini mayor: All councillors must speak Zulu
Politics / 21 September 2016, 11:16am
Sihle Manda

Durban - English-speaking eThekwini councillors might soon have to take
Zulu lessons if they are to stay abreast of city developments.

That is if the wishes of new eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede are anything to
go by.
eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede has told councillors that Zulu-speaking
councillors should be able to express their views in meetings without being
stopped for interpretations. Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo. Credit: INDEPENDENT
MEDIA

Gumede, chairing her first executive committee meeting on Tuesday after her
election last month, told councillors that Zulu-speaking councillors should
be able to express their views in meetings without being stopped for
interpretations. Their English-speaking counterparts would have to get a
crash course in Zulu if they were not to be left behind.

Tuesday’s meeting was for the election of chairs of committees.

Addressing Speaker Lekgoa Mapena, Gumede said: “As this council we have
approved our language policy... May we be assisted to make sure our mother
tongue is encouraged. Even me as the mayor, sometimes I really love to use
it.”

This was because not everyone knew how to speak English, including “our
president” Jacob Zuma, she said.

“I feel really good when I use it (Zulu). Even in this exco... it must
happen officially across the board, in all committees. For us, I don’t
think it must get to a point where councillors request interpretations in
committees, it must be a norm (that councillors speak Zulu),” she said.

“If I feel like I want to switch to isiZulu when speaking to (Heinz) De
Boer (DA councillor), I can be able to do so; he must make it a point that
he learns the language. We must really, really do this.”

She shot down DA provincial and eThekwini caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango
when he tried to comment on matter, saying the topic had not been up for
discussion but was a comment directed at Mapena.

Approached for comment, Mncwango said there was “nothing wrong with
councillors speaking isiZulu in meetings” but bemoaned Gumede’s approach.

“IsiZulu is an official language. And I do understand that some of them
(councillors) have a challenge expressing themselves in English,” he said.
Where Gumede was wrong, he said, was to say those who did not understand
Zulu must go and learn if they wanted to hear what had been said.

“The language policy says there must be an interpreter in meetings’,” he
pointed out.

The aim of the of the policy was to “encourage and support citizens to
learn official languages other than their own, which will assist in
achieving and sustaining national unity and cultural diversity”.

The policy states English and Zulu are the council’s two “working
languages” and may be used in “any debate and other proceedings of the
council and its committees”.

However, during the sittings, the policy adds, “there should be provision
for interpreting services into either of the working languages”.

“In the event of any member wishing to have the proceedings interpreted
into a language other than the working languages, such member must give
adequate notice of the need for interpretation to the chairperson of
council or the relevant committee.”

Mdu Nkosi of the IFP considered Gumede’s statement to be “reckless” and
“irresponsible”.

“We have English-speaking secretaries and other officials who all do not
understand isiZulu. What happens to them?

“We need to be responsible as leaders, you just can’t utter such words,” he
said.

Councillor Zama Sokhabase was elected as chairwoman of the Community
Services committee; Barbara Fontein will chair the Governance and Human
Resources committee; Sipho Kaunda, deputy mayor Fawzia Peer and Mondli
Mthembu will chair the Economic Development and Planning, Security and
Emergency Services committee and the Human Settlements and Infrastructure
committees, respectively.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/ethekwini-mayor-all-councillors-must-speak-zulu-2070978


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