By Harold Lekhuleni:
Language is a medium through which ideas and thoughts are created. We express our views and opinions through our languages.
Since September is our Heritage Month, we need to dedicate and recommit ourselves, especially as Africans, in developing our home languages. The decolonisation of the mind will not have been achieved until Africans learn through the medium of their language, even up to the institution of higher learning.
Already, the South African Constitution recognizes our home languages and urges the state to take practical and positive measures to elevate their status and also to advance their usage. It is unfortunate that the perception held by many South Africans, especially blacks, is that intelligence is associated with fluency in English.
It is high time that we shift this paradigm and begin to promote our own home languages through various platforms such as radio, Television (TV), newspapers, just to mention a few.
We need to crawl out of the dark shadow of apartheid and colonialism. It is unfortunate that some of the great preachers of the Gospel of Christ, who preached great sermons in their home languages, have decided to abandon their languages and start to preach in English.
Unfortunately, their sermons are no longer as magnetic and appealing as they used to be. Their sermons are diluted and in some instances, the message is lost in the process.
It is important to understand that what comes from the heart touches the heart. What comes from the mind touches the mind. Why preach in English when a hundred percent of the congregants understand isiSwati or Xitsonga? It is unfortunate that there is pressure for such speakers or preachers to aspire to become the so-called international figures.
There is a perception that English words evoke more power than those in African languages. For example, preachers would prefer to use the word “fire” in English rather than their indigenous language. We have forgotten that nature does not write its laws in English. The African languages suffer more from their exponents than from their opponents. There is a need for a paradigm shift.
It is important to learn from great nations such as China, France, Germany and Russia, just to mention a few. These nations are great because they think, dream, speak and do things in their mother tongue. This has been achieved because the leaders of these nations lead from the front when it comes to this aspect.
In 1903, John Langalibalele Dube founded the IsiZulu newspaper, Ilanga lase Natal. This was to affirm the African language and to be able to reach out to as many black people as possible. The African people in South Africa should have learned and built from the foundation that was laid by this great son of the soil.
Just after the inauguration of President Bissorou Diomaye Faye of Senegal in April 2024, Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Boubaca wrote an open letter to him. They understood that as the youngest president, he is poised to bring a breath of fresh air to that country. Amongst the issues that they addressed to the President in the open letter was the issue of language. This is what they wrote:
“…We have chosen to focus on the language problem because, as writers, we are familiar with it, but also because, in our humble opinion, the resolution of the language problem is a prerequisite for any economic, political, social and cultural revolution. …Senegalese languages must be the bedrock of the new Senegal. Every Senegalese has a right to their mother tongue… At the United Nations (UN), speaking in the Senegalese language, you can have it translated and or interpreted into French or English as necessary. In other words, do what all other Presidents in the world do, they make their speeches in their languages”.
We can learn from these great writers who write in English and also in their home languages. Our Chief Justice, Mandisa Maya, broke the barrier of language by writing a judgment in 2020 in isiXhosa, her mother tongue. This was a pioneering and symbolic decision that we need to take pride in our own home languages and promote them.
When the Afrikaners formed the National Party in 1914, its leader, Hertzog, promoted Afrikaans. They began to write their history in Afrikaans and used publications such as Huisgenoot and Die Burger to promote their language. As Africans, we have lessons to learn to ensure that our home languages are promoted and fully developed. It is in our hands.
Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Boubaca warned us when they said, “If you know all languages of the world, and you don’t know your mother tongue, that is mental enslavement. But if you know your mother tongue, and add all the other languages of the world to it, that is empowerment.
Lekhuleni is a History Subject Advisor of Bohlabela District, Mpumalanga Education Department. He writes in his personal capacity. – @NewsSA_Online
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