I salute all Nkomazi Voice readers.

It is with content that I make this contribution, after quite some time in the wilderness. Last week in Ligwalagwala FM they were talking about a topic that got me thinking. Almost everyone in the bus was amused except me. The Deejay (Alias) Madumane was concerned about people’s tendency to call names without knowing their meanings, or to give incorrect names to things. He said, this amounts to ignorance and kills our languages. He made these examples:
• They say “Certisfy” (or to put it bluntly, “satisfy”) instead of “Certify”
• They say “Bus terminal” instead of “Bus terminus”
Why can’t they say “esikhumulweni semabusi” rather than the George language?

Our African languages were oral until the western explorers and researchers invaded our land (. They wanted it to be in written form, using Latin alphabets.
So many things in this world changes, so does the language. It needs expansion in an attempt to define these changes (Musa Xulu). Our Siswati language was the most unfortunate, if you consider that our first bible came in the late Nineties.

Let us look at the situation as it is, people have matric but they can’t communicate properly in English. Who do we blame in such instance because in our schools were taught “English” in “Siswati”. One of Mpumalanga’s learnt Scholars, Prof J P Shongwe said the problem our kids are not rated in the top ten (During top matric achievers awards) is that they don’t write in their mother tongue languages. To put it simpler, one has to understand “English” before he understands “Physics”, further, Physics has its own language.

Pity because our citizens in Nkomazi are not speaking Siswati. You will hear them saying, “emanti ekushisa” (referring to hot water) or “imbubezi” (referring to a lion). There’s a big difference in Siswati from Magogeni and Siswati from Mangweni, from Jeppes and from Block A.

In 2003 I attended an interview at Sappi for a bursary, the interviewer said I must not be afraid to make language mistakes because English is not my language.

Having said this, I conclude by saying our schools (especially at primary level) must do better in languages.

Regards,
Sabelo