Preaching the use of home languages
MEC encourages community to use their mother tongue more often.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for arts and culture Ntombikayise Sibhidla Saphetha believes it is time to decolonise African languages.
Addressing more than 400 school pupils at a national translation day celebration at Deda sports field, Ndwedwe, last Thursday, Saphetha said the only way African children could build a successful nation was by bringing the use of their home languages back into their daily lives.
“It is very shameful to find a black person mastering English but he or she does not understand his or her mother tongue,” said Saphetha.
She challenged the education department to use African languages in teaching, as she believes that it will make a huge difference to the country’s economy.
“Countries like China and Japan are some of the wealthiest countries and they use their first language to teach their children,” said Saphetha.
It has became the accepted norm that everything is translated from English into other languages, but not the other way around. She said that should come to an end.
“It will be good one day to have a science book written in Zulu, so that the elderly people from Maphumulo, Ndwedwe and Nquthu will be able to read and know what is going on in this world,” said Saphetha.
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