I totally agree with the section on languages as it appears in the NCA draft constitution because it promotes all languages in Zimbabwe alike. The Chidyausiku Draft of 2000 and the Kariba Draft both simply recognise that the indigenous languages(that is, Tonga, Nambya,Kalanga, Sotho, Xangani and Venda) without giving them an official status in their own areas while mantaining the hegemony of Shona and Ndebele languages. This tends to undermine the six afore stated languages. Ideally there is noway a country can be united under the two languages (Shona/Ndebele) while belittling other languages. Everyone would feel part and parcel of Zimbabwe if their langauges are made recognised and used in various facets of life and made official in their own areas. Language and culture are one and the same as language is a vehicle of culture. All Zimababweans must learn their own language and English.If one wants to learn another african langauge whic is not theirs, they do not necessarily need to learn it in a formal environemment (that is at school). Therefore, there is no need to compel all people to learn Shona or ndebele in their schools under the flimsy excuse of building national unity. The real reason is simply the desire to domiante others. Zimbawe belongs to all ethnic groups found in the country and all ethnic groups equally fought to bring independence to this counrty. Therefore they ought to be given the freedom to excercise their language rights. Actually stopping other people from using their languages in their own areas is sowing seeds of disunity and tribalism.

I therefore urge all Zimbabwean in the forthcoming COPAC constitution making process to ensure that all 8 indigenous languages are made official NOT SIMPLY RECOGNISING THEM as what other drafts such as the Chidyausiku and the Kariba documents do. There is no way the Tonga,Nambya, Kalanga, Venda, Sotho and Xangani would be happy if their languages are not used in their own areas. There are is nothing like main languages, MAIN to who?Because every language is MAIN to its speakers. To say another language is main to me is like saying someone's child is main to me. How about my child?

Why can't we emulate the South African scenario where all key languages with a population of at least 1% has its language being official and used in its area. Below are the percentages of the population of various language groups in South Africa as per the 2001 National Population Census. According to the 2001 population census, South Africa has roughly 45 million people. The majority of South Africans are Zulu speakers and constitute(23.82 %), followed by isiXhosa (17.64 %), Afrikaans (13.35 %), Sepedi (9.39 %), English (8.20 %),Setswana (8.20 %), Sesotho (7.93 %), Xitsonga (4.44 %), siSwati (2.66 %), Tshivenda (2.28 %), isiNdebele (1.59 %), and other languages (0.48 %).

Against this background one wonders why in Zimbabwe we cling to using only Ndebele and Shona even in places where these language are very alien. Some people argue that we need to have African language(s) to be national language(s) instead of English. Such people forget that nobody feels dominated by using English as a language that unifies us as opposed to using shona and/or ndebele where other people will feel grossly dominated. In any case to the Tonga, Nambya, Venda, Xangani,Sotho and Kalanga speakers, Shona and Ndebele are as much 'foreign' to them as English is. That they are all african langauges does not reduce their element of being 'foreign' languages to others.

The South African example where some languages have very low population percentages and yet their languages are officially recognised and used shows a mature democracy. For example, Xitsonga (4.44 %), siSwati (2.66 %), Tshivenda (2.28 %), and isiNdebele (1.59 %) are typical of popualtions whose languages would not be recognised in Zimbabwe. The problem we have in Zimbabwe is that our national population census reports do not give aggregated data on what percentage of national population are the Shona, Ndebele, Nambya, Tonga,Kalanga, Sotho, Venda, and Xangani. Yet we have some writers who simple jump from the sky and put figures representing the number of speakers of certain langauge groups such as the Tonga, Nambya, Kalanga, Sotho, Venda, and Xangani. One wonders where these writers get that data apart from merely trying to fulfill their own political agenda of undermining the population numbers of the speakers of some languages while inflating data/percentages for their languages.

ANYWAY FOOD FOR THOUGHT ZIMBABWEANS.