Ke tsaya nako eno go leboga Modulasetilo, mmogo le Ditona tsa rona le maloko a a tlotlegang a Ntlo e. Motlotlegi Sunduza, kgaitsadiaka, o buile mme o re diretse phoso ka go bua ka ga tsosoloso ya diteme tsa bantsho o be o dira jalo ka sejatlhapi. Re tshwanelwa ke gore re ikitse, re ithate, re itlotle re bo re tlotle le dipuo tsa rona. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[Mr G G BOINAMO: Let me take this opportunity to thank the Chairperson, Ministers and hon members of this House. Hon Sunduza, my dear sister, you spoke about the revival of the language of the African people; however, you have wronged us by doing so in English. We are supposed to know our identity, love ourselves, and respect our languages and ourselves.]
Let me give you a historical perspective of today's topic of debate. This is not the first time, but the second time that this topic is debated in this country. It was first debated during the period when this country was under the British regime and the sole official language was English. Afrikaans was not recognised because the Afrikaners were oppressed. There emerged a scholar by the name of C J Langenhoven, who wrote a book entitled Die Erwe van ons Vaad're. In this book he wrote a chapter titled "Afrikaans as voertaal", which means "Afrikaans as a language of instruction". He used the analogy of a donkey and said: n Donkie en sy eseltjies is dors. 'n Donkie ken die kortste pad dam toe, maar nou is al die paaie dam toe versper en is 'n donkie geforseer om die ompad dam toe te neem.
What he meant here was that the Afrikaner child was thirsty for education, but opportunities for him or her to access education were made almost impossible because the child was forced to study or learn through a foreign language, which was then English.
This is exactly what is happening in our case, the only difference is that we are no longer oppressed and the Afrikaners were oppressed then. The question is: Where is Afrikaans today? It is now a language of economists and of science and technology. Indigenous languages can also be developed to achieve the same standard.
Mmusakgotla, diteme tsa rona di meditswe ke diteme tsa dit?haba tse dingwe. Re le bantsho re dumeletse ditlhaloganyo tsa rona gore di tsenwe kgotsa di fetolwe ke bokolone. Ditlhaloganyo tsa rona di amegile thata moo e bileng re inyatsa ka borona, re itseela kwa tlase, re latlha ditso tsa rona le go latlha dipuo tsa rona. Ra tsaya dipuo tsa bokolone ra di dira tsa rona ra bo ra ithaya ra re re di tlhaloganya go phala dipuo tsa rona.
Ga gona jaaka o ka tlhaloganya seesimane go gaisa Sethosa kgotsa Sezulu e le leleme la ga mme. Fa o ithaya o re o ka itse leleme la batswakwa go gaisa leleme la gago, seo se re bontsha gore o latlhegile. Setswana sa re mooka pilo o o leodi le matute a monate, mogokong ga o ke o o ja o be o fetsa mooko wa teng. Re tshwanetse ra itse gore selo se se nang le boleng ba tlholego, se le mosola mo set?habeng, ga gona yo o ka se fedisang.
Diteme tsa bantsho di koafaditswe le go tswapolwa ke go itlhokomolodisiwa ke beng ba tsona - rona beng ba tsona. Ke matlhabisa ditlhong gore bana ba rona, e leng bana ba thari e ntsho ba bo ba palelwa ke go bua segabona ka manontlhotlho le boipelo. Fa o fitlhela thaka e tshesane e tlotla, go sena makgoa e le bona fela, ba bua Sejatlhapi. Fa o batla go itse gore tota se se dirang gore ba bue Sejatlhapi ke eng ka go sena basweu mo gare ga bona, ba re "Ga re itse Setswana, re itse Sekgoa fela". Matlhabisa ditlhong!
Se ke loso lwa dipuo tsa segarona le ditso tsa rona gonne dipuo tse di tshwere ngwao le ditso tsa rona. Tsela e rona batho ba bantsho, bana ba mmala wa sebilo re dirang ka teng, ga re sa itse puo ya rona, go raya gore ga re ikitse, ga re itlhaloganye e bile ga re na kwa re yang teng.
Tsaya dikolo tse e neng e le tsa basweu pele, diteme tsa bantsho ga di rutiwe gotlhelele kwa dikolong tseo. Ke gwetlha Ntlo e gore a diteme tsa bantsho di rutwe mo dikolong tsotlhe, tota le bona basweu re ba rute diteme tsa rona. Ba di ithute jaaka fela re ithutile Seaforikanse le Sekgoa. Bana ba rona ba tshwanetse go rutwa gore fa o sa itse segaeno o lesilo, o seelele, ga o ithate, o itlhoile.
Basweu ba a ithata ka ba rata le go tlotla dipuo tsa bone. Dikolo tsa bantsho di kile tsa bo di ne di ruta dithuto tse di latelang:-thutapuo; poko; porosa; mokwalo; diane; maele le tekatlhaloganyo. Dirutwa tse tsotlhe di na le seabe se se boitshegang mo go ageng puo ya ngwaga ka kakaratso mme dingwe tsa tsona di tsene ka lenga la seloko, di nyele phuthi boloko. Ke gwetlha Ntlo e gore a re busetseng dithuto tsa bantsho mo dikolong tsa rona. [Nako e fedile.] (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, our languages are dominated by other foreign languages. We, as blacks, have allowed our minds to be influenced by colonialism. Our minds are so affected that we despise and look down on ourselves; we have stopped practising our traditions and our languages. We have adopted colonial languages and pretend that we understand them better than our languages.
There is no way in which you can understand English better than isiXhosa or isiZulu as your mother tongue. If you think you can understand a foreign language better that your own language, then it shows that you are lost. In Setswana, we say something useful and provided by nature cannot be allowed to be extinguished. We have to understand that anything that has a natural value, which is useful to the society, should not be extinguished.
African languages are weakened and are regarded as being of less value by the native speakers who undermine them. It is a disgrace that our children, being black, are unable to speak their language proudly and effectively. When you find the youths communicating, without any whites amongst them, they speak English. If you ask why they speak English when there are no whites amongst them, they say: "We do not understand Setswana." What a disgrace.
This appears to be the end of our languages and traditions because these languages hold our heritage and tradition. The way in which we black people are operating means we no longer know our language, which means we do not know our identity; we do not understand ourselves and we do not know where we are going.
For instance, look at the schools that were whites only; African languages are not offered in those schools at all. I would like to challenge this House that African languages be offered in all the schools, and also teach the whites our languages. Let them learn the same way we learnt Afrikaans and English. Our children need to be taught that if you do not know your tradition, you are an idiot, you hate and do not love yourselves.
White people respect themselves as they love and respect their languages. Black schools used to offer the following subjects: grammar; poetry; prose; writing; idioms and proverbs, and comprehension. All these subjects had a tremendous effect in building general knowledge and some of them have completely disappeared, they are dead and buried. I challenge this House to bring back the method of teaching that was previously used in our schools. [Time expired.]]