Reflections of an indigenous languages champion
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Gilson Saleshando remembers an incident that happened in the first days of his nascent schooling career. This was in the early 1950’s in Maun
“One day [at school] we were in a queue, and we were asked a question. ‘O mo kae?’ If you said ‘I am a Motswana,’ you were asked to step to one side. If you said ‘I am a Moyeyi,’ you were asked to step to another side. Then all of us who had said we were Bayeyi were beaten up,” he says. “They said our fathers working in the South African mines called themselves Batswana, so why were we saying we were Bayeyi?”
The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...