Reflections of an indigenous languages champion
Gothataone Moeng | Tuesday February 25, 2014 23:22
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?”
Saleshando said this incident stayed with him throughout his life. “I grew up with this thing in my head wondering, is this right? Should I be beaten for being a Moyeyi? I have never understood it.” Today, Saleshando is the MP for Selebi-Phikwe West and the House’s most outspoken advocate for the recognition and development of all Botswana’s indigenous languages. Saleshando has already announced his impending retirement from active politics but he says when he came to Parliament, one of the causes that he wanted to concentrate on was the full recognition and development of indigenous languages, a subject he is passionate about.
For Saleshando, full recognition of all languages means a declaration by government of all languages - estimated at over 26 - as national languages. He also wants early primary students (Standard 1- 4) in communities where Setswana is a second language to be taught in their mother tongue. Further, in a new motion noticed to Parliament, he wants government to sanction the use of all indigenous languages in the public domain, such as in the broadcasting of news and on state television and radio.
“Language is a pillar of the whole structure of a person - his tradition, his customs, his culture. Language is the only vehicle that one can use to transfer his culture and tradition to the generations below him,” he says.
Often his questions in Parliament have to do with the issue of the development of language. Last year, he brought a motion to Parliament asking for the implementation of inclusive education in schools by introducing mother-tongue languages as the medium of instruction in primary school in communities where Setswana is a second language.
Saleshando says he is concerned that students in such communities are more likely to fail due to the language barrier as many only encounter Setswana when they first start school. He argued that children understand and learn better when taught in their mother tongue. He says this language barrier is also the reason why few people from these remote communities succeed to top positions. He sees the introduction of mother-tongue languages as a medium of instruction and as a form of affirmative action to bring students in these communities up to the same level as those in Setswana speaking communities.
Critics of the motion decried lack of resources in terms of teaching material and textbooks, for this to be successfully implemented. “What makes us such a dull nation in Africa?” Saleshando asks. “What makes us so dull that we cannot teach our languages? In Namibia they teach more than 10 languages, in South Africa they teach more than 10 languages, the same in Zambia and Zimbabwe. What makes us so unique and dull that we cannot deliver textbooks in other languages? It’s just in the minds of people who want to dominate others. That’s all.”
He said the reluctance of government to develop these textbooks would never be justifiable. “You cannot justify to God why you want a Hambukushu student to never see a Hambukushu textbook.”
Further he said tribes such as the Bayei and the Bakalaka have developed textbooks and learning material.
From independence, perhaps as a result of the racial strife going on in the region at the time, Botswana has always been at pains to paint herself as a homogenous country, of one nation, one language. While not rejecting the use of Setswana as a lingua franca that can unite all, Saleshando says the recognition and development of all indigenous languages will do more to unite the nation.
“Strangely, in Botswana the belief is that you must assimilate into the bigger Setswana culture, to become part of one monolithic nation. The belief that you can only unite as one nation if you speak one language has no basis. When people identify with who they are, that is the way to unite people,” he says. He says under the current dispensation in which, he believes, one language is promoted over others there is resentment and a looking down on other languages. He believes that if all children grow up learning that all indigenous languages are equal, they will learn to appreciate and celebrate tribal differences, instead of the veiled tribalism that leads to the looking down upon some tribes and languages. He also believes that the neglect of these languages breeds the neglect of other issues beleaguering the non-Tswana speaking tribes.
But with the adoption of the 2001 National Policy on Culture, which seeks to develop and celebrate the diverse cultures and languages of Botswana, government seems to be making an effort. One of the ways government seeks to celebrate these diverse languages is with the annual commemoration of National Languages Day, which has been commemorated since 2008. Celebrated every February 21, this year the day will be commemorated in Letlhakane under the theme ‘My language, My pride’.
But Saleshando says not only this celebration of little value; it is also hypocritical of the government. “Do you think it makes sense, that once a year people listen to me singing in Seyeyi? Just once a year? And yet I will never see a Moyei speaking Seyei on TV, reading the news in Seyei. What are we celebrating?” He sees the celebration as superficial, that does not add any value to the struggle to develop all languages, as it is an event that takes place only once a year.
While Saleshando says he is “extremely unhappy” with the way government has responded to advocates’ efforts to get the languages developed and recognised, he says he is happy that people know that such issues are being recognised. But he is unsure that this will happen soon. “It may not happen in my lifetime,” he acknowledges. “Take Roy Sesana - a lot of Basarwa don’t understand what Sesana is doing. Same with me, and other people who are working on this issue. But I think I will have won if there is an awareness of these issues, and the torch can then be taken over by other people.”