Ethnic broadcast debate rages on

Friday, August 08, 2014

FRANCISTOWN: In the just-ended Parliamentary session, Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Selebi-Phikwe legislator, Gilson Saleshando stirred a hornet’s nest when he tabled a motion requesting that national news on public media should be broadcast in different ethnic languages.

The motion, which was defeated, has triggered national debate within and outside the National Assembly on the issue of national languages and the seemingly unending conflict between self-recognition and nation building.

Interestingly, in Parliament, debates were so sharply divided on the motion, that legislators from the same ethnic background differed on the prudence of introducing public broadcasts in more national languages.

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Ethnic broadcast debate rages on

FRANCISTOWN: In the just-ended Parliamentary session, Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Selebi-Phikwe legislator, Gilson Saleshando stirred a hornet’s nest when he tabled a motion requesting that national news on public media should be broadcast in different ethnic languages.