No Mother Tongue Pride Among Batswana
Monday, February 22, 2010
Mbuya, who has penned two Tswana novels told a gathering at the annual National Mother tongue day celebrated in Molepolole that Batswana are not buying Setswana novels and instead prefer to buy western novels and watch foreign television content.
Mbuya, also a member of Molepolole's Kgari Sechele museum, decried that Botswana has been left behind by the likes of Namibia in the promotion of the mother tongue, saying as a result many mother tongues spoken in Botswana are fast disappearing.
It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...