Governments take a long time to catch up with things. They follow developments with laws in a reactionary manner. I was listening to the speech by the French president on August 27th, 2012 to the France Ambassadors Conference Conference des Ambassadeurs in Paris. Naturally I was struck by his focus on the language question, in particular, the spread of the French language in Africa in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is clear that as part of French’s foreign policy is the subject of the French language ÔÇô its spread, preservation and influence. Coming back to home, the question of language is feared or considered largely unimportant. We seem not to have to fully grasped the importance of language to our region.
Setswana has been chosen by ACALAN (The African Academy of Languages) as one of the first working cross-border languages and the vehicular cross-border languages which should be given priority in the southern African region. ACALAN is an arm of the African Union, created in 2001 to deal with the growing efforts of promoting the African languages as tools of development and regional integration in Africa. Out of the 2,130 languages spoken in Africa, it was discovered that 396 are cross-border languages, that is, they are spoken across national boundaries. Setswana was identified to be one of these languages. The African Union is interested in promoting and developing these 396 languages to use them in promoting regional development and integration. In southern Africa Setswana and Chinyanja have been selected as the first regional languages to play the role of regional development and integration. The two languages were chosen for the southern African region on the basis of their broad use in several countries. This includes their extensive use in public domains, their success in attracting second language speakers, their national/official status and their levels of technicalisation and standardisation. Setswana therefore now has an African Union Language Commission made up of language experts/promoters, writers/cultural promoters from both Botswana and South Africa.
Ideally this should empower the Setswana language and make it a powerful regional language. This however is yet to be realized since at a political level we haven’t grasped the importance of language to business, regional integration, human dignity and pride. The African Union seems to have grasped this fact however; that is why it is developing the regional languages.
I must however not sound pessimistic. About two years ago, Prof. Dan Kgwadi, the Rector of the North West University, Mafikeng Campus, drove to Gaborone for a meeting at the residence of the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Botswana, Prof. Bojosi Otlhogile. He was on a mission to build a Setswana corridor from Mafikeng to Gaborone. Here were two unlikely professors, brought together by the love of their language. I use the word unlikely since Prof Kgwadi is a physicist, while Prof. Otlhogile is a law professor and they are not the natural proponents of linguistic change; something that one would expect from a linguistics professor. But here they were talking about how we could link the two universities to create centres of Setswana excellence in both institutions. They dreamt of lecturers’ exchange, exchange of students and co-teaching programs in both institutions. Since then a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the two institutions though not much collaborative research has happened between the two institutions.
Collaborative work has happened where it was less expected. It has happened in the arts, in particular, in the area of music. The HipHop artist known as HHP (Hip Hop Pantsula), whose real name is Jabu Tsambo, the son of Theriso Tsambo, the Head of the Setswana Department at the North West University has been coming to Botswana to perform and drive the project of making Setswana fashionable. He has defined a new genre of HipHop called Motswako, a musical style which comprises at least two languages. From the Botswana side the music of Matsieng, Maxi, Gong Master has been getting widespread appreciation in Mafikeng and the North West Province in general. Musicians Maxi as well Shanti Lo have been featured and interviewed on SABC 2. There is therefore a very healthy musical exchange between South Africa and Botswana; two countries which have the largest concentration of Setswana speakers. South Africa has demonstrated greater political will to develop and promote the Setswana language compared to Botswana since in South Africa Setswana has official status and has established government structures to monitor its development and promotion. In Botswana there has been minimum development, if anything we are regressing. The once vibrant National Setswana Council is dead and Setswana is still used in restricted domains. And yet, recent developments are most encouraging. Recently Setswana publications have been impressive.
The famous Setswana linguist, Desmond T. Cole and Lally Moncho-Warren have published the largest Setswana-English, English-Setswana dictionary titled Macmillan Setswana and English Illustrated Dictionary. It was funded by the Bafokeng and launched in Rustenburg this year. This year also saw the launch of the largest monolingual Setswana dictionary Tlhalosi ya Medi ya Setswana. The University of Botswana has also launched a degree in Setswana Studies. The position of Setswana may be difficult, but its future is bright. To get to that bright future will be difficult for the language, but it will finally get there.