In response to the “The Linguist Chair’ of April 21, 2010, I wish to start by commending Dr Thapelo Otlogetswe for showing courage in raising linguistic issues of Botswana because they are very much political, controversial and tinged with tribalism. I pay tribute to his expertise and also to his frankness when articulating his views. Dr Otlogetswe’s column was titled ‘How should we talk to each other?’ Ordinarily, this seems like a rhetorical question but it is a question pregnant with language politics of Botswana. One would wonder why we should draw ground rules on how we talk to each other in the first place. Is there a problem with the way we have been talking to each other? What is the problem?
Talking is encapsulated in freedom of expression which is enshrined in the Constitution of Botswana. When talking, speakers make a choice of what they want to say, to whom, why and in which language. So talking is one of the fundamental freedoms to which humans are entitled. According to the Botswana government, English is the official language and Setswana the national language. Even though none of these languages is my mother tongue, I have no qualm with their positions. I hold the view that in official discourse, there should be a provision for people to speak in a language that they are proficient in accompanied with translation whenever desirable and necessary. Experiences in our courts have demonstrated beyond doubt that not all citizens of this country are proficient in English and Setswana. Even academic results from public schools in the Western, North-Western and Chobe regions attest to this incompetence in our languages of official and national discourse.
However, I concur with Dr Otlogetswe that indeed Botswana and the rest of the world are multilingual. This is an obvious fact even to the jingoists. Also true is that Setswana is our lingua franca. In fact, Setswana has since independence been adopted as the lingua franca and this position has not been compromised. Therefore, to seek to generate a debate about lingua franca now is unnecessary.
Instead we should be concerned about creating channels through which the views of those compatriots who cannot sufficiently express themselves in English and Setswana are also articulated and incorporated into the national development agenda. Practically, we should be touting Setswana as lingua franca whilst promoting multilingualism at the same time. We can partner Setswana and multilingualism by introducing mother tongue education whereby pupils are taught subjects and other languages through the mother tongue medium. This has been tried in America (USA) and the results were even better than when teaching pupils in a second language. UNESCO is also in agreement with this model. We should as well maintain the current practice of English and Setswana being compulsory subjects while providing learning opportunities of other languages of Botswana. In doing so we would be upholding the lingua franca while promoting multilingualism at the same time. We could as well introduce multilingual news reading, music and poetry programmes at Radio Botswana and Botswana Television to give Batswana a feel and an experience of languages that are not English or Setswana. If we are to promote linguistic homogeneity or national homogeneity, we run the risk of escalating intolerance of marginalized languages and the rise in the culture of ultra-nationalism.
*Kapule David Mabuta is a member of the Executive Committee of RETENG. He writes in his private capacity.
