Lone student carries torch for the San community’s language

As the first person from Zimbabwe’s San community set to graduate from university later this year, the burden of history weighs heavy on Nkosiyazi Brian Ncube’s mind, but his mission to save his language from extinction remains on course.

Ncube’s moment of triumph is tempered by sadness because, of the four students from the marginalised community who started the university journey together in 2021, he is the only one left. Along the way, the others dropped out, mainly due to the challenges of rising university fees.

The hopes of the San community now lie on his shoulders.

“Yeah, of course I don’t feel good. I’m not excited that we started as four but I will be the only one to graduate, if all goes well this year. It would have been better if all of us had finished than finishing alone. I feel like there is too much of a burden to bear. I think, to be the pioneer is too much, as a lot of things will be expected from you. But a part of me feels good to be the first university graduate. That will be great for the community,” Ncube, who is studying towards a bachelor of arts degree in education specialising in English and Khoisan, told University World News.

He said his language is facing extinction as he knows only three elderly people who can still speak it. As a result, after graduation, he will battle to save the Khoisan language.

Language should be passed on

Ncube said the government must come up with affirmative action for his community members so that they can access free education from primary level up to university level.

He said another issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of pride among members of his community. If they were proud of their identity, the language could be passed from one generation to the next at home as well as at school. Even the Khoisan culture is no longer embraced, Ncube said.

“After graduating, I would be a qualified teacher specialising in the language, so the first step we are talking about is writing books and introducing the language into the curriculum. Then the language must be learned in schools nearby. The subject should be introduced, and people should be taught there,” he said.

Ncube explained that, for the required university work-related learning, he went to teach Khoisan at a local school. “Khoisan is different from the other languages. In some languages there are a subject, verb, and object. In our language it’s different: it’s subject, object, verb. The orthography and everything, the writing structure, is different, so it needs special attention. It’s one of the most difficult languages, I would say, in the world.

“You need to master the sounds well, because you find one word that is written the same way but with different sounds, so it needs special care. Language is culture, it’s everything, so, without language, you don’t have Khoisan people – that is why we need to do all these things,” he added.

Ncube said many words are now missing from the language, and words that came with technology are not in the language, so there would be a need to borrow or build some words, he added.

Chief reiterates need for education

In an interview with University World News, a traditional leader of the San people, Chief Goledema, played down the fact that students from his community had dropped out of university. The chief said dropping out is not restricted to the San community as other tribes in Zimbabwe are also affected due to the economic situation in the country.

The chief made history after Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa appointed him the first chief of the San community in April 2023. The community did not have leadership structures. The appointment came a year after the community put forward his name for consideration.

Chief Goledema said their wish is for more San children to go to school and reach university and, for that to happen, they not only need government support but also assistance from other organisations. The chief said they are pinning their hopes on Ncube, who will graduate later this year, to come and teach others.

He said the San language will also be preserved through the writing of books and he is confident that, in two years, the books would be written. “Next month, we are meeting government officials to agree on the writing of books, what words to use. Our wish is for our children to go to school, to go to university.”

Language preservation a minority right

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Douglas Mwonzora, a lawyer who led a committee that drafted the country’s new constitution in 2013 to, for the first time, include the San language as one of the country’s 16 official languages, told University World News that this was done to give a voice to the San people.

“We were very much alive to the fact that language is sometimes used to dominate a people and, in Africa, language has been used to oppress minorities. Preservation of language and culture is part of the rights of minorities,” Mwonzora said.

He said institutions of higher learning have a role to play in preserving the language. The academic world has a duty to preserve minority languages and cultures. “They can do that by teaching the languages and by researching the cultural practices of a people.”

Lack of funding hampers the work

Davy Ndlovu, the director of the Tsoro-o-tso San Development Trust which champions the interests of the indigenous people, said Midlands State University (MSU) is trying to do some work to preserve the language, but it is not smooth sailing yet. The university engaged him to teach the language at the institution.

“I have partly agreed to assist, but I’m currently having financial challenges which the university cannot take care of,” Ndlovu told University World News.

He said the language is called Tjwao but, in the constitution, it is listed as Khoisan. Khoisan is the collective name for the San languages and, during the constitution-making process, he tried to have it corrected, but to no avail. His trust has done some work to preserve the language, but funding challenges are hampering the work.

“Right now, the people in the curriculum development unit of the ministry of education are working on some language learning materials, and we are part of that. We did some Tjwao language learning with students from Landa High School and stopped when we ran out of funds. We have been part of the ministry of education’s curriculum development project and compiled some syllabuses, but we were not able to finish the work,” Ndlovu said.

“The language revitalisation project started in 2011. Back then, we had about 14 native speakers; 11 have since departed this world. During that period to date, we have crafted an orthography to aid in the proper writing of the language. We have also crafted some learning materials, including a six-week Tjwao language course. We are now in the process of finishing the English-Tjwao language dictionary.”

Capable faculty a challenge

Professor Wiseman Magwa, the executive director of MSU’s National Language Institute said there are plans to teach Khoisan at the university but, at the moment, they are faced with a lack of capable lecturers. The issue is being addressed but he could not comment on progress.

Magwa said universities have a role to play in the preservation of languages and Zimbabwe has the political will as evidenced by the fact that several local institutions of higher learning teach these languages. Khoisan is the one that is lagging behind, he added.

“Universities have a role to play in preserving and revitalising languages to make sure they do not die. The only way to preserve a language is to digitise it. Information has to be compiled, dictionaries have to be written,” Magwa said.