In this post I use the words “Chirwa” and “Setswana” interchangeably, both meaning the language of the Tswana people. The latter is a derogatory (albeit more acceptable to the Tswana) form of the former.
It is less than one hundred and thirty years (130 yrs.) since the nation that was fraudulently called Bechuanaland was carved out of Southern Africa by the newly arrived British. When that occurred, the Kalanga nation had been in contact (military and otherwise) with the Portuguese for almost 400 years. The theatre of operations was the same – Southern Africa.
After the Portuguese landed, they constantly wrote letters back to their Kings in Portugal. The same was done by British missionaries, only 350 years later. It stands to reason therefore, that the Portuguese records are more reflective of pristine African society, than the British records.
Portuguese records are widely and eloquently referenced by Ndzimu Unami Emmanuel in his book “The Rebirth of Bukalanga”. In those records the people concerned called themselves “Mokaranga”. Emmanuel even shows how early Portuguese language writers replaced the “L” with an “R”.
From other records, the Tswana-speaking population was never considered a separate nation from the Kalanga nation. Tswana-speaking tribes were a mere extension of the same tribes in the Kalanga-speaking part of the nation. This is why they even denied that they were called “Bechuana”. They claimed that the label “Bechuana” was an invention of the British. And yet today the Tswana propagandists would like us to believe that the Tswana viewed themselves as a nation, separate from the Kalanga nation!
A recent exchange in the press between one Bawumbe wa Chiwidi and one Kangangwani Phatshwani concerning the Domboshaba cultural festival misses one important point – the ruins of Domboshaba offer a cultural refuge for a Kalanga culture that is under a barrage of legislative blows from genocidal maniacs. Throughout the (Tswana) country cultural celebrations are conducted at the Kgotlas, because the Kgotlas are the traditional and cultural administrative meeting places. In contrast, the Kgotlas in Kalanga-speaking areas have been hijacked into foreign assembly points where the language spoken (Chirwa/Tswana) has nothing whatsoever in common with the culture of the people who assemble there. It does not matter whether you are in the so-called Central district or in the North East district, the Kgotla is a non-welcoming object of foreign domination, where you often find everybody (including the chief) being fluent Kalanga speakers, and yet all proceedings are conducted in Setswana language. Just how does one go and celebrate (as opposed to demonstrating) their culture in such foreign surroundings?
My enquiries have revealed that Kalanga ethnicity may not be an identifiable trait, at least not in Southern Africa, because every nation was originally a Kalanga subgroup. However, Kalanga cultural identity is readily identifiable, because Kalanga language is a spoken language today! Kalanga language identifies us as a cultural entity, quite distinct from Chirwa language speakers. We have our cultural songs and dances, our cultural stories for the kids, our cultural norms; in short – our cultural being. There is nothing we need from Setswana language; indeed Setswana language has nothing to offer us, because the body of knowledge that Setswana language uses is from the English language, and we are equally capable of accessing this body of knowledge directly from English.
A common lie advanced by apologists of Tswana cultural colonisation of Bakalanga is that we need to all speak one language in order to be a cohesive nation – Botswana. There is no truth in this position, because nearly all nations in Southern Africa speak and officially use more than one language. Indeed the nation called Botswana today existed for more than eighty years as Bechuanaland before “Independence”. Both Ikalanga and Setswana were native “official” languages. To suggest that the British were less interested in our “cohesion” as a nation then, and therefore allowed Kalanga language to be taught in schools and to be used in the Kgotlas is to fly in the face of common sense. By delineating the boundaries of Bechuanaland, the British were unequivocally declaring that we are henceforth a UNITARY possession of Great Britain. No Tswana speaking tribe could have subjugated the Kalanga nation. The British had to carry out the subjugation themselves. The imprisonment and subsequent banishment of John Nswazwi was accomplished through the use of British military force. The relocation of Bangwato from Shoshong to Palapye was facilitated by British military force. The extension of Bangwato hegemony north of the river Motloutse was facilitated by British military force. In other words, the British were so committed to Bechuanaland being a “cohesive” country that they used ARMS to accomplish that objective. And yet they never saw the need to ban the use of Kalanga language in schools, in Kgotlas, the way “Independent” Botswana has now done.
What needs to be done is that Setswana language needs to be rejected in its entirety in all Kalanga Kgotlas and in all Kalanga schools. It is no longer enough to go cap in hand to beg the Botswana Government to allow Kalanga to be taught in schools. Kalanga ire should now be directed at the foreign Setswana language in our Kgotlas, our schools our homes. Old men, like those North Easterners who recently obtained an assurance that their concerns will be addressed in NDP 11, should cease to speak to their grand children in Setswana language, and instead teach them Kalanga language. For it makes you wonder why they believe that their concerns will be addressed, and then NOT struck off NDP 11, just as they were addressed and subsequently struck off other (earlier) NDPs. One can’t help thinking that they acquiesce in the knowledge that they have been told a lie in the greater scheme of things - the forthcoming 2014 general elections.
Not so long ago any suggestion that Kalanga language could be taught in schools was met with derision - “if they want their language to be taught, let them go back to Zimbabwe where they come from”. These irresponsible utterances were made by the very people who, it now turns out, originated from deep inside Zimbabwe.
It is fitting to label what is happening to Kalanga speakers as cultural genocide. That it is genocide is evident from the fact that even the Tswana intellectuals, when challenged about the cultural status quo in the country, where our people no longer watch national television because of the constant, unceasing barrage of Chirwa, quickly remind us of the Rwandan genocide! According to them we have an option – get culturally assimilated or physically annihilated.
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