EVERY December 22, the country celebrates the Unity Accord signed between President Robert Mugabe and the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo in 1987.
This agreement cemented the fact that Zimbabweans, although diverse, are one and from then on, December 22 was declared a public holiday.
This year’s celebrations came as a blessing for the BaTonga as they celebrated the proposed introduction of the Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Tonga Language and Cultural Studies (HTLCS) which is a four-year programme intended to produce competent graduates in the Tonga language and cultural studies to be introduced next year.
The programme covers pure linguistics and applied linguistics courses; courses on culture and literature.
Some of the courses in the programme reflect the synergies between language and culture, literature and language as well as literature and culture.
According to BaTonga tribesmen, the degree is long-overdue given the fact there are 16 officially recognised languages in Zimbabwe.
The new Constitution of 2013 states that Zimbabwe has 16 officially recognised languages and it says: “The State and all its institutions and agencies of Government must ensure that these languages are treated equitably and the State and its agencies and institutions must promote and advance the use of all languages in Zimbabwe.”
While Shona and Ndebele are available as subjects in their respective regions up to Advanced Level and at university, other indigenous languages such as Tonga remain marginalised.
Speakers of other languages have been made to study Shona or Ndebele, especially at higher levels of intellectual endeavour.
However, the Government is making strides to promote the teaching and learning of all Zimbabwean languages at both primary and secondary level.
The University of Zimbabwe, the oldest and most recognised language institution in the country, has been given the mandate to spearhead the research, teaching and documentation of Zimbabwe’s languages, including those historically marginalised.
The degree course would be worthwhile for several reasons.
First, it would strengthen and enhance students’ knowledge in Tonga in order to effectively undertake studies in theoretical and applied linguistics, literature, culture and gender studies from a language-oriented and literary perspective.
Some universities in the region will not allow a student without a background in an African language to pursue certain language-related programmes at postgraduate level.
To this end, the Tonga degree meets international standards and expectations.
Second, given the wide range of language-related employment opportunities available in such areas as corpus studies, discourse analysis, editing and publishing, interpreting, teaching, lexicography and translation, graduates of such a programme would have the dual advantage of solid knowledge and skills in both their chosen language and in general linguistics.
A systematic pattern of good performance has been noted in recent years, particularly among students taking Kiswahili, Shona or Ndebele in combination with linguistics.
Therefore, affording all African languages, literature and linguistics students the mutual benefits of studying linguistics, African languages and literature will equip graduates with a solid background in theoretical and applied linguistics, literature and culture, allowing them a deeper understanding of the structure of language in general and that of the particular African language they are studying, as well as a deeper understanding of language in society.
The degree in Tonga and Linguistics will also equip graduates with a solid and sound knowledge of how linguistics, literature and culture are intertwined, allowing them to have a deeper understanding of the relationship between art, society and linguistics.
In a country like Zimbabwe which has been ruled on tribal lines by colonialists, all fair-minded and forward-thinking organisations and individuals should be very sensitive when it comes to language-use by different ethnic groups in Zimbabwe.
All groups should feel that their language is being respected and not deliberately sidelined.
In Zimbabwe, there is a developing trend by some regime change non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to use language as a divisive tool.
NGOs have used cultural imperialism to divide Zimbabweans.
The racist regime of Rhodesia was very notorious for mutilating African languages to the extent that wholesale changes and renaming of towns, cities and streets had to be done.
It was a form of subjugation of one race by another and the war of liberation was meant to correct this.
However, not all in our midst celebrate this achievement.
Remember as we celebrate, there were some among us who were busy selling out and trying to further the colonial master’s agenda.
After all, it’s common to have Judas Iscariots in our midst.
It is therefore unfortunate that in an independent Zimbabwe, some people still carry on with such arrogance and disregard of other peoples’ cultures and languages.
The Zimbabwean Government has been at the forefront of uniting people, especially the Ndebele and Shona who are the main targets of these regime change protagonists.
Through Unity Day, the disregard of other people’s languages has come to an end as the country has championed the rights of all ethnic groups in Zimbabwe, including the much sidelined Tonga, Shangani, Venda and other minority tribes through the Constitution.
Through education, the previously disadvantaged BaTonga people will be able to take part in several nation-building programmes and do away with the marginalisation and donor-dependency syndrome tag attached to them by regime change NGOs over the years.
One of the tragedies of the 1980s was that events served to reinorce regional differences along tribal and linguistic lines.
While the Unity Accord has healed the rift, some would contend that some tribal groupings have been forced by the country’s detractors to neither forget nor forgive other tribal groups.
According to researchers, pre-colonial African societies had unique sets of rules, laws and traditions suitable for particular contexts and historical realities.
These rules, laws and tradition, formed the basis of how people would live together peacefully as part of a community, state and nation.
Earlier African formations like Egypt in North Africa, Nubia and Axum in North East Africa, Ghana and Mali in West Africa and Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe in Southern Africa produced different political and economic systems of governance relative to their environments.
This unity of purpose among the people attracted a lot of studies ranging from those by pre-colonial travellers, missionaries, colonialists, anthropologists and historians opposed to this peaceful setup.
And to date, unity among black people remains a thorn in the flesh for whites.