Africa-Press – Botswana. Making the use of Setswana compulsory in important public meetings would amount to discrimination against non-Setswana speaking tribes.
This was said by Assistant Minister for State President, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu in response to a Ntlo ya Dikgosi question on Monday tabled by Kgosi Oscar Mosielele of Moshupa region.
He had asked the minister if he did not deem it necessary for government officials to use Setswana when addressing the public during important meetings.
“As you may be aware, in Botswana we have other tribes that speak languages unrelated to Setswana, but Setswana continues to be the national language and as a result, it continues to be spoken widely in Botswana. It is used at kgotla meetings, during early childhood education in public schools and during debates at Ntlo ya Dikgosi and Parliament,” he said.Mr Mthimkhulu said there was nothing in the statutes that constrained the use of Setswana in meetings but that since Botswana was signatory to a number of international treaties and concessions, it was necessary to make English the medium of communication.
He said even though the Constitution of Botswana was silent on the issue of official languages, the country had adopted English as the official language while Setswana was a national language.
Given that Botswana had no formal language policy, the choice of language to use in meetings should be determined by the language one was conversant with and interpretation provided where necessary, said Mr Mthimkhulu.
Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Talita Monnakgotla has informed the house that her ministry had recognised two tribes in accordance with the Bogosi Act of 2008.
“These tribes are Basubiya who were recognised in April 2016 and Bayeyi who were recognised in May the same year. We note that recognising a tribe is a long process that starts from the tribe itself looking at its own history and other vital factors,” she said.
Ms Monnakgotla was responding to question from Kgosi Mosadi Seboko of Ga-Malete, who had wanted to know the number of tribes in Botswana that the ministry had recognised under the provisions of section three, part two of the Bogosi Act.
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