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Grace addresses Mat'land rally in Shona

by Ndou Paul
14 Oct 2014 at 07:36hrs | Views

FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe yesterday addressed her meet-the-people in Gwanda in Shona without an interpreter leaving most of Zanu PF apologists from Matabeleland South struggling to comprehend her speech.

The new constitution recognizes 16 official languages in Zimbabwe and Matabeleland has the bulk of languages that includes Ndebele, Kalanga, Sotho, Tonga, Nambya, Tshwao and Venda but the decision to use Shona without an interpreter by the First Lady who claims to be a unifier of ‘divided' Zimbabweans became an own-goal.

This is not the first time a politician from the Northern part of the country has used Shona to address Matabeleland people who have more often decried marginalization by central government which allegedly favors the northern region.

Even President Mugabe, although he is rumored to be conversant in Ndebele, uses the bulk of Shona when addressing Matabeleland people.

To make matters worse, Grace used Shona in the presence of Minister of State in the President's office and Zanu PF chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo who a few months ago claimed to have summoned Education Minister Dokora over the deployment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in the region.

Speaking about family unity in Matabeleland Grace said Grace claimed that man from Matabeleland are only good at marrying and making babies instead of developing their areas, amidst cheers from senior Zanu PF leaders from Matabeleland.

Further to that, Grace also accused men from Matabeleland South for not developing themselves but just interested in going down south to Johannesburg to do menial jobs. This is the second time with two years that the first family has attacked the people from Matabeleland for the great trek to South Africa.

President Mugabe attracted huge attacks from the people of Matabeleland when he made the same remarks at the same venue last year. Dr Grace Mugabe also accused the men in the region of being rapists and abusers saying the region provides the highest statistic in terms of rape and women abuse.

Today the First Lady takes her rallies to Lupane also in Matabeleland.


Source - Byo24News