South Africa is a country that is in conflict with its self. Every day, we wake up to news of robbery, rape, corruption or racism. The shooting and killings have become normal in our society due to the high rate of these incidents. Therefore, it will make sense that South Africans are living their daily lives in fear of the uncertainty of the future.
In all that I have mentioned above, the war of racism is the most dreadful war. The tension between blacks and whites is rapidly widening and thus threating the stability and peace for future generations.
To show how deep the fight against racism, it is by law a criminal act to call blacks the k-word. The shutting down of H&M stores by EFF South Africa further rubber stamp the tension between whites and blacks. We are a society living on a time ticking bomb. Any mistake by whites toward blacks or vice versa could lead to undesirable action by affected group. This leaves us with many questions. Is our approach to racism really as effective and sustainable as it should? Are we solving the issue of racism by criminalising acts of racism? Do we change attitude by instilling fear in whites?
Now, after being employed by Nelson Mandela University (2018) to assist Dr Tshazibana in the faculty of education with IsiXhosa Conversational (code PXAZ112), I discovered a fundamental approach to racism. IsiXhosa Conversational is a year module (subject) offered to all students who enrol with education faculty and did not learn IsiXhosa at high school. This module aim to equip these prospectus teachers with ability to converse in IsiXhosa and be able to learn basic concepts in IsiXhosa.
After six months, you can see a difference where student teachers are able to introduce themselves in IsiXhosa. There some of them that have since learned silly IsiXhosa names from their fellow IsiXhosa speaking friends. On social media, I have seen white people talking IsiXhosa and IsiZulu fluently to the amazement of black people. Now this brings understanding to one another where, whites could now understand the offensive words toward blacks. And even better, it bring together two nation living in one constant, but in consent war with one another.
The point that I am bringing to the surface is that Multiracial schools, should voluntary build a united society by introducing regional Nguni languages (e.g. IsiXhosa, IsiZulu, Sesotho, Setswana, etc.) to their schools. Importantly, is that schools should not force the intake of these Nguni languages, but should encourage the parents to allow their pupils to study these Nguni languages. The offering of these Nguni languages should be for the purposes of conversational and proper understanding of Nguni concepts.
Pupils understanding should not therefore, be measured through formal assessment, but through pupils growing understanding and proper pronouncement of Nguni concepts. The idea is to better the communication amongst citizens. This should be done from as early as grade R and continued until grade 8. Importantly, this should not, whatsoever, be enforced but should be encouraged.
