BINGA women, Abbigal Muleya who received a special mention from United States President Barack Obama at the Young African Leaders Initiative summit when he addressed 500 fellows in Washington DC in July, has added her weight behind the teaching of Tonga in Binga schools, giving a major boost to the Binga Rural District Council’s resolution a month ago. Richard Muponde Senior Reporter
The Binga council passed a resolution banning the teaching of Ndebele in all schools in the district in a move it said was aimed at promoting the Tonga language and preserving traditional values.
In an interview on Friday at her base in Binga, where she is a monitoring and evaluation officer for Zubo Trust, a women empowerment group, Muleya said teaching of Tonga in Binga was a must if the district was to develop.
“What I have learnt as a person who studied African languages and culture, is that for a community to develop they should learn their mother language,” she said.
“For Tonga pupils to learn English and Ndebele is to overburden them.
“The whole idea is not to ban Ndebele, but promote Tonga language.
“They should learn their mother language, so that we develop our community.
“I learnt Shona by acquisition and I believe these children will also learn Ndebele similarly.”
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Muleya said she had participated in editing and typing Tonga textbooks working with Tonga Languages Committee (Tolaco), an organisation that champions the preservation of Tonga culture.
Tolaco has produced a series of ChiTonga textbooks for primary and secondary education called ChiTonga Bwanachilo and Lusumpuko.
In 2011, a major milestone was achieved when Tonga was officially tested in the Grade 7 examinations for the first time since independence.
Turning to her US trip, Muleya, who jetted back home last Monday after a six-week stint, said she had learnt that innovation and creativity could create employment and fight poverty.
“Like our projects in Binga, we have been innovative and creative,” she said.
“Binga is a place of opportunities. It is virgin land and a proper utilisation of the resources would see our community develop.”
Muleya’s journey to the US that began with a seven-hour bus ride from Binga to Harare became Obama’s anecdote of determination when he addressed 500 Washington fellows during the presidential summit in July at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC.
Muleya, a Midlands State University African languages and Culture graduate, was attached to Tulane University in New Orleans as part of 30 young Zimbabwean leaders who were selected to participate in the inaugural Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, an initiative Obama announced in 2013 as part of the Young African Leaders Initiative.
