Nhau News Online News that is accurate, reliable, trustworthy!!
Hwange’s Nambya community has lauded the Second Republic’s inclusion of provisions that mandate public and private entities to accommodate minority languages when the public seeks information from them.
This follows the promulgation of the Freedom of Information Act (FIA) an enabler of access to information.
Communities in Hwange district where there are numerous minority languages had gone for years ex-communicated as entities mainly tolerated main languages such as English and isiNdebele.
Reads Section 16 of the FIA:
“(1) Information must be provided to an applicant in such officially recognised language as the applicant requests.
“(2) Where an entity does not hold the information in the requested language, the entity concerned shall endeavour to translate it into the requested language and may recover the reasonable costs of the translation from the applicant.”
Daniel Chinyathi from the baNambya community said inclusion of minority languages was appropriate, an indication that the government upholds all indigenous languages in Zimbabwe.
He said FIA was relevant for closing the information gap created by language barriers.
“It is encouraging to see issues being raised or expressed in our own indigenous languages. This will also help developing our communities effectively through understanding as language barriers have been cleared.”
“If information is shared in our own languages, that information is better understood by almost every one. Pertinent issues such as the fight against child marriages and accommodation of gender equality are better expressed in our own languages,” Chinyathi said. Indaba
