The language is the mother tongue of over 300 000 people
who originate mainly from Mashonaland Central province.
The Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and
Security Services last week recommended the amendment of Section 6 of the
Constitution in a report tabled before the National Assembly.
Zimbabwe currently has 16 official languages.
In December 2019, the committee received a petition from
the Chikunda Language and Culture Association (CHILCA) to amend Section 6 and
include Chikunda as one of the official languages.
Presenting a report on the petition, committee chairperson
Albert Nguluvhe said Government should immediately set up a committee to effect
the amendment.
He said an amendment Bill should be ready by June 30.
“The committee recommends that an inter-ministerial
committee comprising the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage and the
Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs be established to come up
with a Constitutional Amendment Bill, which provides for official language
status to Chikunda and other indigenous languages by 30 June 2021.
“The Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and
Security Services fully supports the call for official recognition of the
Chikunda language by the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
“It is the committee’s fervent hope that the responsible
authorities will appreciate this noble cause and consider the remaining
indigenous languages for official language status in order to promote cultural
diversity in nation-building and national development.
“There is more to benefit from this realisation than there
is to lose when nationals take pride in their traditions and participate in the
development of their sovereign state by freely expressing themselves in their
own mother tongue.”
He said failure to recognise the language deprived
individuals of their identity and undermined language rights.
Several other indigenous languages are not recognised
despite being spoken by sizeable communities, he said.
“Research shows that the Chikunda-speaking people,
populated mainly in the Mashonaland Central Province, are scattered on farms,
mines and urban settlements across provinces in the country.”
“It is estimated that they number over 300 000, with the
majority of them concentrated in areas around the Mukumbura and Kanyemba
borderline.”
He added: “The committee noted that Chikunda is largely a
cross-border language spoken in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia, as is the case
with various other cross-border languages like Changana (Zimbabwe, South Africa
and Mozambique), Kalanga and Tswana (Zimbabwe and Botswana), Tonga and Chewa
(Zimbabwe and Zambia) and Venda (Zimbabwe and South Africa), among others.
“That some cross-border languages are officially recognised
by the Constitution while Chikunda and other indigenous languages were left
out.”
Currently, Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan,
Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana,
Venda and Xhosa are the official languages of Zimbabwe. Sunday Mail
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