Rain Queen calling for a 12th official language
After years of dismal performance in the senior certificate (gr 12) examination, the Balobedu clan under the tutelage of the Modjadji Rain Queen wants Khelobedu to be made the country's 12th official language.
LIMPOPO – The Modjadjies, with a population of over one million people along the Great Letaba River between Giyani and the Makgobaskloof escarpment, claimed their children continue to fail because they are forced to translate the mother tongue which is Khelobedu into Sepedi during exams.
The Chairperson for the Modjadji royal council and family, John Malaltji said children comprehend better in class when they learn in their mother tongue.
“We pleaded with former President Nelson Mandela for Khelobedu to be recognised as the official language for the sake of the future of our children,” Malatji told CV yesterday.
“We also asked from him a health centre, a tar road, an agricultural college, a hotel, vehicles for the queen, a maths and science school and our status to be changed from chieftaincy to that of queenship.”
They say the former statesman granted all of their requests, except for Khelobedu to be recognised as an official language.
“He promised that the government of the day would make it possible for us to realise our dream. But we are still pleading,” said Malatji.
The Modjadji royal family’s plea was supported by the Chairperson of the Kara Heritage Institute, Mathole Motshekga who said most children from Bolobedu failed matric because they failed their first language.
“We have taken the plea by the Modjadji Royal family to parliament to jolt the matter and we believe it is just a matter of time for Balobedu children to start using their mother tongue in their classrooms,’ added Motshekga.
Motshekga said the royal family and council were working hand in glove with intellectuals develop literature and novel books written in Khelobedu.
Educationalist and Khelobedu author, Pastor Ngwako Mahlakahlaka Molewa says the fact that children write in Sepedi when they actually speak Khelobedu was morally and culturally incorrect: “This means our children are called foreigners in their own country of birth. It means the language of their parents is less important and those of other people such as Sepedi, Setsawana and others was important. That is degrading and insulting.”
“”We are tired of hearing our children speaking English or Setswana when they are in Gauteng or elsewhere just because they feel inferior speaking in their mother tongue in public.
“We want them to speak and write in Khelobedu so that they keep and preserve their culture,”he said.
