Some ideas marinate for a long time before reaching the right moment to come forth. I had written the words down on an envelope, about 9 months ago. That envelope has travelled with me all over, tucked into the depths of whatever bag I was carrying or floating freely in the back of my car. […]
Tag: ANC
The idea of choice is at the heart of an election. E-leg-ere is a Latin verb, meaning ‘to pick out’ or ‘to select’ from a list of candidates. And the Zulu verb uku-khetha means exactly the same thing. I’ve spoken about it before, I think. I should have, at any rate – my darling wife’s […]
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Sholoza, Msholozi
I couldn’t help but see you, on my drive home. There, the size of a building, is the message in yellow and black and green. And there you are, your face many times its actual size, staring out. I could see you, but I presume that you couldn’t see me. Unlike many political adverts, such […]
I recently wrote a post on the DA’s election posters, looking specifically at their choice of imifakela (borrowed words) in their Zulu campaign. I was rather disparaging of the ANC’s efforts, as I had not yet seen anything from them in any vernacular. The other day, I went for a walk in my neighbourhood. As […]
It was with some surprise that I heard the news – uKhongolose is intending to charge Malema with treason. Surprise turned to curiosity (of course) about the linguistic aspects of the word. Treason. Firstly, the technical term for the charge (in Latin, of course) is maiestas. As a legal concept, it’s as old as the […]
The last time I looked at the election posters, I focused on a subtle difference in word choice. The ruling party chose a verb that signified a gang mentality, overpowering a submissive public into continuing to vote for them. The blue house chose something different, opting for using isiZulu’s penchant for reciprocity. This time round, […]
I was 10. I remember that, because so many things happened that year. I remember you, in your first version – the A4 Interim Constitution of 1994. I still have it, sitting in my bookshelf – a pale blue cover, printed on the same paper as the last Apartheid laws. I wonder who was commissioned […]
As I sat in my car, mentally preparing myself for my journey to my new job (or rather my new position at my old job, down in the South), I contemplated doing what I used to do – switching on the radio, tuning in to uKhozi FM and listening to the news in isiZulu. But […]
Discourse analysis is about asking two questions about word choice (diction) and sentence structure – “why?” and “why not?”. For example: “WHY did the ANC choose to use the word hlanganyela on their isiZulu election posters?” and “WHY did the ANC choose NOT to use other words for togetherness on their isiZulu election posters?” The […]
uMabhengwane 