In all the change and chaos this week brought to things in general, what with last-minute about-turns and an 11th-hour resignation, there was one little gem that I choose to pick out. It involves hippopotami, crocodiles, and isaga sesiZulu (a Zulu proverb). You see, just before 18:30 on Wednesday (usuku lwezithandani, futhi) I was on […]
Tag: uKhozi FM
Umuntu uyakhuluma, kodwa iSilo siyaphefumula. A person speaks, but the ‘Beast’ ‘breathes’. This was just one thing I figured out a little while ago, on the birthday of the current ruling monarch (iSilo) of the amaZulu, uNgangezwe-lakhe, uHlanga-lomhlabathi, uBhejan’ophum’es’qiwini. Out of respect, I shall not refer to this person by his igama. If you are […]
On Wednesday, the report was made public. You must know which one I’m talking about – it’s all anyone can talk about. And while I’m interested in many aspects of it, for me the choice of language on uKhozi FM was… enlightening. You see, two weeks ago, the phrase for ‘state capture’ was ukugwamanqa kombuso. […]
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 […]
I just read that the SABC will no longer show footage of violent protests. I almost have no words. I understand that there might be issues around showing violence in general, but there is also the imperative to report accurately on what is happening in South Africa every day. It happens in many many parts of […]
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 […]
Iconoclasm – etymology: Ancient Greek, eikono-klazo (statue-smash). I’ve been listening to, and reading, reports on our recent spate of statue-phobia ngesiZulu recently – it’s been difficult not to do so, what with catchy hashtags and clashing rhetoric and escalating levels of mutual disrespect becoming the order of things. Iconoclasm is tricky business, you see. Whose icons do […]
Every Monday morning, Mr Magic’s show has a section called Hlaziya ipolitiki ngolimi lwakho (Analyse Politics in your Language). This morning, I caught the show in time to record it, and have since transcribed it, selected some choice bits, and translated them here for you (with some attention to discourse, as usual). Each of these […]
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*thi and its routes, again
Thi and its routes, again. “…bakhona abanohlelo oluTHIze…” There are people with certain ‘agendas’, as opposed to ‘plans’, …as part of a conversation between uKhozi FM’s political analyst and the Vuka Mzansi presenter, Linda Sibiya, Mr Magic. The relative (a type of qualificative word in isiZulu – adjectives, relatives, enumeratives and possessives all ‘qualify’ the […]
This morning, listening to uKhozi as usual on my way to work, I heard the latest incarnation of the ‘No Limits’ adverts for Telkom. And it’s worse. I didn’t think it could be, but it is. It seems that, in their effort to cling to the English phrase ‘No Limits’, they’ve found another word to […]
uMabhengwane 