Bulawayo residents and those from surrounding areas have expressed outrage over the deployment of non-Ndebele speaking teachers in the region after that Ministry of Education released names of teachers to be deployed to different parts of the country.
Most of the teachers deployed into the Matabeleland region have Shona surnames according to reports.
A parent from Bulawayo who declined to be named for fear of victimisation who spoke to the Daily News said:
We cannot appreciate the deployment of teachers who cannot even communicate in local languages at the expense of equally qualified locals, right now my Grade 3 daughter speaks proper Shona yet she is clueless when it comes to Ndebele words, which is really not fair.
A Mthwakazi activist, Presia Ngulube had this to say:
The deployment of non-local languages speaking teachers in Matabeleland in large numbers by the government is not new and is also not a coincidence.
It is a deliberate attempt to destroy Matabeleland identity, language and culture from the grassroots.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said that all stakeholders should be involved in the deployment of teachers. He said:
This mammoth responsibility cannot be left to five people sitting in an office at PSC, and to avoid such things government should involve stakeholders such that those with qualifications are selected properly.
The coincidence that there are 90 per cent Shona names raises eyebrows even when we know there are several who are born there. What of the Nambya, Tonga, Venda, Kalanga and Sotho names? Some who were there on the first list?