CLAIM: Zimbabwe has 16 official languages
SOURCE: Africa Facts Zone on X, formerly Twitter
VERDICT: True
Zimbabwe is home to almost 16 million people. 15,178,979, to be exact, as of the 20th of April 2022.
The country is home to people of diverse cultures and languages.
The question of Zimbabwe’s official languages has been a subject of debate following a post by @africafactszone, ‘African Countries with the Most Official Languages
1. Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 (16)
2. South Africa 🇿🇦 (12)
3. Rwanda 🇷🇼 (4)
4. Burundi 🇧🇮, Comoros 🇰🇲, Seychelles 🇸🇨 (3 each)’
Some accounts disputed this.
@_penaldo007 responded, ‘Lol I’m from Zim, we only have 3, Shona, Ndebele, English.Stop the proliferation’, with @togaraseyilaw concurring, ‘Zimbabwe only has Ndebele, Shona & English as official languages.’
Another account, @blavkredd, had a slightly different take on the languages, ‘Zimbabwe culturally , practically & historically has three languages , Shona , English & Ndebele; technically and constitutionally 16 languages that hear & decipher each other’.
An official language can be defined as ‘a language chosen by a country’s government to conduct its official business’. It is typically used within the government, as the language of education, and in the legal system.
In most of Africa, colonialism is the reason for having some languages as official ones. Most of these official languages are the coloniser’s language used in former colonies decades after independence such as English in Anglophone countries, French in Francophone and Portuguese in Lusophone Africa.
Zimbabwe does indeed have 16 official languages. Article 6 of the Zimbabwean constitution state that:
- The following languages, namely Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa, are the officially recognised languages of Zimbabwe.
- An Act of Parliament may prescribe other languages as officially recognised languages and may prescribe languages of record.
- The State and all institutions and agencies of government at every level must–
- ensure that all officially recognised languages are treated equitably; and
- take into account the language preferences of people affected by governmental measures or communications.
- The State must promote and advance the use of all languages used in Zimbabwe, including sign language, and must create conditions for the development of those languages.
However, it is true that English, Ndebele and Shona are still the languages primarily used in most official communication in Zimbabwe.
Conclusion
It is true that Zimbabwe has 16 official languages. This is an increase from the 3 which were recognised in the old constitution. Although Zimbabwe has the most official languages in Africa, it does not hold the Guinness book of record in the world. This is held by Bolivia, with 37 languages in its constitution.
