Madiba museum embraces isiXhosa

EXHIBITION description labels at the Nelson Mandela Museum are being translated into isiXhosa.

The project is being run by the museum in conjunction with the Pan South African Language Board (PanSalb).

The project was launched yesterday at the Nelson Mandela Museum Bhunga Building in Mthatha during the international Mother Language Day celebrations.

PanSalb provincial manager Xolisa Tshongolo said the purpose was to make museums appealing to people from rural communities.

“This museum is filled with pictures and texts that tell Madiba’s story, but the text is all in English and the truth is that many rural people don’t understand English.

“This turns the museum into a space reserved for those who understand English and that is not how it is meant to be.

“Yes Madiba was an international icon and most of his speeches were made in English, but as we celebrate his centenary this year, it is important we make all that he said available in a language that the people from his home province can understand,” he said.

The plan was to make the translations available in all four main languages of the province – Xhosa, Afrikaans, Sesotho and English.

“This project is about the preservation of Madiba’s legacy but also of the Xhosa language because in a country where we have 11 languages, no language should have dominance,” Tshongolo said

Museum CEO Bonke Tyhulu said the museum’s recently published booklet, Nelson Mandela’s

Values, would also be translated.