No more butchering of my name

IAM REALLY fed up with people who mispronounce and misspell African names, more than anything. We are not even in the third week of the new year but I have already seen my name spelt in three different incorrect ways.

My name is not Khabelo, it is also not Kablo and it is definitely not Kabalo. It is so frustrating, because these wrong spellings of my name are from people who would have received an email with the correct spelling of my name. How do you not have the decency to double-check the spelling of my name when unsure of how it is spelt?

As for pronunciations, I could literally strangle someone. Even black South Africans are guilty: the Sotho speakers butcher Zulu, Xhosa and Venda names; the Nguni speakers also massacre Sotho names.

I have heard the Xhosa name Chuma pronounced as “tumour”. Seriously, it is that bad. I don’t even want to talk about English and Afrikaans speakers. Most of them are hopeless. But if you ever mix up the “u” and “i” in the surname Pretorius, the swearing is endless.

I have so much respect for my name, I have even resorted to the shortened name KayBee to avoid the assassination of my beautiful Sepedi name, Kabelo.

Again, my surname is spelt with a “C”. Stop calling me Shabalala or Tshabalala or anything along those lines. It is C-h-a-b-a-l-a-l-a. In 2018 and beyond, I am going to ignore anyone who butchers my name or surname. Show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T!