No to everything British but their language: Re-thinking English language and politics in Zimbabwe (2000 - 2008)

Abstract

Drawing on postcolonial theories and discourses, this paper provides another look at where the English language meets with politics, political propaganda and ZANU PF struggles for legitimacy in 21st century Zimbabwe. The paper is conceived against the well known anti-British and anti-west stance of the ZANU PF political elite, which reached its crescendo from 2000 onwards. While denouncing everything else British, President Robert Mugabe and those around him have continued to hold onto the English language (a legacy of British colonial rule in Zimbabwe) to the extent of retaining it as the country's sole official language, perfecting it and probably being more fluent in it than the native speakers. Whereas the hypocrisy of the ZANU PF anti-British and anti-west rhetoric has been analysed in the context of their appetite for western style dress codes and shopping sprees in western fashion capitals, their love for the British language has so far not been subjected to any systematic academic scrutiny. The following questions have not been addressed: Why has the English language remained insulated from the anti-British political discourse in Zimbabwe? Does this mean English has been appropriated, nativised/indigenized and therefore, no longer seen as part of the colonial legacy? What purpose does the English language serve in the anti-British and anti-west propaganda in Zimbabwe? What does the Zimbabwe case study tell us about the pragmatic and symbolic functions of English in postcolonial Africa?