President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday he was disturbed by a newspaper report that his government had refused to help fund a project aimed at preventing a San language from becoming extinct, and stated that he was making an undertaking to do so.
”It can’t be possible that we allow the death of a great store of human knowledge… in a language,” he said at the National eacher Awards ceremony in Pretoria.
”It’s not just a language. With it carries many things — philosophy, the dignity of the people… ”
Mbeki was referring to a report in The Star on Thursday about the death of Elsie Vaalbooi, who was one of only eight people who could still speak N/u, the last of the !Ui language family. She was estimated to be between 98 and 107 years old. The remaining speakers are all older than 70.
The president said people were working hard and fast to ensure that the language did not become extinct. He had read that a request for government funds had been turned down.
”I was puzzled by this.”
He spoke to Arts and Culture Minister Ben Ngubane about the matter on Thursday, who had said he knew nothing about it and would investigate.
”I will check with him tomorrow… We could not consider that it must die… because we can’t find R10 somewhere.”
Mbeki stressed the importance of education to eliminate ignorance as an obstacle to development. ”We must instill a sense of pride in being educated,” he told the audience.
”We have to lower the impact of the concept that the new society, brought about by the new government, has an obligation to look after me… that the government will deliver.
”We need to say to our people it is so much better if the government delivers to us the capacity to deliver to yourself.” That was a critical element for the dignity of a human being, and teachers were of central importance in that regard, Mbeki said. – Sapa