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How lack of translation may have contributed to why the coup in Zimbabwe was not on the front pages of world News agencies

By Angela Kyolaba

All eyes on Zimbabwe! As the former liberator turned power hungry dictator of Zimbabwe until this November, Robert Mugabe was pushed to resign by a soft coup so to say, all media guns have been concentrated on this country for a month long reporting from almost all countries and languages worldwide.

the Disgraced Mugabes
Robert Mugabe and his wife before the ‘soft coup’.

Stories from this country are being told from all possible and un thought of angles ever since the an unforeseen coup took charge of the country that was headed by former president Robert Mugabe for 3 solid decades first as a Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and then till 2017 as the President. It is well known that although he led the country to a long awaited independence and change of name from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe and from white rule, as the years went by he unfortunately derailed this nation to an economic chaos, poverty, unemployment and very bad inflation as some say by the influence of his second wife ‘Gucci Grace’ who was by the way 40 years his junior. As she became a force to be reckoned within the ruling ZANU-PF for example, allegedly masterminding the sacking of the former Vice President, who is ironically the current head of state of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The Languages of Zimbabwe

Stories from Zimbabwe are being told in all types of languages as people from various countries, especially those struggling with power clinging dictators are having hot debates in their common languages about how to topple their own. We can see this all over social media with different people of all ages and statuses give their input on how Zimbabwe’s toppled leader gave hope to their countries too.

It should be noted that Zimbabwe holds the Guinness World Record of the country with the highest number of official languages and they are ;

Social media accounts and blogs by Zimbabweans were being updated every other minute with the unfolding events being reported mainly in English with a mixture of some of the above dialects that those in different languages did not understand unless translated

While facebook nowadays has translation options, however it is just developing when it comes to African languages and therefore many missed out on some important reports by eye witnesses that were carried out in Zimbabwean local dialects.

How important is translation in emergencies

Translation and interpretation come in handy when it comes to international emergencies such as the current Zimbabwe situation or the Myanmar alleged massacre of Rohingya Muslims by the country’s military leading this year to more than half a million of them fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as reported by the UN. This is because effective communication plays a major role for positive change to take place.

For example, while Zimbabweans were reporting about what they were witnessing first hand in their local dialects with a little English, the rest of Africa picked up on the then rumour however, there was no response or report from the big News agencies from other African countries and the rest of the world. This might have been the case because there was no professional translations taking place to convince the world the Mugabe’s last days were come.

At the end of the day, professional translation and interpreting services are inevitable for effective communication to take place.