HARARE, Jul 10 (NewsDay Live) -The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has contracted the Midlands State University (MSU) to translate its client service charter into the country's 16 official languages in order to make government information more accessible and inclusive.
The ministry said the initiative aims to strengthen stakeholder participation, industry-standard compliance and public feedback channels to support inclusive economic growth.
Section 6 of the Constitution recognises 16 languages as having equal official status. These are Shona, Ndebele, Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Sign Language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, and Xhosa.
Under the contract, the MSU National Language Institute - a specialised unit offering translation, interpreting, transcription and sign-language services, among others - will translate the charter, which sets out the service standards the public and industry stakeholders expect from the ministry.
The ministry said translating the document into local languages was central to the success of the national economic empowerment agenda and the rural industrialisation drive, arguing that citizens need to understand government service standards in their own languages to meaningfully participate in economic activity.
The High Court recently called for the mandatory translation of workplace codes of conduct into all 16 official languages. Justice Regis Dembure gave the Registrar of Labour and the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister three months to ensure existing and newly registered codes were made available in all official languages, following a public interest application by lawyer and Labour Association of Zimbabwe founding president Caleb Mucheche, who argued that keeping disciplinary codes in English alone disenfranchised the majority of workers.
Since then, government ministries and agencies have faced growing pressure to comply with the constitutional requirement.
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