Reflections on the new Zulu Edition of The Sunday Times

I am 100% in support of the promotion of indigenous languages by mainstream media. However, I simultaneously consider that in a country like ours, it is hard to distinguish when diversity is being celebrated and when the emphasis on diversity potentially reinforces difference and divide. Even if that divide is not intended, we cannot assume that it will have no negative consequences in the long run.

I begin to wonder if the new Zulu edition of The Sunday Times is for the Zulu-speaking person or is it targeting the KwaZulu-Natal Zulu-speaking person? As the paper wrote in an article announcing the new edition:

The newspaper, formally called the Sunday Times Zulu Edition, will be distributed throughout KwaZulu-Natal with the largest footprint being Durban, Pietermaritzburg and the Zululand district. This is the culmination of a project led by Avusa Media editor-in-chief Mondli Makhanya.

“We are extremely proud to be making a contribution to the growth of an indigenous language. This in no small way contributes towards us living up to our claim to be “The paper for the people.” In a democratic South Africa we can play a positive role in providing access to information in various languages with this edition meeting the needs of our Zulu-speaking readers,” says Makhanya.

Perhaps the paper should not applaud itself so much for being a Zulu language paper but for being a provincial edition (KwaZulu-Natal) newspaper. Why is it only available in KwaZulu- Natal when there are also many Zulu-speaking people in provinces like Gauteng?

With regards to issues of media and democracy, the paper is unlikely to make a big difference. There will be very limited access to the paper beyond the current readership of the English edition because the Durban, Pietermaritzburg and the Zululand districts are urban areas where the average person and the intended audience is literate and is already able to read (and access) the English edition. If the newspaper truly wants to be a “paper for the people”, it must seek to distribute its paper to the people in rural KwaZulu-Natal. That is, if their intention is indeed to “initiate conversations about issues that should be a priority on every KwaZulu-Natal reader’s agenda”.

What is the point of just focusing on the urban reader and not all citizens? As the media, are we not suppose to encourage every citizen to become a reader and a participant? So whose democracy is being enhanced by serving the same people you were serving before through just a different language? If the newspaper does not address – and not even attempt – to reach the rural KwaZulu-Natal reader, then maybe the aspect of democracy and being the “people’s paper” must be re-imagined and re-defined in this context. I am not against the newspaper maximizing profits. However, it does not help anyone if they hide behind the mask of democracy and claim to have the KwaZulu-Natal citizen as a priority to them.

I hypothesize that perhaps The Sunday Times’ interests lie with tapping an untouched market, whose potential has been evident through the publication and success of Zulu-language newspapers such as Isolezwe and Ilanga.

But nevertheless, congratulations to The Sunday Times on the Zulu Edition! Siyabonga. We hope you will soon come to Gauteng too.

Fezani Khumalo