Judge Urges Interpreters To Learn Slang To Accomodate Young People In Court Proceedings
High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi has encouraged all court interpreters to familiarise themselves with street lingo to better accommodate young people, particularly Generation Z (Gen Z), who may use slang during court proceedings.
Gen Z typically encompasses individuals born from the mid-1990s to the early 2010s and is characterized by growing up in a digital age heavily influenced by technology and social media.
According to NewZimbabwe.com, Justice Mutevedzi made this suggestion while delivering his judgment in a case involving two brothers, Eric and Brian Kagoro, who were accused of patricide.
The crucial witness in the case was their younger brother, who testified in Shona. However, his testimony was rife with street lingo, posing a challenge for the interpreter who struggled to translate accurately for the court due to the unfamiliarity with the terms used.
Despite repeated reminders to speak in proper Shona, the boy frequently lapsed into slang, using phrases such as “ngezha ikabva yajamuka.”
After some difficulty, the interpreter clarified that this phrase simply referred to the father’s anger. Said Mutevedzi:
It then occurred to us that the transformation that our indigenous languages are undergoing is unrestrained.
The youth are prepared to obliterate the languages to suit their tastes and times.
At the rate they are doing it, Shona, Ndebele and other local languages face the risk of extinction.
The courts will be faced more and more with witnesses who speak such mixed languages.
As shown in this trial, the youngsters are non-conformists yet their evidence may be vital for the resolution of cases in court. The language barrier must be broken.
Court interpreters must therefore find a way of bridging that gap instead of expecting today’s generation to bend backwards.
The only way out is for court interpreters to learn the jargon and integrate it into the formal languages before interpreting it into the official court language.
The court heard that the teenager was dearly loved by his father who gave him all the attention which angered his elder brothers.
It was alleged the brothers, driven by jealousy, also hated their father for it so much that they ultimately decided to kill him.
The court heard they killed their father by tripping him to the ground and strangling him.
It was the State’s case that on 19 June 2022 at around 4 PM, the accused persons and the deceased had a misunderstanding.
The two accused persons confronted their father accusing him of always favouring his youngest son, Kaphas.
Prosecutors proved that Eric tripped the deceased, and sat on him before strangling him.
He then stood up and grabbed a wooden log intending to use it to deliver the final blow to the deceased, but his attempt was thwarted by Godfrey Kachutu.
According to court testimony, Eric and Brian later armed themselves with wooden logs and pursued the deceased, who attempted to flee. Kaphas and Tsungrirai, another sibling, followed.
Just outside the family homestead, Eric began strangling the deceased, while Brian immobilised him by holding his father’s head between his legs.
Kaphas and Tsungirirai intervened, restraining the accused individuals and then escorting their father back to his kitchen hut.
The following day, the father collapsed and was subsequently transported to Marondera Provincial Hospital. He passed away on 22 June 2022.
Eric and Brian denied the allegations but the court ruled that they committed the offence. Ruled Mutevedzi:
Accordingly, we are satisfied that the prosecution managed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that both the accused are guilty of murder.
The court therefore directs that both accused be and are hereby found guilty of murder.
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