Language experts have shunned Pan South African Language Board’s explanation about the Xitsonga translation of Reserve Bank appearing in the new bank notes that have caused tongues wagging.

The new R100 note has a Xitsonga translation of Reserve Bank as Bangikulu while the old one had Banginkulu. The error was spotted by Xitsonga speakers who raised the alarm. Pan South African Language Board (Pansalb) explained that the extra ‘N’ was incorrect on the old notes because ‘N’ is only used when referring to a person and not an institution.

Experts have disputed the explanation, saying in African cosmology there is no “it” versus human. They argued that in African cosmology entities that involve human beings like house or banks were accorded a human status.

Professor Tinyiko Maluleke said the Pansalb explanation was thin and misleading. Maluleke said in many African languages the line between non-humans and humans is very thin. Experts are calling for Reserve Bank to revert back to the correct name Banginkulu.

“Let me try to follow his own logic, the “nk” is used for human beings, you then remove “n” when your refer to non-human entities. There is no Xitsonga writer or speaker who will relate to this spelling because this notion that you can distinguish between humans and non-humans is way off the mark.

“In Xitsonga and many other African languages, entities that have a huge impact on human beings or the ones that house them or have human-like in their characteristics are accorded human status. That is why we say ‘what is the municipality going to say when you switch off the municipality water.”

“Municipality becomes a human being in many African languages and it is treated as an entity like a human being. When we refer to a house, we use human-like prefixes and suffixes to describe them because this is our cosmology. “What we have is nine noun classes which speak to our philosophy as people.

"They are not about gender it versus human but they are about classes of things which include human beings. “Humans don’t stand outside the environment in African cosmology and banks don’t stand outside the human space. Their attempt to justify this is really off the mark.”

Reserve Bank spokesperson Thoraya Pandy said: “We consulted with Pansalb because it is a requirement and we are dealing with a national currency. “In this case, this national currency belongs to the country and the statutory body assigned by the government to deal with language matters is Pansalb. “The previous spelling was also signed off by Pansalb.

“In 2022, they updated the languages, including Xitsonga. But this was changed because we were printing new notes. What we are doing now is that we are consulting further, at the end of the day Pansalb is the authority that decides on it.”

Xitsonga historian and author of Rixaka Ra Vatsonga, Ntsako Shivambu said: “According to the standardised version of Xitsonga which has been used for more than a century, Banginkulu is the correct way.. in which we write in Xitsonga.

The new version which is Bangikulu without an “n” is influenced by people who stay in Malamulele [Limpopo]. Those people speak a Nguni dialect called Tekela, which was spoken centuries ago and are influenced by Venda speakers.

Even the translation of the Reserve Bank that they are using is incorrect. The correct translation of Reserve Bank is Bangi e le Xikari. Reserve Bank is not a big bank, it is a central bank I don’t know where they get these translators.”