Judge urges interpreters to learn street lingo

Zimbabwean High Court judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi has urged all court interpreters to learn street lingo in a bid to accommodate youths using slang during court proceedings. Mutevedzi last week delivered his judgment in a case where ‘jealous’ brothers, Eric and Brian Kagoro were accused of killing their father. New Zimbabwe reports that the case was difficult as the testimony of the key witness, their younger brother, was riddled with street lingo which made it difficult for the interpreter to translate for the court as she had difficulty understanding it. The key witness is 17 and he chose to testify in Shona. Despite repeated admonishments to stick to proper Shona, the boy found himself frequently drifting into the comfort of his colloquialism. ‘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,’ the judge said, adding that ‘youngsters are non-conformists, yet their evidence may be vital for the resolution of cases in court’. Mutevedzi said court interpreters must therefore find a way of bridging that gap ‘instead of expecting today's generation to bend backwards’. The court heard that the suspects killed their father by strangling him on 19 June 2022. ‘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,’ Mutevedzi ruled.

Full New Zimbabwe report