With the little there is, Ndebele people bitterly complain about systematic discrimination. He goes on. This is due partly to discrimination against qualified Ndebele students and partly to the poor quality of education in Matabeleland. Out of 18 secondary schools in the region, only two teach science. Gibson Sibanda, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, says that most apprentices at the National Railways of Zimbabwe's headquarters in Bulawayo are not locals.
Language is a sore point.
Where peasants speak little or no Shona, nurses, police and customs officers don't speak Ndebele. Two weeks ago, when the Ndebele-speaking old mother of George Mkhwanazi, a Zapu 2000 supporter, went to the clinic in Tsholotsho, the nurse could not understand her. Mkhwanazi still bristles at this. As protest mounted, UZ cancelled the ad, The Herald blamed it on the advertising agency and the agency blamed it on computer gremlins. But, as Mhlanga points out, that the racial blunder was not picked up at any stage of production speaks for itself.