Zulu Word for Oppression

Oppression. Where does the noun come from, pressing too hard? Let’s have a Zulu lesson about it.

To oppress is cindezela in Zulu. We will deal with the verb today because the noun incidezelo, will injure your tongue.

Oppression, which can be blatant or latent, is part of life. Capitalism, apartheid, slavery and religion are quite blatant. Wife abuse is latent until women have swollen eyes or die at the hands of their husbands. Some mothers tell daughters to grin and bear because they tolerated it, so did their grandmothers and great grandmothers.

Oppression can also come from grown up kids who regularly extort money from ageing parents or force them to sell the family home, pocket the money and send them to old age institutions.

In townships, some unemployment grand children demand pension money from grandparents. Born to shop is oppression, self oppression that is.

Ci-nde-ze-la.  The first part is pronounced as the expression Ci! Ci! Ci!  The second part is pronounced as in endemic, the third part as is zebra and the last one as in lucky.

ZULU	ENGLISH
U-ya-ngi-cindezela u-Boris.	Boris is oppressing me.
U-ya-ngi-cindezela u-Greta.	Greta is oppressing me.
O-basi ba-cindezela aba-sebenzi.	Bosses oppress workers.
I-ya si-cindezela i-tax.	Taxes oppress us.
Musa u-ku-ngi-cindezela.	Don’t oppress me.
A-ma-doda a-cindezela a-be-sifazane.	Men oppress women.
A-bezwe ba-cindezela a-ba-fikayo.	Locals oppress immigrants.
U-Moise wa-ngi-cindezela ka-khulu.	Moise oppressed me too much.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.