CONTEXT | How Nokuzola Capa turned Steenhuisen's moonshot into 'dubula inyanga' slogan: What was he saying?

DA leader John Steenhuisen, in translating the “moonshot pact” slogan to “dubula inyanga” at the party’s manifesto launch at the weekend, was not calling for shooting of traditional healers but rather echoing deputy minister Nokuzola Capa’s Xhosa translation of the Multiparty Charter's catchy phrase. 

Steenhuisen has been in the spotlight after imitating Capa’s translation of “moonshot” during the DA’s election manifesto launch at the Union Buildings at the weekend.  

Last week Capa, the deputy minister of agriculture, rural development and land reform, left MPs laughing when she directly translated moonshot to “dubula inyanga” in Xhosa during the state of the nation (Sona) debate.  

“There is something new called ‘ukudutyulwa kwenyanga’ [the shooting of moon]. The moon [they are aiming to shoot] is none other than the ANC. There are people who say they have power, they are uniting and calling others to support a plan to shoot the moon.

“This plan is to oust the ANC from leadership. In this plan they are also calling on close associates of the ANC, saying: ‘Come let us betray it and oust it from power because it made things right for you’,” Capa said. 

Steenhuisen wasted no time and adopted the “dubula inyanga” phrase — but his version was misinterpreted by some people.

In Zulu, dubula means “shoot”, while inyanga can mean either “moon”, “month” or “traditional healer”.

Short clips of Steenhuisen's speech, without context, circulated on social media with the phrase translated in isiZulu, which means “shoot a traditional healer”. 

“This past week in parliament, they told us that the moonshot pact is their biggest fear. They were so obsessed with the moonshot that some of them were shouting ‘dubula inyanga’,” Steenhuisen said:

“Let me tell you, dubula inyanga — that is exactly what we are going to do in this election because we’ve got the size, we’ve got the people and we’ve got the experience, we’ve got the track record and we’ve got a plan to rescue this beautiful country before it’s too late.”

The moonshot pact, now called the Multiparty Charter, is made up of opposition political parties planning to form a coalition to oust the governing ANC in the 2024 provincial and national elections.

The charter consists of the DA, IFP, Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, African Christian Democratic Party, United Independent Movement, Spectrum National Party and United Christian Democratic Party.

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