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"What Ubunto Means" by Alex Wainwright, D Litt et Phil (Letters, August 26-September 1) refers.
While I would hate to challenge someone as knowledgeable as he obviously is, in the interests of fairness I would like to confirm with him that — according to the extensive research I didn’t do — the word "ubuntu" comes from the Zulu phrase "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu", which apparently translates to "a person is a person through other people", which itself might be rephrased as "I am because of who we all are", and even shortened to "I am because we all are".
But in the end, what difference does it really make? As long as we consider other people in our daily dealings and treat them as we would wish to be treated ourselves, everything should be fine, no matter what we feel "ubuntu" should mean.
Dave Stephens Kommetjie
The FM welcomes concise letters from readers. They can be sent tofmmail@fm.co.za
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Actions speak louder than ‘ubuntu’
"What Ubunto Means" by Alex Wainwright, D Litt et Phil (Letters, August 26-September 1) refers.
While I would hate to challenge someone as knowledgeable as he obviously is, in the interests of fairness I would like to confirm with him that — according to the extensive research I didn’t do — the word "ubuntu" comes from the Zulu phrase "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu", which apparently translates to "a person is a person through other people", which itself might be rephrased as "I am because of who we all are", and even shortened to "I am because we all are".
But in the end, what difference does it really make? As long as we consider other people in our daily dealings and treat them as we would wish to be treated ourselves, everything should be fine, no matter what we feel "ubuntu" should mean.
Dave Stephens
Kommetjie
The FM welcomes concise letters from readers. They can be sent to fmmail@fm.co.za
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LETTER: What ubuntu means
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