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Communicative Strategies Used by Witnesses of the Leon and Phumaphi Commissions of Enquiry in Lesotho

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Communicative Strategies Used by Witnesses of the Leon and Phumaphi Commissions of Enquiry in Lesotho COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES USED BY WITNESSES OF THE LEON AND PHUMAPHI COMMISSIONS OF ENQUIRY IN LESOTHO By Mrs M. I. Mabena Submitted in accordance with the requirement for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Languages, Linguistics and Literature in the subject Languages, Linguistics and Literature at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA Supervisor: Dr K. Sobane January 2021 i DECLARATION Student number: 60969318 ‘I, Mampoi Irene Mabena, declare that ‘Communicative strategies used by witnesses of the Leon and Phumaphi Commissions of Enquiry in Lesotho’ is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. I further declare that I submitted the thesis/dissertation to originality checking software called Turnitin and that it falls within the accepted requirements for originality. I further declare that I have not previously submitted this work, or part of it, for examination at the University of South Africa for another qualification or at any other higher education. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The financial assistance of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), in collaboration with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NIHSS and CODESRIA. This study has been made possible by the contributions, sacrifice and unreserved support rendered to me by the individuals and organisations mentioned herein. First and foremost, I am thankful to Almighty God who gave me guidance, understanding and good health to go through this work. My dependency on Him yielded good results. Secondly, I wish to articulate my special appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Konosoang Sobane, for her uncompromising and constructive criticism which shaped this work. Her comments and guidance made this study possible. I thank her for initiating scholarship opportunities and ensuring that my journey was financially supported. Thirdly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to the National Institute and Social Sciences (NIHSS-CODESRIA) for awarding me a full scholarship for my doctoral study at the University of South Africa (UNISA). I truly appreciate the workshops and writing retreats that were organised for us. The mentors (Prof. Murray and Prof. Masemola) you provided were very resourceful and supportive. Fourthly, I wish to acknowledge the most helpful study group from the Lesotho College of Education for being so resourceful. I relied on their expertise to resolve complex Sesotho figurative expressions. In particular, I wish to signal my appreciation to Dr Khotso for reading this work and making constructive comments and criticism. I will ever cherish your desire to see others succeed. Fifthly, I must acknowledge the contributions made by Dr Thuube and People’s Choice FM for providing me with audio recordings. This work would not be, had it not been for their support. Lastly, but most importantly, I wish to commend the most important people in my life who directly felt the impact of my academic commitment. These are my husband (Samuel), my daughter (Siphiwe), my son (Thomas), my sisters Norma and Kuena, and my beloved parents Shuti and Tlama. They are an anchor of support in my life. I know that they felt my absence as I hardly had time for them. I thank them for their unwavering support and patience during this hectic period. iii There are far too many to thank individually. I acknowledge the support from various individuals and organisations that have not been mentioned here. Kea leboha. iv ABSTRACT This study explored the communicative strategies which were used by participants who were called in as witnesses before the Leon Commission and the Phumaphi Commission of Enquiry in Lesotho in 1998 and 2015 respectively. The study specifically looked into the types of communicative strategies employed, their linguistic realisations and their conversational effectiveness in providing required information to the commissions. It further compared the use of strategies by participants in both commissions. Data for this study was obtained from twenty-six audio recordings of twenty-six witnesses. The study established that participants used twelve types of communicative strategies which are classified under the following groups based on their functional characteristics: conversational category which includes strategies such as code-switching, fillers, vague language and circumlocution; a grammatical category that comprises personal pronouns, direct speech, passive voice and questioning; a sociocultural category that covers strategies such as figurative language, indirect communication, direct refusal and indirect criticism. The study established that communicative strategies such as code-switching, fillers, personal pronouns, and direct quoting were conversationally effective as participants strategically employed them to succinctly express themselves. However, strategies with concealing attributes such as those found under a sociocultural category and those under the grammatical category (passive voice and questioning) were considered conversationally ineffective as they withheld required information from the commissioners. The study further established that participants of the latter commission were even more unwilling to reveal information than those of the former, which suggests a growing unwillingness to share information to commissions of enquiry. Keywords: Commissions of inquiry, Leon Commission, Phumaphi Commission, communicative strategies, participants, conversational effectiveness, linguistic realization. v KGUTSUFATSO Phuputso ena e hlahlobile maano a puisano a neng a sebediswa ke dipaki ka pela Komishene ya Leon le Komishene ya Phumaphi ya dipatlisiso naheng ya Lesotho ka 1998 le 2015. Phuputso e nyebekollotse ka kotloloho mefuta ya maano a puisano a sebedisitsweng, tshebediso ya ona kahara puo le katleho kapa tshetiso ya ona ho fana ka tlhaiso-leseding e neng e hlokwa ke di Komishene. E boetse e bapisitse hore na dipaki dikomisheneng ka bobeli di sebedisitse maano ana jwang. Ditaba tsa boithuto bona di fumanwe ho tswa direkotong tse mashome a mabedi a metso e tsheletseng (26) tsa dipaki. Phuputso e netefaditse hore dipaki di sebedisitse mefuta e leshome le metso e mmedi (12) ya maano a puisano a arotsweng tlasa dihlopha tse latelang ho ipapisitswe le ditshobotsi tsa ona: sehlopha sa puisano se kenyelletsang maano a joalo ka tshebediso ya dipuo tse fetang bonngwe, ho kgitlela, puo e sa hlakang, le ho potoloha. Sehlopha se seng ke sa tlhophiso ya puo mme sona se na le maano a kang seemedi, puo e qotsitsweng, sehlwai-potoloho. Sehlopha sa setso sona se kenyeletsa maano a joalo ka mekgabo-puo, puo e potetseng, ho hana ka kotloloho, le nyefolo e kubutileng hlooho. Phuputso e netefaditse hore maano a puisano a joalo ka tshebediso ya dipuo tse fetang bonngwe, ho kgitlela, seemedi, le puo e qotsitsweng, di sebedisitswe hantle ka ha di atlehile ho thusa dipaki ho itlhalosa ka nepo le ho fana ka lesedi le hlakileng ditabeng tsa bona. Leha ho le joalo, maano a sa bueng puo-phara a kang a fumanwang tlasa sehlopha sa setso le a mang a sehlopha sa tlhophiso ya puo (a kang sehlwai-potoloho le dipotso), boithuto bona bo sibollotse hore a sebedisitswe ho sitisa tlhahiso-leseding e hlokwang ke bakomishenara. Phuputso e boetse e netefaditse hore dipaki tsa komishene ya morao-rao di ne di sa ikemisetsa ho fana ka tlhahiso- leseding papisong le dipaki tsa komishene ya pele. Boithuto bona bo utullotse hore maikemisetso a ho fana ka tlhaiso-leseding ho dikomishene tsa dipatlisiso a qepha. Mantswe a bohlokwa: dikomishene tsa dipatlisiso, Komishene ya Leon, Komishene ya Phumaphi, maano a puisano, dipaki, katleho ya puisano, tshebediso ya puo. vi ISICATSHULWA Esi sifundo sijonge ubuchule beendlela zonxebelelwano ezohlukileyo phakathi kwabantu ababemenyiwe ukuba bathathe inxaxheba njengamangqina kwiKhomishoni yoPhando KaLeon eyenzeka ngo1998 kunye neKhomishoni kaPhumaphi eyenzeka ngonyaka ka2015. Olu phando luye lwaqalasela ezindlela zokuqhakamishelana ezisetyenziswe apha, ukusetyenziswa kolwimi kunye nobuchule bokuthetha kula mangqina ngethuba enikeza ubungqina kwezi khomishoni. Olu phando luphinde lwathelekisa indlela amangqina asebenzise ngazo ezindlela zoqhakamishelwano kwezi khomishoni zombini. Ingqokelela-lwazi yolu phando ithathwe kumangqina angamashumi amabini anesithandathu apho kushicilelwe izimvo zawo kwezi khomishoni. Olu phando lufumanise ukuba la mangqina asebenzise ubuchule beendlela zonxebelelwano ezingamashumi amabini. Obu buchule beendlela zonxebebelwano ziqukwa ngokokusebenza kwazo ekuthetheni ngolu hlobo lulandelayo: ukuncokola okuquka ukuthetha iilwimi ezohlukeneyo ngexesha elinye, amazwi amafutshane angenantsingiselo asetyenziswa kwizimo ezinje ngokukhuza, ulwimi olungacacanga kunye nokusetyenziswa kolwimi ngendlela yokuba umntu athethe into inde apho ngeyethethe ngamagama ambalwa ukucacisa into afuna ukuyicacisa ngendlela engcono. Eyesibini yimo yokusetyensizwa kolwimi ngokuthetha nqo, ngokungathethi nqo kunye nokubanemibuzo. Eyesithathu kukujonga ulwimi nenkcubeko ngokuba kubukwe indlela abantu abasebenzisa ulwimi ngokweenkcubeko zabo apho bathetha besebenzisa iinkcazelo ezisuka kwiinckubeko zabo, ukungathethi nqo ngenxa yemo yabo yentlalo nokuthetha, ukungafuni ukuthetha ngenxa yezizimo zentlalo nenkcubeko kunye nokugxeka ngendlea ekwekwayo ngenxa yezizimo zentlalo
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