One cannot think of religion without bringing in language use. From time immemorial,
language has played a very vital role as a vehicle of communication in matters
of religion. Hence missionaries always strove to teach the native languages of the
communities in which they work so as to effectively spread the word of God. Oftentimes
the starting point has been with the translation of the Bible into these vernacular
languages, a practice which continues to this day. The Kalanga Bible Translation
Project started the translation of the New Testament into Ikalanga in the mid
1980s. The work stretched over a period of 12 years and the result was the publication
of Nedbo Mbuya in 1999 by the Botswana Bible Society. The publication of
Ndebo Mbuya was perceived as a major milestone in the promotion of Ikalanga.
This paper therefore considers Ndebo Mbuya, the New Testament, and the role it
has played in promoting the use of the Ikalanga language. Secondly, the paper looks
at whether this Bible has played any significant role in changing the native
speaker’s attitudes towards the language, given the marginal use of the language in
the country. The paper further highlights some of the sociolinguistic and linguistic
problems which surrounded the use of this Bible. However, lack of use of Ikalanga
in some of the main domains in the country may have negative effects on the use of
this Bible. It is hoped that an analysis of this nature will help understand some of the
problems associated with the production and distribution of the later versions of this
Bible.