84 | Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal Section 70(1)(j) of the Constitution therefore imposes on the state the duty to provide an interpreter at its expense in criminal proceedings where a person cannot understand the language of the court. The state cannot refuse to provide it even for economic or any other justifications. In Zimbabwe’s adversarial legal system, the rationale for affording language rights in criminal proceeding is to facilitate the participation of an accused person in the trial. If language rights are not afforded to an accused person, then justice is denied. Section 5 of the Magistrates Court Act,100 s 49 of the High Court Act101 and S 31 of the Supreme Court Act102 make it peremptory for proceedings in the Magistrates, High and Supreme Courts to be in the English language which creates difficulties for other language speakers to participate in legal proceedings. With poor interpretation of official languages, other language speakers may fail to adequately access justice in Zimbabwean courts. e. Language use in cultural activities Section 63 of the Constitution affords every person a right to participate in the cultural life of their choice and implies cultural identity. Language is the soul of culture103 and a vehicle of cultural expression.104 In Africa ‘people are often identified culturally primarily (and even solely) on the basis of the language they speak.’105 Examples include the Tonga, Ndebele and Shona.106 100 [Chapter 7:10]. 101 [Chapter 7:13]. 102 [Chapter 7:13]. 103 N wa Thiongo Decolonizing the mind, the politics of language in African literature (1986). S Wright, Language policy and language planning: From nationalism to globalization (2004) 2 argues that ‘[c]ommunities exist because they have the linguistic means to do so. In other words, language is the means by which we conduct our social lives and is foremost among the factors that allow us to construct human communities.’ KL Dooley and LB Maruska ‘Language rights as civil rights: Linguistic protection in the post- colonial democratic development of Canada and South Africa,’ (2010) 3 Journal of global change and governance, 1 at 2 argue that “[l]anguage, in essence, serves as the building bloc of cultural recognition, and it provides communities with the necessary tools to define themselves as particular entities, noticeably set apart from other communities.” 104 S Makoni & B Trudell ‘Complementary and conflicting discourses of linguistic diversity: Implications for language planning’ (2006) 22(2): 14-28 Per Linguam 21. 105 V Webb & Kembo-Sure op cit note 3 at 5 106 I Mumpande ‘Silent voices’ op cit note 44. He further argues that ‘a community without a language is like a person without a soul.’