Sibusiso xaba biography for kids

Red-faced because your children can't thetha?

Johannesburg banker Sibusiso Xaba and his wife, Amanda , were so embarrassed that their children couldn't speak an African language that they set up an academy to help suburban children master the basics of Zulu and Sotho .

The couple, from Bryanston in northern Johannesburg, have three children, whose only real exposure to African culture comes when they visit family in Ebaqulisini in KwaZulu-Natal.

The two communicate in English as Sibusiso speaks Zulu and Amanda Pedi - something they say has resulted in their children not getting to learn either of the languages.

There's still time for one-year-old Nandi to learn, but their boys, Yandisa, 7, and Luyanda, 4, who attend school in the suburbs, will have a late start.

"It has been troubling us for quite some time that our children can't speak any of the indigenous languages," said Amanda.

"Yandisa goes to Bryndale Primary [and] t