Drawing from Fishman’s ideas on language planning and multilingualism, this paper examines isihlonipho sabafazi ‘women’s language of respect’, a variety of the Ndebele language spoken in Zimbabwe, as a minority language by assaying the attitudes and ideologies directed at female isihlonipho speakers by male and female legal experts in rape trials. The findings propose that language planning is an elitist enterprise that hides inequities and induces injustice under the guise of law. As speakers of isihlonipho do not adjust to the dominant language ideology, they face dual marginality and are refused access to justice. This, in turn, raises notable questions about power and ethics in language planning in that while language planning may handle issues of multilingualism, at minimum it handles diversity from without and not within.