September is the month of Heritage in South Africa. It is a day when citizens express and celebrate their cultural diversity.
However, some groups feel the dominance of European discourse in State and public institutions marginalizes their native languages and cultures.
A linguistic and cultural authority prevalent in parliament, courts of law, academics, public administration, entertainment and business.
Sandile Swana, a political analyst, believes this dominance was established by South Africa’s colonial and segregated history. And since 1994, the South African political leaders have done little to nothing to give the official African languages the same recognition as English and Afrikaans.
Swana said, “Once you have colonialism, you are a colonized or a conquered people. A disrupted and invaded people or an enslaved people. Then your own language and your own culture in your own land become irrelevant. In fact, you just become an appendage in your own country.”
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Academic Language
The speakers of English and Afrikaans are a minority in South Africa. Yet, they are the two most understood languages in the country. They are used to communicate, learn and teach as first and second languages in academics.
Swana mentions that every language in South Africa needs to be equally developed and implemented in the schooling system, as English and Afrikaans are. He continues by suggesting that non-English speaking countries in Europe and Asia have maintained the superiority of their mother tongues by applying it in academics.
From a South African standpoint, there has been a lack of effort or not enough effort in developing native languages. And that only perpetuates the suppression of African linguistics from public institutions.
“Every language needs to be an academic language. So no matter if you speak Zulu, you should be able to study freely … In the same way that an Italian or a Russian is not afraid to study any topic, whether it’s physics, chemistry or literature [in their language].”
Swana carried on to state, how surprised he was to learn of the number of books that were written by African Islamic scholars. And how those books, which cover a wide range of topics and subject matter, are not being translated and utilized by academic institutions in South Africa.
“Our understanding of our rich African heritage is so cut off. There are people who even determined that Islamic scholars, no matter what they’ve written, are not going to be there in the prescribed books at universities and school. So, all of that is a form of marginalization of African cultures in different ways.”
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Reconstruction and Development
By learning their language, the people of South Africa will develop a sense of pride in themselves and their heritage. But by shifting indigenous and cultural identity to the side to embrace European language and tradition, the people will remain in the same State that they were in pre-1994.
During the apartheid struggle, black political leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko often spoke about liberating the mind and body. The Reconstruction and Development Programme was initiated by Mandela for “the moral regeneration of society, for self-respect and the respect for others”.
Swana said, “Mandela thought the political leaders and other leaders in society would be preoccupied with this task from 1994 onwards. But that task of the RDP was interrupted within 24 months and discarded. It has not been resuscitated until today.”
One can only imagine what South African societal discourse would have been if the State had maintained and developed the RDP tasks. Non-African students would learn an African language in addition to English and Afrikaans. African students could choose to write their examinations in their home languages. Above all, African languages would be preserved and respected as the European ones are.
“The key issue is that you must be able to engage with the nations of the world, on your own terms in your own language and in your own culture without any fear or intimidation of any kind.”
