THE FUTURE OF AFRIKAANS AS AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

The government is clearly determined to proceed with its present course with regard to the South African Languages Bill that will, for all practical purposes, eliminate Afrikaans as an official language. The Bill, in its present form, requires government to use three official languages - two of which must be indigenous black languages and the other, one of the "previously advantaged" languages, English or Afrikaans. Because English is the generally accepted lingua franca, Afrikaans will almost inevitably be relegated to disuse - as the authors of the bill well know and clearly intend.

Protestations by government spokespeople that they have no intention of ‘killing Afrikaans' simply do not ring true. The authors of the bill know exactly what they are doing - and it is difficult to conclude that their actions are not motivated by a degree of malice. The Committee Chairperson, Thandile Sunduza, agreed that when a language is destroyed the nation that speaks it is also destroyed. She then went on to make the completely unfounded allegation that "this is what apartheid did. It began by destroying our people's names and giving them Western names - that is how you destroy a nation."

It is not only Afrikaans that will be treated unfairly, but seven of the nine black indigenous languages that will evidently not be used for official purposes either.

The Constitution is clear about the criteria that should be followed when deciding which official languages should be used at the national and provincial levels. Section 6 (3) stipulates that

1. The national government and provincial governments may use any particular official languages for the purpose of government;

2. They must take into account usage, practicality, expense, regional circumstances; and

3. They must take into account the balance of the needs and the preferences 

a. of the population as a whole; and/or
b. in the province concerned.

4. The national government and each provincial government must use at least two official languages.

There is, in addition, an over-riding requirement in terms of Section 6(4) that all official languages must enjoy parity of esteem and must be treated equitably. The present version of the South African Languages Bill clearly does not comply with these requirements in the manner in which it treats Afrikaans and the seven black indigenous languages that will not enjoy official status.

There is no doubt that in terms of usage, practicality, expense, regional circumstances, the balance of the needs of the population and the preferences of the populations in the Western Cape, the Northern Cape and Gauteng, that Afrikaans should be one of the official languages in those provinces for both provincial government and the regional offices of national departments. Similarly, it would make no sense for national government departments in the North-West Province to use English, Zulu and Sepedi in a region that speaks Setswana.

It was for this reason that the Foundation suggested the following approach in its submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture:

a. Each government department should, at the national level, adopt two official languages for the purposes of government, on the following basis

i. one of the national languages will be English

ii. one third of national government departments will choose their second official language from the isiXhosa, isiZulu, isiNdebele, siSwati language group;

iii. one third of national government departments will choose their second official language from the Sapedi, Sesotho, Setswana language group;

iv. one third of national government departments will choose their second official language from the Afrikaans, Tshivenda, Xitsonga language group;

v. Each government department will provide incentives to its officials to learn additional official languages.

vi. Appointment to, and promotion in, national departments will require proficiency in both the department's official languages.

b. Each national government department should, at its offices at the provincial level, adopt two official languages for the purposes of government, on the following basis

i. One of the provincial languages will be English;

ii. The second official language will be the language that is most widely spoken in the the relevant province;

iii. Each department will provide incentives to its officials to learn and use additional official languages;

iv. Appointment to, and promotion in, the provincial offices of national departments will require proficiency in the official provincial languages - or if there are more than two such languages, in two of the languages.

c. Each provincial department should adopt at least two official languages for the purposes of government, on the following basis -

i. One of the provincial languages will be English;

ii. The second official language will be the language that is most widely spoken in the the relevant province;

iii. Each provincial department will provide incentives to its officials to learn and use additional official languages;

iv. Appointment to, and promotion in, the provincial public service will require proficiency in the official provincial languages - or if there are more than two such languages, in two of the languages.

d. Each municipality should adopt a language policy based on the language usage and preferences of their residents. 

i. One of the official municipal languages will be English;

ii. The second, or addditional, official municipal language(s) will be the language(s) most widely spoken in the the relevant municiplaity;

iii. Each municipality will provide incentives to its officials to learn and use additional official languages;

iv. Appointment to, and promotion in, the municipality's service will require proficiency in the official provincial languages - or if there are more than two such languages, in two of the languages.

The South African Languages Bill in its present form does not come close to meeting the clear requirements set out in section 6 of the Constitution. Worse still, there is a whiff of racial triumphalism in the manner in which the bill has been drafted and piloted through parliament. There is also a dangerous perception that the majority in Parliament believes that it can do as it pleases in imposing its will to the detriment of cultural and linguistic minorities. This is not only unconstitutional - but extremely divisive and dangerous in our multicultural society. 

The ANC should urgently review its position and enter in good faith into consultations with representatives of all our language communities to produce a bill that will comply with the requirements of the constitution and national unity.

Statement issued by the FW de Klerk Foundation, March 5 2012

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter