SASCO commends UKZN on making IsiZulu compulsory
17 May 2013
The South African Students Congress (SASCO) commends the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) on amending their language policy to make isiZulu a compulsory course for all first year students at UKZN from next year onwards regardless of the degree they are enrolled for. We believe that in a country where multilingualism is enshrined in the constitution, this is a great initiative undertaken by the University towards implementing multilingualism in the post-schooling sector and the intellectualisation of indigenous African languages.
As it stands, IsiZulu is the most spoken language in South Africa with a little over 23% of the population having IsiZulu as a home language, followed by IsiXhosa at 17. %, which is followed by Afrikaans at 13.%. English, although used as the medium of instruction at institutions of higher education and further training, is only used by little over 8% of the total population as a home language. This means that in order for any individual to be able to function in the South African linguistic context, they must have basic communication skills in at least one African language.
We applaud the efforts of the Ministry of Higher Education and Training in advocating for the promotion of African Languages in institutions of higher learning and further training. We note the remarks of Dr. Blade Nzimande, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, that "the development of African languages is not just nice to have but is a necessity for human rights and dignity as well as for access to university and tertiary success". We agree with the Minister Nzimande that tertiary students should at least have learnt one African language before they complete their studies.