
Chair of Indigenous Languages Action Forum, Dr Zakeera Docrat.
Coauthored by Dr Zakeera Docrat (Chair of ILAF) & Dr Conrad Steenkamp (CEO of Afrikaans Taalraad)
When we think of heritage, the first thoughts that spring to mind are culture, family, ancestry and language. We should consider language, culture and heritage as unitary. We celebrate our mother tongues on 21 February (UNESCO) as part of international mother tongue day, which should form part of our heritage day celebrations. Language is a prerequisite for heritage, the one cannot exist without the other.

Dr Conrad Steenkamp, CEO of Afrikaans Taalraad
The separation of language from heritage and the neglect of both has its roots in a post-colonial or post-liberatory fear of tribalism, which is encapsulated by Samora Machel’s well know truism – “For the nation to thrive, the tribe must die”. In other words, a single language—usually a colonial language—is a prerequisite for nation building, or social cohesion in modern terms.
In South Africa, this meant uplifting English as the common, unifying language of the nation, and the language of education and aspiration. However, this promise is illusionary. The ‘common language’ is not at all as common as its reputation might have it—and it empowers above all the generally fluent economic elite. We are counting the costs of this illusionary approach to language even today on heritage day. These extend beyond the economic impact on those who have not mastered the ‘common’ language, including their access to education, services and information.
The rejection of indigenous language implies also a rejection of culture and heritage. Language, after all, is a carrier of heritage. It is how we transmit family culture and history between the generations. It is who we are and how our children build cultural confidence along with a healthy and integrated sense of identity.
This requires that we see language not only as a problem, but also as a valuable resource and right that can open the world to its speakers. Further than that, plurilingualism—whereby we learn, understand, use and even celebrate the langue of other linguistic communities—is a much better way of weaving the social cohesion, respect and unity we seek.
Language planning and policy is intensely political and thereby affected by political change, which poses the question: Does a Government of National Unity not also imply a government of linguistic unity? And how we might use such an inclusive multilingual approach to benefit from English even as we decentre it and reduce its growing hegemony? How might we liberate the vast economic and cultural potential of our indigenous languages, including Afrikaans?
A new spirit of linguistic inclusivity has become evident over the last weeks and months. Thoko Didiza, Speaker of Parliament, spoke isiZulu when greeting the outgoing Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo. She also used his clan names, demonstrating the link between language and culture. Also newly appointed Chief Justice, Mandisa Maya, has led from the front regarding language, vocally supporting the use of the indigenous languages in the courts as for legal training. Her ground-breaking bilingual judgment in 2020 demonstrated that the African languages can be used on an equal basis alongside English.
We hope these timeous gestures on the part of respected and high-profile individuals will help to raise the status of the indigenous languages. We need to rebuild people’s pride in their linguistic heritage and halt the migration to English-only. We must revitalise the use of our languages in our homes and communities and ensure they are transmitted between the generations. These are time sensitive tasks, and we risk losing not only diverse linguistic and cultural heritage, but who we are as a people.