Today, 8 May, marks the centennial of the recognition of Afrikaans as an official language in South Africa. A long journey with many sacrifices culminated in this “language birth” in 1925 – a journey and struggle that is far from over.
This language journey is fuelled by the extraordinary love that Afrikaans speakers have for their language: a love so great that a lasting monument was erected to commemorate it, and so deeply rooted that enemies of Afrikaans underestimate it to their detriment.
One example is that Afrikaans was nearly eradicated with the dawn of the new dispensation in 1994 when the ANC, and even the DA, proposed that English should be the country’s only official language.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) was one of the few parties that opposed the idea, insisting that Afrikaans and other indigenous languages also be recognised.
As a result, South Africa now has twelve official languages. But as the Afrikaans saying goes: “Die skyn hiervan bedrieg” (appearances are deceptive). English stands first in line among the official languages while Afrikaans has to fight for survival.
Against this backdrop, a serious cause for concern is that the BELA Act, particularly clause 4 (admissions policy) and 5 (language policy), could serve as an instrument to target Afrikaans schools in the name of “equality and accessibility.”
By the end of last year, only 1 303 of the approximately 25 000 schools in South Africa were still Afrikaans single-medium schools – a drop of 15% from 2012, when there were 1 531.
In just 12 years the number of Afrikaans schools plummeted by 228. (Die Burger, 30 July 2024: “Niks meer Afrikaanse gr. R- en gr. 1-klasse by dié Kaapse skole nie”.)
The fears regarding the assault on Afrikaans schools are not imagined, but real.
The Freedom Front Plus believes the BELA Act holds up “equality and accessibility” as a convenient pretext to phase out Afrikaans through dual-medium education, violating Afrikaans speakers’ constitutional right to mother-tongue education.
The truth of the matter is that the future of Afrikaans, like any other language, is not necessarily guaranteed. A language can easily disappear when it loses its higher functions.
If books and newspapers are no longer published in a language, and it is no longer spoken in courts, parliament, schools, universities and the economic sphere, it loses its status, leaving little incentive for parents to raise their children to speak it.
In a nutshell, a cultural, political and social struggle spanning decades, and rooted in the pursuit of Afrikaner identity and self-determination led up to the recognition of Afrikaans as an official language in 1925.
The formal struggle for the recognition and promotion of Afrikaans began in 1875 with the founding of the “Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (GRA)” (association of actual Afrikaners). Two freedom wars fuelled Afrikaner nationalism and strengthened the need for a distinct language and identity.
At the time, the struggle against English was also an uphill battle, as evident in the poem “Vooruitgang” (Progress) by C.P. Hoogenhout (1914):
“Engels! Engels! Alles Engels! Engels wat jy sien en hoor;
In ons skole, in ons kerke word ons moedertaal vermoor …”
(English! English! Everything English! English is all you see and hear; In our schools, in our churches, our mother tongue is murdered…).
With the Union of South Africa in 1910, English and Dutch – already archaic by then – were recognised as official languages.
Language giants such as C.J. Langenhoven, poets like Totius and Louis Leipoldt, and publications such as Die Burger made immense contributions to cementing Afrikaans as a cultural and intellectual language.
Persistent political pressure from figures such as J.B.M. Hertzog and D.F. Malan ultimately paid off when the Official Languages of the Union Act was amended in 1925 to recognise Afrikaans as an official language alongside English.
One is tempted to say the rest is history, but not quite. Afrikaans’ fight for survival continues. And it will not cease as long as the “Soetste Taal” (sweetest language) lives in the hearts of its children.
;
