From 1925 to 1994, South Africa had two official languages: English and Afrikaans. These two languages flourished because they were funded by the government — Afrikaans especially benefited from this and developed into a fully fledged academic language in less than 100 years, something that is regarded as a linguistic miracle.
Unfortunately, this happened at the expense of our indigenous languages that did not receive the same support from the government. I often hear people asking why the speakers of our other indigenous languages (I also consider Afrikaans to be an indigenous language) do not develop their languages themselves.
What people lose sight of is that the previous government financially supported Afrikaans. For example, the Language Monument (Taal Monument) and Language Museum in Paarl and their staff salaries are provided by the government. The same has not been afforded to the other languages.
With the dawn of our democracy in 1994, a new direction was taken. Then president Nelson Mandela could hardly hide his excitement about the future of our indigenous languages, saying “we are extremely proud that the new Constitution asserts equality among South Africa’s languages, and that, for the first time, the languages — particularly of the Khoi, Nama and San communities — will receive the attention they deserve after years of being trampled upon in the most humiliating and degrading manner”.
The situation today
But hope has faded. Little of Madiba’s vision for marginalised languages such as Nama, Khoi, and San has been realised. In 1994, the status of mother tongues was that Afrikaans was the mother tongue of 13.3% South Africans, while 8.2% had English as their mother tongue. The smallest official language was isiNdebele, with 1.6% speakers.
Twenty years later, things have changed dramatically: 90% of all primary school children in grades 4 to 6 were taught in English, while 10% of learners were taught in Afrikaans. A total of 91% of all learners in grades 9 to 12 received instruction in English. Mother-tongue instruction for indigenous languages only occurs in the foundation phase.
When learners return to Grade 4 after the December holidays, they must immediately transition to English. How we can expect this from children who grew up without English is beyond my understanding.
Then everyone is completely shocked when we end up last in international tests for literacy and numeracy, and scapegoats are sought behind every bush while the fault actually lies with the education system.
This is how it has been for the past 100 years — and still is.
However, after 30 years of democracy, the situation has changed even more. According to the Department of Basic Education, 718,247 learners wrote matric in 2024. In total, 25.2% of matrics took Zulu as a first language; 18.1% (130,000) English; 15.9% isiXhosa; 10.5% Sepedi, and 6.6% (47,000) Afrikaans. I must immediately mention that nearly 100,000 matrics take Afrikaans as a First Additional (second) language.
Afrikaans is actually in a favourable position.
My concern lies with the smaller indigenous languages: only 2.5% of matrics still take Venda and Siswati, while the numbers for Ndebele have declined since 2022 by 1,300 to 5,070 (from 1.6% to 0.7%). At this rate, these languages could become extinct as school subjects within 10 years.
Hans Hulshof and Mary Kooy (2010) are rightly concerned: “Mother-tongue education is in a state of flux, even turmoil, as it struggles to find its way and map out its place.”
Mother-tongue-based bilingual education
In my opinion, the solution lies in mother-tongue-based bilingual education (MTBE), a theory introduced by the late Professor Neville Alexander (and not by an MEC from the Eastern Cape, as some sources claim).
Alexander was the founder and executive director of Praesa (Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) at the University of Cape Town, and also the architect of the new language policy of South Africa as encapsulated in the 1994 Constitution.
While I was under the guidance of Alexander as a co-editor of the Western Cape language policy, he shared the concept of MTBE with me. This was followed by two publications by me: one on LitNet in Afrikaans (2011) and one internationally in English (2012).
MTBE is nothing new. Those of you who are reading this article are probably products of MTBE. It prioritises the child’s mother tongue as the primary language of instruction. The premise is that the language the child brings from home can contribute to their education and therefore should be utilised as a foundation for learning.
Black children in South Africa and most children in Africa have never benefitted from MTBE — they were and still are prisoners of a colonial past from which they cannot escape. Often, they had to struggle through school with the associated underperformance while Afrikaans and English learners continued with MTBE, and the gap grew larger.
Translanguaging
A child can attend school in English, but their home language (indigenous language) is used to create more understanding for the learner.
For example, if a child struggles with a maths problem, a word from the child’s home language is inserted into the question. This will often unlock the problem for the child.
This process is called Translanguaging and is an approach that uses more than one language in the learning process. Translanguaging is recognised worldwide as an educational mechanism that promotes learning. It utilises the cognitive and academic advantages of instruction in a familiar language (mother tongue), while simultaneously promoting multilingualism that includes code-switching and translation.
Training
Fortunately, the Department of Basic Education has recognised the value of MTBE and decided to implement it. The aim is to systematically make it available so that all learners will eventually benefit from it. This year, a start was made in Grade 4 with an initial focus on mathematics, science and technology.
MTBE requires that the current education policy be adjusted. In order to ensure effective implementation, it also requires in-service training of current teachers in bilingual teaching pedagogy, and learning strategies to teach in two languages. The biggest task is the development and writing of bilingual learning materials.
Goal of MTBE
The target of MTBE is a more equitable and more inclusive education system that empowers learners within a multilingual and multicultural society. It recognises the value of the child’s mother tongue and cultural background. In this way, it promotes cultural preservation and heritage legacies, while also advancing the decolonisation of education.
The ultimate goal of MTBE is for learners to be proficient in their mother tongue and at least one additional language. The instruction is mother-tongue based, but a second language is gradually added. Usually, this is the common language of communication, e.g. English in South Africa or Spanish in Brazil.
MTBE aims to create a new generation that is proud of their language, values and heritage.
Language of the heart
It was Madiba who said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, you speak to his mind. But if you talk to him in his own language, you speak to his heart.”
One can only wonder what Madiba would have said if he were to look at our language landscape today. I believe Mandela would be very sad to learn that his vision for indigenous languages has waned.
The languages of the Khoisan communities have become extinct. This is not a good reflection on structures like Pansat (with the budgets made available to them within the new dispensation) that have had the task of language development since the advent of democracy.
I believe that with the help of MTBE, we might prevent the same fate from befalling Ndebele and Tshivenda. Otherwise, our current president will have to watch as his mother tongue (Venda) also becomes extinct. DM