Afrikaans is not a ‘white man’s language’

Today is “Taaldag” — “Language Day” — though it refers only to Afrikaans, SA’s third most spoken language (13.5%) after isiZulu (23%) and isiXhosa (16%).

On this day in 1875 the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (GRA, or association of “true Afrikaners”) was established. The day is widely regarded as the founding date of Afrikaans, unashamedly rooted in Afrikaner nationalism, exclusivity and racism, as pointed out by literary scholar Prof Hein Willemse of the University of Pretoria.

Writing in Netwerk24 this past week, Willemse quotes dominee SJ du Toit who in 1874 referred to Afrikaans as “a white man’s language”, positioning Afrikaners as “guardians” of the language.

This appropriation, argues Willemse, erases the historical fact that even earlier than Du Toit’s utterances, Islamic scholar Abu Bakr Effendi’s manuscript on religious practices in the Cape Muslim community, written in Arabic-Afrikaans, had already been in use for several years. Moreover, Khoisan researcher Dr Willa Boezak posits that Khoi-Afrikaans was the earliest version of Afrikaans, spoken by first nation icons Autshomoa, Krotoa and Doman while acting as interpreters between the indigenous people and Dutch settlers.

Through the continued celebration of August 14 as “Taaldag”, protests Willemse, the focus remains on Du Toit and  other “founding fathers” of Afrikaans. In the process, “other streams of the origin and history of Afrikaans ... are being subtly suppressed”.

One finds the same kind of historical inaccuracy in Mike Siluma’s column on Afrikaans being weaponised that appeared on these pages last Sunday (“The dangers of weaponising Afrikaans”). Siluma focuses on responses from white and DA circles to the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill. The part that has received most attention from critics, as Siluma correctly points out, deals with the provision for “government oversight of language and admission policies”.

Siluma seems to say that Afrikaans is still the language of Du Toit and his GRA — “a white man’s language”. That impression is fuelled by the fact that Afrikaans voices from the white community are most vocal on what is perceived as an ANC and government onslaught on the language and its speakers.

Siluma contends “there is scant evidence of this”. One can only surmise that he is unaware of recent developments such as an attempt by higher education minister Blade Nzimande to strip Afrikaans of its indigenous status, and the move by sports, arts and culture minister Nthathi Mthethwa to force a name change for the Afrikaanse Taalmuseum and monument in Paarl.

In addition, practically all former Afrikaans universities, since North West University, have taken a step away from Afrikaans — clearly under pressure from Nzimande and political spewers of anti-Afrikaans vitriol, such as Gauteng ANC leader Panyaza Lesufi and EFF leader Julius Malema — while several formerly Afrikaans-only state schools have now changed their language policy to Afrikaans-English or exclusively English.

The day is widely regarded as the founding date of Afrikaans, unashamedly rooted in Afrikaner nationalism, exclusivity and racism, as pointed out by literary scholar Prof Hein Willemse of the University of Pretoria

The official reason for these changes is proclaimed as the advancement of inclusion to, quoting Siluma, “actualise the founding vision of creating a new, more inclusive and united nation out of the ruins of apartheid”. This actualisation of our democratic society’s founding vision is often used as a weapon against actual or perceived white privilege.

Consequently, the real demographics of the Afrikaans-speaking communities are left by the wayside. Out of an estimated 6.8-million mother tongue Afrikaans speakers, according to Census 2011, the majority are black in a broader sense with Coloureds dominating at 3.4-million. 

There is no privilege to be found in that statistical reality; instead, these Afrikaans speakers are mostly found among the poor. Those who acquire wealth are sometimes required to carry a dompas of assimilation.

Research done by the Solidarity Research Institute for the Afrikaans Language Board shows that Afrikaans-speaking Coloured people have the lowest levels of tertiary education in the country. A mere 1.3% make it to university; 4.5% take up some form of higher education.

Consider also that this is a young population group with an average age of 25 years, but a group stricken with high unemployment. The result is an increasing reliance on social grants, accompanied by criminal activity such as drug dealing.

The research points to a “unique occurrence” in these communities, namely language migration towards English, the “aspirational language”, measured at 200,000 between 2001 and 2011.

Of particular concern should be what linguists call the “language confusion” that often sets in when parents and family members don’t have a proper command of English, speak to each other in Afrikaans while insisting on “teaching” the child English. This scenario paints a bleak picture of what the future holds for these communities.

Perhaps part of the solution lies in Willemse’s appeal for a wider range of referencing when we talk about Afrikaans, its past and the living experience of all its present-day speakers. It is probably the silence of the (black) majority about a day such as “Taaldag” that leaves room for the continued (mis) interpretation of Afrikaans as “a white man’s language”.

• Hein Wyngaard leads the civil society organisation Cape Forum. He writes in his personal capacity.