Why South Africa Needs 11 Languages

            Whether South Africa’s eleven official languages are beneficial to preserving the traditions and cultures of the country’s various ethnic groups or detrimental to the government’s efforts to unify the country is a murky, complex issue to which then answer may be both. These languages, however, are written into the nation’s constitution for historical and modern political reasons. These languages were spoken by tribes who were there before the arrival of Europeans in the 1600’s, and still account for large parts of familial and individual identities. Furthermore, in keeping with the theme of freedom throughout South Africa’s constitution, it is not unreasonable for those who speak African languages to maintain their right to speak whichever language they are most comfortable or familiar with.
            Historically, South Africans have continued to speak African languages, even when English and Afrikaans (“white languages”) were used as tools of oppression. Before Apartheid, as early as the beginning of slavery in South Africa, the Africans were allowed to continue to speak their native languages. During Apartheid, black and colored citizens were not only segregated by race; they were also divided according to language. This was a method Europeans employed in order to gain power over a vast African majority, but it is important to note that they were still allowed to continue learning and teaching their own languages in schools, as well as speaking them around the areas they lived and were permitted to travel. After Apartheid, freedom of language was written into the constitution- each citizen even has the right to be tried in his or her mother tongue. South Africa has always had these eleven languages, and they have become a part of the national identity.
            There are those that argue in favor of unilingualization, but there are many conflicts this could cause. Forcing everyone to learn and speak one language could feel oppressive to those who speak another language at home, particularly in rural areas where English and Afrikaans (the two dominant languages in cities and therefore the most obvious candidates for a single official language) are not necessary. It would be going against the South African constitution, particularly the parts of the constitution where freedom is promised; something the South African people take a great amount of pride in. Furthermore, it would contradict the idea or the goal of a “Rainbow Nation”. The Rainbow Nation is a place South Africa aspires to be, where unity is found in diversity of not only skin color, but also social and economic class, politics, and language.
            South Africa has eleven languages today because they always have, to the point where it has become a defining factor in their national identity. Having a single official language has some potential to establish a we-code and unify the country to a small extent, but South Africa takes pride in freedom, so any group that disagreed with the single-language policy would have both history and the new constitution on their side. To unilingualize would cause political unrest, conflict with South Africa’s own identity, and set the country back in terms of the goals it set for itself in 1994, a crucial turning point in identity and freedom, where language was a significant factor.

~Allie Bunch