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Language Planning and Policy in Africa, Vol.

1
LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY

Series Editors: Dr Richard B. Baldauf Jr., University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia


and Professor Robert B. Kaplan, University of Southern California, USA

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Language and Society in a Changing Italy
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Language Attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Language Planning in Nepal, Taiwan and Sweden
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Language Planning: From Practice to Theory
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Linguistic Minorities in Central and Eastern Europe
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Please contact us for the latest book information:


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http://www.multilingual-matters.com
LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY

Language Planning and


Policy in Africa, Vol. 1
Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique
and South Africa

Edited by
Richard B. Baldauf, Jr and Robert B. Kaplan

MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD


Clevedon • Buffalo • Toronto
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Language Planning and Policy in Africa. Vol. 1, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and South
Africa/Edited by Richard B. Baldauf Jr and Robert B. Kaplan.
Language Planning and Policy.
1. Language planning–Africa, Southern. I. Baldauf, Richard B. II. Kaplan, Robert B. III.
Series.
P40.5.L352A3485 2004
306.44'968–dc22 2004012872

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data


A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 1-85359-725-2 (hbk)

Multilingual Matters Ltd


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USA: UTP, 2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA.
Canada: UTP, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada.

Copyright © 2004 Richard B. Baldauf Jr, Robert B. Kaplan and the authors of individual
chapters.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by the Cromwell Press Ltd.


Contents
Series Overview 1
Language Policy and Planning in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique
and South Africa: Some Common Issues
Richard B. Baldauf Jr and Robert B. Kaplan 5
The Language Situation in Botswana
Lydia Nyati-Ramahobo 21
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi
Edrinnie Kayambazinthu 79
The Language Situation in Mozambique
Armando Jorge Lopes 150
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa
Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu 197
Biographical Notes on Contributors 282

v
Series Overview
Since 1998 when the first polity studies on Language Policy and Planning –
addressing the language situation in a particular polity – were published in the
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 15 studies have been
published there and since 1990 in Current Issues in Language Planning. These stud-
ies have all addressed, to a greater or lesser extent, 22 common questions or
issues (Appendix A), thus giving them some degree of consistency. However, we
are keenly aware that these studies have been published in the order in which
they were completed. While such an arrangement is reasonable for journal publi-
cation, the result does not serve the needs of area specialists nor are the various
monographs easily accessible to the wider public. As the number of available
polity studies has grown, we have planned to update (where necessary) and
republish these studies in coherent areal volumes.
The first such volume is concerned with Africa, both because a significant
number of studies has become available and because Africa constitutes an area
that is significantly under-represented in the language planning literature and
yet is marked by extremely interesting language policy and planning issues. In
this first areal volume, we are reprinting four polity studies – Botswana, Malawi,
Mozambique and South Africa – as Areal Volume 1: Language Planning in Africa:
Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa.
We hope that this first areal volume will better serve the needs of specialists. It
is our intent to publish other areal volumes subsequently as sufficient studies are
completed. We will do so in the hope that such volumes will be of interest to areal
scholars and others interested in language policies and language planning in
geographically coherent regions. The areas in which we are planning to produce
future volumes, and some of the polities which may be included are:
• Africa (2), including Burundi and Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tunisia,
Zimbabwe;
• Asia, including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore
and Taiwan;
• Europe (1), including Finland, Hungary and Sweden (in press);
• Europe (2), including the Czech Republic, the European Union, Ireland,
Italy, Malta, and Northern Ireland;
• Latin America, including Ecuador, Mexico and Paraguay; and
• Pacific Basin, including Vanuatu and Fiji;
In the mean time, we will continue to bring out Current Issues in Language
Planning, adding to the list of polities available for inclusion in areal volumes. At
this point, we cannot predict the intervals over which such volumes will appear,
since those intervals will be defined by the ability of contributors to complete
work on already contracted polity studies.

Assumptions Relating to Polity Studies


There are a number of assumptions that we have made about the nature of
language policy and planning that have influenced the nature of the studies
presented. First, we do not believe that there is, yet, a broader and more coherent

Series Overview
2 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

paradigm to address the complex questions of language policy/planning devel-


opment. On the other hand, we do believe that the collection of a large body of
more or less comparable data and the careful analysis of that data will give rise to
a better paradigm. Therefore, in soliciting the polity studies, we have asked each
of the contributors to address some two dozen questions (to the extent that such
questions were pertinent to each particular polity); the questions were offered as
suggestions of topics that might be covered. (See Appendix A.) Some contribu-
tors have followed the questions rather closely; others have been more independ-
ent in approaching the task. It should be obvious that, in framing those questions,
we were moving from a perhaps inchoate notion of an underlying theory. The
reality that our notion was inchoate becomes clear in each of the polity studies.
Second, we have sought to find authors who had an intimate involvement
with the language planning and policy decisions made in the polity they were
writing about; i.e. we were looking for insider knowledge and perspectives
about the polities. However, as insiders are part of the process, they may find it
difficult to take the part of the ‘other’ – to be critical of that process. But it is not
necessary or even appropriate that they should be – this can be left to others. As
Pennycook (1998: 126) argues:
One of the lessons we need to draw from this account of colonial language
policy (i.e. Hong Kong) is that, in order to make sense of language policies
we need to understand both their location historically and their location
contextually. What I mean by this is that we can not assume that the promo-
tion of local languages instead of a dominant language, or the promotion of
a dominant language at the expense of a local language, are in themselves
good or bad. Too often we view these things through the lenses of liberal-
ism, pluralism or anti-imperialism, without understanding the actual loca-
tion of such policies.
While some authors do take a critical stance, or one based on a theoretical
approach to the data, many of the studies are primarily descriptive, bringing
together and revealing, we hope, the nature of the language development experi-
ence in the particular polity. We believe this is a valuable contribution to the
theory/paradigm development of the field. As interesting and challenging as it
may be to provide a priori descriptions of the nature of the field (e.g. language
management, language rights, linguistic imperialism) based on partial data – nor
have we been completely immune from this ourselves (e.g. Kaplan & Baldauf,
2003: Chapter 12), we believe the development of a sufficient data base is an
important prerequisite for paradigm development.

An Invitation to Contribute
We welcome additional polity contributions. Our views on a number of the
issues can be found in Kaplan and Baldauf (1997); sample polity monographs
have appeared in the extant issues of Current Issues in Language Planning. Inter-
ested authors should contact the editors, present a proposal for a monograph,
and provide a sample list of references. It is also useful to provide a brief
biographical note, indicating any personal involvement in language planning
activities in the polity proposed for study as well as any relevant research/publi-
Series Overview 3

cation in LPP. All contributions should, of course, be original, unpublished


works. We expect to work with contributors during the preparation of mono-
graphs. All monographs will, of course, be reviewed for quality, completeness,
accuracy, and style. Experience suggests that co-authored contributions may be
very successful, but we want to stress that we are seeking a unified monograph
on the polity, not an edited compilation of various authors’ efforts. Questions
may be addressed to either of us.
Richard B. Baldauf, Jr. (rbaldauf@bigpond.com
Robert B. Kaplan (rkalan@olypen.com)

References
Kaplan, R.B. and Baldauf, R.B., Jr. (2003) Language and Language-in-Education Planning in
the Pacific Basin. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Kaplan, R.B. and Baldauf, R.B., Jr. (1997) Language Planning from Practice to Theory.
Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Pennycook, A. (1998) English and the Discourses of Colonialism. London and New York:
Routledge.

Appendix A
Part I: The Language Profile of ...
(1) Name and briefly describe the national/official language(s) (de jure or de
facto).
(2) Name and describe the major minority language(s).
(3) Name and describe the lessor minority language(s) (include ‘dialects’,
pidgins, creoles and other important aspects of language variation); the
definition of minority language/dialect/pidgin will need to be discussed in
terms of the sociolinguistic context.
(4) Name and describe the major religious language(s); in some polities reli-
gious languages and/or missionary policies have had a major impact on the
language situation and provide de facto language planning. In some contexts
religion has been a vehicle for introducing exogenous languages while in
other cases it has served to promote indigenous languages.
(5) Name and describe the major language(s) of literacy, assuming that it
is/they are not one of those described above.
(6) Provide a table indicating the number of speakers of each of the above
languages, what percentage of the population they constitute and whether
those speakers are largely urban or rural.
(7) Where appropriate, provide a map(s) showing the distribution of speakers,
key cities and other features referenced in the text.
Part II: Language Spread
(8) Specify which languages are taught through the educational system, to
whom they are taught, when they are taught and for how long they are
taught.
(9) Discuss the objectives of language education and the methods of assessment
to determine that the objectives are met.
(10) To the extent possible, trace the historical development of the policies/prac-
tices identified in items 8 and 9 (may be integrated with 8/9).
4 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

(11) Name and discuss the major media language(s) and the distribution of
media by socio-economic class, ethnic group, urban/rural distinction
(including the historical context where possible). For minority language,
note the extent that any literature is (has been) available in the language.
(12) How has immigration effected language distribution and what measures
are in place to cater for learning the national language(s) and/or to support
the use of immigrant languages.
Part III: Language Policy and Planning
(13) Describe any language planning legislation, policy or implementation that
is currently in place.
(14) Describe any literacy planning legislation, policy or implementation that is
currently in place.
(15) To the extent possible, trace the historical development of the policies/prac-
tices identified in items 13 and 14 (may be integrated with these items).
(16) Describe and discuss any language planning agencies/organisations oper-
ating in the polity (both formal and informal).
(17) Describe and discuss any regional/international influences affecting
language planning and policy in the polity (include any external language
promotion efforts).
(18) To the extent possible, trace the historical development of the policies/prac-
tices identified in items 16 and 17 (may be integrated with these items).
Part IV: Language Maintenance and Prospects
(19) Describe and discuss intergenerational transmission of the major
language(s); (is this changing over time?).
(20) Describe and discuss the probabilities of language death among any of the
languages/language varieties in the polity, any language revival efforts as
well as any emerging pidgins or creoles.
(21) Add anything you wish to clarify about the language situation and its prob-
able direction of change over the next generation or two.
(22) Add pertinent references/bibliography and any necessary appendices (e.g.
a general plan of the educational system to clarify the answers to questions
8, 9 and 14).
Language Policy and Planning in
Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and
South Africa: Some Common Issues
Richard B. Baldauf Jr
Associate Professor, School of Education, University of Queensland, QLD 4072
Australia (rbaldauf@bigpond.com)
Robert B. Kaplan
Professor Emeritus, Applied Linguistics, University of Southern California. Postal
address: PO Box 577, Port Angeles, WA 98362, USA (rkaplan@olypen.com)

Introduction
This volume brings together four language policy and planning studies
related to southern Africa1. (See the ‘Series Overview’ at the start of this volume
for a more general discussion of the nature of the series, Appendix A for the 22
questions each study set out to address, and Kaplan et al. (2000) for a discussion
of our underlying concepts for the studies themselves.) In this paper, rather than
trying to provide an introductory summary of the material covered in these stud-
ies, we will want to draw out and discuss some of the more general issues raised
by these studies.
Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa represent a cluster in
several senses:
• They are geographically proximate roughly along a north–south axis. They
share common borders; that is Malawi shares a border with Mozambique,
and Mozambique and Botswana share a border with South Africa.
• They are members of the Southern African Development Community
(which integrates a total of 14 countries).
• They share a number of African languages among them.
• They share a number of common educational, social and economic
problems.
• Three of them have English as a colonial language; one has Portuguese, but
also uses English as an additional language.
• They all have autochthonous languages, some in common with one
another, which require planning development.
• All are members of the Commonwealth of Nations group.
• All of them have a common concern in terms of languages of religion.
• All of them recognize the existence of a gap between official policy and
actual practice.
There is also a major sociolinguistic and language planning and policy divide
that separates them: South Africa with its greater population and resources, and
the politicalization of language as a marker of ethnicity which began under the
previous apartheid regime, has attracted much more scholarly interest and
hands-on involvement by the government. As a result, there is a much larger
published literature for South Africa than there is for Botswana, Malawi and

Some Common Issues


6 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Mozambique. A search of the relevant literature produced about 20 references


each – related to language policy and planning – for the latter countries while
more than 300 were found for South Africa. A selected list of recently published
further reading – material not cited in the monographs that follow – is provided
by country at the end of this paper.

Ideologies and Myths


Language policy and planning invariably occur in an environment circum-
scribed by language ideologies which emerge in specific historical and material
circumstances (Blommaert, 1999; Pennycook, 1998); that is, such ideologies
emerge out of a wider sociopolitical and historical framework of relationships of
power, of forms of discrimination, and of nation building. Issues and debates
concerning language commonly dominate discussions in the mass media, in
government, and in a variety of other venues of public discourse. Language
ideologies, while they are certainly not universal, are reflected in a number of
prevalent myths pertaining to language education and, because language educa-
tion is often the major or even sole mechanism for the instantiation of language
policy, it is useful perhaps to state at least some of these myths:
• There is one, and only one, ‘correct solution’ to the choice of language(s) in
education, and one and only one, ‘correct solution’ to the sequencing of
instruction for purposes of initial literacy training and content instruction
for all multilingual polities.
• Anyone who can speak a given language can successfully teach or teach via
that language.
• Creoles are not real languages; consequently no Creole can be used as the
medium of instruction.
• If a major goal is to develop the highest degree of proficiency and subject
matter mastery via some language of wider communication, the more time
spent educating the child via that language, the better.
• While time on task is a major issue, the ideal time to start language instruc-
tion is roughly at puberty (at middle school) because starting earlier would
suggest that primary school children will not have completed the develop-
ment of their feeling and sense of value in their first language (based on
English text transmitted by letter to Kaplan from Namba Tatsuo referring
to Ohno, Susumu, Morimoto Tatsuo and Suzuki Takao (2001) Nippon,
Nihongo, Nihon-jin [Japan, Japanese language, Japanese Volkgeist]).
• In multilingual polities (and even in those which are not multilingual), it is
too expensive to develop materials and to train teachers in a number of
different languages (after Tucker, 2001: 333).
• There are clear boundaries between each of the autochthonous languages
in a polity and each requires separate development so that it can be taught
(but see Djité, 2000; Heugh, 2003).
• Autochthonous languages are incapable of dealing with modern concepts
and it is therefore necessary to use a language of wider communication –
English, French, Portuguese – as the primary vehicle for education (Breton,
2003).
• In multilingual polities – ones having a large number of autochthonous
Some Common Issues 7

languages – it is necessary to use a language of wider communication for


educational purposes to reduce ‘tribalism’ and group conflict (Breton,
2003).
• It is important to teach languages of wider communication (especially
English) widely in schools as a means of boosting the economy and life
chances (Kaplan & Baldauf, 2003, especially Singapore, Chapter 8).

Issues and Problems of Methodology


Before looking at some of the explicit issues raised in the monographs them-
selves, it is important to mention briefly some of the issues and problems that
studies developed in this genre raise. While providing a set of framing questions
(See ‘Series Overview’, Appendix A) for these polity monographs has its advan-
tages in terms of consistency and coverage, it also creates a number of tensions of
which readers should be aware.

Issues of resources
It is important to point out that, in some of the polity studies, so little
sociolinguistic work is actually available, and the economic and social conditions
are such (e.g. the civil wars currently raging or recently concluded in a number of
African polities), that contributors are significantly constrained. In many poli-
ties, Côte d’Ivoire (Djité, 2000) for example, conditions and the state of academic
research (i.e. not only the work published about the polity, but access to journals
and recent books, computer facilities, time to do research, adequate salaries let
alone, funds for travel and research projects, etc.) are such that many of the 22
questions suggested for these studies simply could not be adequately addressed.
Moving from research to practice, it is also a matter of reality that, among the
enormous number of competing demands on governmental coffers, language
policy and planning does not always rank high. In some African states, the costs
(monetary, human, and temporal) of civil war, rapidly varying commodity
prices, human resources shortages, the AIDS epidemic, etc.) are so great that the
relative priority of language planning is necessarily lowered (but, see Kaplan &
Baldauf, 2003, especially Chapter 3 (pp. 31–46), for an example of political will
overriding fiscal constraints). These factors mean that there are constraints on
resources that significantly impact on any notion of an ‘ideal’ monograph that
might be produced.

Framing context
Beyond the 22 questions that authors have been urged to examine, we have
urged each of the contributors to frame their study by taking an ecological stance
(see, e.g. Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997; Mühlhäusler, 2000), but that turned out not to
be entirely satisfactory because each of the contributors is in fact a specialist in the
context of linguistic issues in the polity in which s/he worked; that is, the polity
specialists were not always extensively cognizant of problems occurring across
an ecological perception of language spread, but rather were constrained by the
political boundaries within which they worked. It was, perhaps, unrealistic of us
to expect a wider perception. However, while the ecological stance did not inevi-
tably materialise across political boundaries, there is evidence in the various
8 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

studies of the ecological perspective within the several polities studied. It is


precisely to achieve a broader ecological view that areal volumes of the sort being
undertaken here were conceived. We hope the further references at the end of
this article will also contribute to providing that ecological view.

Perspectives: The Self vs the Other


Pennycook (1998) provides a critical analysis of English and the discourses of
colonialism, especially the tension between views of ‘the Self’ and ‘the Other’,
between the ‘insider’ and the ‘outsider’, the emic and the etic. His primary focus
of analysis is on colonialism – both historic and in its Eurocentric neo-colonialist
forms – and the positive manner in which Europeans portrayed themselves
versus the colonised others. Following from this he points out that there is a need
to look ‘more contextually … at the sites and causes of the development of colo-
nial discourses on language…’ as there is a ‘constant negotiation of colonial
language policy images of the Self and the Other’ where ‘culture and language
were always being produced, developed and redefined’ (1998: 128). While this
dichotomy and interaction between the Self and the Other – which Pennycook
illustrates with Hong Kong as an example – is evident in the monographs
presented in this volume, it is also characteristic of the tension in perspectives
that individual authors bring to their studies.
Some participating individuals, some of whom we consciously and intention-
ally invited, had actually worked in the language planning and policy environ-
ment in their respective polities. An outcome of our intentional plan (in inviting
some contributors) and our unintentional plan (in accepting unsolicited contri-
butions) resulted in an unanticipated problem. One volume of the previously
published studies was criticized on the grounds that an author did not take suffi-
cient cognizance of political issues underlying policy and planning (Stroud,
2001). But, when one is involved in putting ‘theory’ onto practice, we think this is
an inevitable problem. To the extent that anyone has worked actively in the
development and promulgation of policy and in the ensuing plans, s/he has
necessarily been captured by the system doing the policy development and the
planning; each such individual has been co-opted by the process. We do not,
however, wish to create a false dichotomy; not all of our contributors were
caught in this ‘insider’ trap. Some contributors have been able to look at the
issues from the ‘outside,’ and have been fully cognizant of the political and social
problems created by the policy/plans that have been developed. But, had we
chosen only individuals more clearly aware of the political and social issues, then
those individuals, generally working outside the formal system, would not have
known as much about what the system was actually doing; such scholars would
have been outsiders to the internal workings of the system. This is not to claim
that contributors (and indeed the editors) are unaware that language policy is
significantly a political activity (Baldauf & Kaplan, 2003); rather, we simply
acknowledge that authors having had differing degrees of direct involvement in
the language policy and planning which they describe are caught up in their own
images of the Self and the Other. The result is that political and social issues are
differently perceived in the various polity studies.
In the broader context within which we work (i.e. as editors of Current Issues in
Language Planning), we believe, with perfect hindsight, that serendipitously,
Some Common Issues 9

such a selection of contributors will exactly serve our larger intent – to help to
develop a basis for theorising the discipline. The specialists, working from the
inside, know (and do) report on who did what, to whom, when, and for what purpose
in great detail. Given a series of polity monographs such as those presented here,
we continue to believe that the other focus of Current Issues in Language Planning –
the two ‘issues’ numbers each year focusing on topics like language ecology
(CILP, 2000, 1: 3), language revival (CILP, 2001, 2: 2&3), post-colonialism (CILP,
2002, 3: 3), language rights (CILP, 2003, 4: 4) – will serve to bring to bear a leaven-
ing influence on the collected data. These numbers will pay greater attention to
the political and social problems inevitably apparent in the policy studies
themselves.

Discrepant Policy and Reality


Given the lack of resources and other difficulties described in the previous
section, and the myths about language that still persist in the communities, it
does not come as any surprise that all four of the studies in this volume show a
significant discrepancy between the playing out of language matters in the polity
and the policy/plan that has been put in place in that polity. In several instances,
the ‘official’ policy/plan is diametrically opposed to reality; languages are
mandated that are barely spoken in the polity, and the evidence strongly
suggests that ‘official’ policy/planning is driven by political rather than by
linguistic forces. It is possible, for example, that a language is ‘officialised’ in the
hope that aid funding from the European (often former colonial) power would
come into play. Examples of these discrepancies are particularly evident in the
relationship between the ‘colonial’ languages of wider communication and the
autochthonous languages.

English
In Malawi, English is the official language; Chichewa in some form (spoken
by about fifty per cent of the population) is the national language, and twelve
other indigenous languages (and their varieties) are spoken. As Kayambazinthu
points out, ‘…language planning practices (past and present) present an interest-
ing case study of pervasive ad hoc and reactive planning, based more on
self-interest and political whim than research.’
In Botswana, English is the ‘officialized’ language together with Setswana
which (in some form) is spoken as a first language by some 80 per cent of the
population. The Constitution is essentially silent on language issues, except that
two sections specifically state that the ability to speak and read English is
required to serve in the House of Chiefs and in the National Assembly. (In 1998,
Setswana was formally authorized to be spoken in the House of Chiefs and in the
National Assembly.) However, Setswana is not so much a language as a
language-complex; the eight ‘major tribes’ use eight mutually-intelligible variet-
ies of Seswana. In addition, there are eleven other tribes that speak varieties close
to Setswana, and eight tribes that speak languages unrelated to Setswana. As
Nyati-Ramahobo notes, ‘There is tension between policy formulation and implemen-
tation, and an imbalance in social justice….While pressure from civil-society has
10 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

led government to make progressive policy decisions, there is no intrinsic moti-


vation for their implementation….’
In South Africa, recently shrugging off apartheid, eleven of its estimated 25
languages have now been ‘officialized’ in the Constitution. Nine of those eleven
languages are African languages; the remaining two are Afrikaans and English.
The government has compiled a liberal language policy. Kamwangamalu shows
that there is a mismatch between the language policy and language practices – the
former promoting multilingualism, the latter demonstrating a trend toward
English monolingualism at least in virtually all of the higher domains.

Portuguese
In Mozambique, Portuguese is the ‘officialized’ language, mandated in the
Constitution; the remaining twenty languages are all Bantu languages. The
nation is only ten years removed from a devastating 16-year civil war. Its current
language policy (in the 1990 revised Constitution) requires that ‘the state shall
value the national languages and promote their development and their growing
usage as vehicular languages and in the education of citizens.’ Lopes points out
that ‘…the status of Bantu languages [in comparison with Portuguese] and the
present efforts to develop and promote them in society have a long way to go.’ In
sum, there is a substantial gap between official policy and linguistic reality.

Discrepancy analysis
This brief summary distorts the situation because it ignores the effects of the
presence of other languages in each of the polities as well as the ecological issues.
In all of the polities discussed, the role of English needs to be considered; there is
popular pressure to learn it in Mozambique, and a comparable popular pressure
to diminish its influence in Botswana, Malawi and South Africa. In South Africa
and Mozambique, there is a recognized need to consider Asian languages pres-
ent in the immigrant population. And there is a growing need for a pan-African
means of communication for economic and political purposes.
Consequently, a ‘standard’ language constitutes a purely ideological
construct. The existence of such a construct creates the impression that linguistic
unity exists, when reality reflects great linguistic diversity. The notion of the exis-
tence and dispersion of a ‘standard’ variety through a community suggests that
linguistic unity is the societal norm; it also suggests a level of socio-economic and
socio-political unity that in the African states is contrary to the reality of linguistic
diversity (often reflected in socio-economic and political diversity). The (often
legal) obligation to use a codified standard is likely to cause frustration among
minority-language and dialect speakers, since the standardised language is for
them non-dominant; minority-language and dialect speakers probably use a
contact variety, likely to be at considerable variance from the ‘standard’ variety
(e.g. Popular French vs. Standard French in Côte d’Ivoire).
Language-in-education planning efforts in many polities … reflect the
cultural views of the West. These views are collectively known as the
'plumbing' or 'conduit' or 'telegraphic' conception of communication – i.e.,
the translation of messages that exist in the sender's mind into speech
signals (coded in linguistic form) which are converted back into the original
Some Common Issues 11

message by the receiver. Thus, there is a perceived need to identify a single,


‘standard’ code, to assure that this single code is optimally regular, simple,
and 'modern' and to assure that there are optimal channels (postal services,
road networks, rail networks, air services, telegraphs, telephones, newspa-
pers, radio, television, the world-wide web, etc.) along which the signal can
flow. The problem is that this metaphor is not a reliable description of how
human beings communicate (Mühlhäusler, 1996: 207–208).
Furthermore, some confusion has developed between the meaning of the term
standard (language) and the notion of standardised (education). As noted, a stan-
dard language is believed to be necessary for national unity. (The evidence for
such a belief is, by the way, far from conclusive.) However, if the existence of a
standard language presses the educational system to standardise educational
practices, another discontinuity is created; educational systems are supposed to
enhance independent thinking and creativity – necessary to social and economic
development. It is undesirable to evolve an educational system that turns out
students who are identical in their knowledge, skills, and thought processes.
This problem is also evident in the polities studied.

Conclusions
In sum, while language-in-education planning is widespread across the poli-
ties discussed here, it seems clear:
• That language-in-education policies are rarely anchored in national
language policies;
• that language-in-education policies are frequently ad hoc and sometimes
driven by market forces;
• that language-in-education policies are subject to sudden and radical
changes in direction in accord with unstable political agendas, and
• that the general condition of language-in-education policy is often frag-
mented and frequently simply ineffective – even wasteful of resources.
We hope that this first areal volume will better serve the needs of specialists. It
is our intent to publish other areal volumes subsequently. We will do so in the
hope that such volumes will be of interest to areal scholars and others interested
in language policies and language planning in geographically coherent regions.
(See the Series Overview elsewhere in this volume for more detail on our future
plans.)

Note
1. The studies in this volume were previously published as follows: Botswana Current
Issues in Language Planning (2000) 1, 243–300; Malawi Journal of Multilingual and Multi-
cultural Development (1998) 19, 369–439; Mozambique Journal of Multilingual and
Multicultural Development (1998) 19, 440–486 and South Africa Current Issues in
Language Planning (2001) 2, 361–445. Authors were offered the opportunity to update
their studies – to take into account major changes – with an addendum, but none
thought it necessary to do so.

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Further Reading

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comparative study of national literacy programmes in Botswana and Zimbabwe.


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Malawi
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The Language Situation in Botswana

Lydia Nyati-Ramahobo
Faculty of Education, University of Botswana, Private Bag 0022, Gaborone,
Botswana

This monograph provides an overview of the language situation in Botswana.1 It


describes the language profile of the country, including the number of languages and
dialects spoken, the number of speakers of each language and the various roles each
language plays in society. The paper provides a historical development of language-
in-education policies. The objectives of learning, methods of assessment and language
use in the media also are examined. The third part of the monograph describes
language planning and implementation efforts and the agencies involved in the plan-
ning process and the development of legislation. There is tension between policy
formulation and implementation, and an imbalance in social justice. Majority commu-
nities are treated as minority communities based on the language(s) they speak. While
pressure from the civil society has led government to make progressive policy deci-
sions, there is no intrinsic motivation for their implementation. Non-governmental
organisations are encouraged by these positive policy decisions but their efforts are
frustrated by covertly negative attitudes to change from the leadership. There is a need
for commitment from the leadership to support the preservation of all languages
spoken in Botswana. Currently an assimilationist model permeates the social,
economic, political and cultural aspects of life in Botswana.

Introduction
The monograph has elements of a descriptive study and a case study, in that it
describes the language situation in Botswana. Specifically, it describes the
language profile of Botswana, the spread of Setswana, language planning and
policy activities and both formal and informal efforts to promote and preserve
the languages of the country. Data utilised for this work were collected from
January 1989 to September 1990. This data collection process covered language
planning activities since independence, mainly in the period between 1977 to
1990, when government was in the process of implementing the recommenda-
tions of the first National Commission on Education (NCE 1). The Commission
had reviewed the education system from independence until 1976. It completed
its work in 1977 and its recommendations, contained in the Government White
Paper No.1 of 1977: National Policy on Education, were endorsed by Parliament in
August of the same year (Republic of Botswana, 1977). Data for this monograph
were further updated between June 1996 and May 1998. This was after the
completion of the work of the Second National Commission on Education (NCE
2). This Commission reviewed the education system between 1978 and 1991. The
subsequent endorsement of its recommendations, contained in the Government
White Paper No.2 of 1994: The Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE), came
out in 1994 (Republic of Botswana, 1994). These two documents provide
language policy directions as part of the overall education policy. The study also
has utilised data that were collected for the Directory of Language Bodies in Eastern
and Southern Africa coordinated by Kamanakao Association on behalf of the
International Development Research Center, Nairobi office, from January to
21

The Language Situation in Botswana


22 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

September 1999. The study therefore presents the language situation in


Botswana as it was up to October 1999.
Formal interviews with policy makers and practitioners in the schools
provided the data for the formulation and implementation of the language
policies in education and society. Observations from social domains, social
services, the media and the Government Printer’s Department provided data
for the implementation of the language policy in society and the use of
Setswana and English by the government. An analysis of policy documents and
literature in the areas of language planning, bilingual education, literacy, reli-
gion, the media and historical accounts has provided baseline data on language
policy formulation and implementation by both government and
non-governmental organisations. The editors of Current Issues in Language
Planning have provided a format for the presentation of this data to facilitate
comparability with other polities.

Background
Botswana is situated in the centre of Southern Africa. It shares borders with
Zimbabwe, to the east, Namibia to the west and part of the north, South Africa to
the south and Zambia to the north (Map 1). It is landlocked and most of its goods
come through South African seaports. It straddles the Tropic of Capricorn in the
Southern African plateau (Republic of Botswana, 1997: 8:3). Botswana is about
1000 m above sea level and the land area is 582,000 km2 (222,000 sq. miles), about
the size of Kenya or France.
Most of Botswana is flat with a few rocky outcrops and undulations (Republic
of Botswana, 1997: 8:3). In the north-west district is the Okavango Delta, an area of
wetlands measuring 16,000 km2 (6106 sq. miles) (Tlou, 1985), with a variety of
wildlife and birds. To the west is the Kalahari desert also blessed with wildlife. In
the central part of the country are the Makgadikgadi saltpans. All of these areas
attract tourists. The climate is often described as arid or semi-arid as the country is
situated close to the high-pressure belt of the southern hemisphere. The mini-
mum rainfall ranges between 250 mm in the south-west and 650 mm in the
north-east. Most rains come between December and March. There are mainly
two seasons: winter (May to July) and summer (August to April). Minimum
temperatures range between 33 degrees Celsius in January and 22 degrees in July
(96–74º F). Maximum temperatures range between 43 degrees and 32 degrees
Celsius (116–74º F).
Botswana’s economy is largely supported by the mining industry. At inde-
pendence, Botswana was considered one of the poorest countries of the world.
However, in 1967, diamonds were discovered at Orapa, one of the largest known
kimberlites in the world, and later at Letlhakane and Jwaneng. Copper and
nickel were also discovered at Selibe-Phikwe. Currently Botswana has three
diamond mines, two copper and nickel smelters, a coal mine, soda ash and a salt
extraction plant. Mining has transformed the economy to one of the fastest grow-
ing in Africa. Available data indicates that in 1994/95 mineral resources contrib-
uted 34% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 74. 9% of the country’s export
earnings. It also contributed over 50% of government revenues (Republic of
Botswana, 1997). The beef industry has contributed to the economy as well. For
The Language Situation in Botswana 23

Map 1 Botswana’s location in Southern Africa and other features (Wayeyi areas,
mining towns)

instance, in 1994/95, it contributed 3.7% of the GDP, a decline from the record
40% before the mining era. Most of the beef is sold to the European Union. The
population of Botswana remains rural and a large part of it depends on agricul-
ture for its living, mainly subsistence farming, crop production and cattle rear-
ing. Agriculture also contributes about two per cent of formal employment.
Other sources of revenue are manufacturing, tourism, transport and construc-
tion. There are efforts to diversify the economy to reduce dependency on
diamonds. These efforts include encouraging foreign investments in areas such
as manufacturing and tourism.
Before the advent of the British to Botswana, the system of governance was
through chieftainship. Each tribe had a chief with absolute powers (Somolekae &
Lekorwe, 1998). Some tribes, which lived in smaller groups, would have a leader
for each group with absolute powers, whom they would refer to as chief or elder.
Chieftainship is hereditary from the male line in most Setswana speaking tribes.
The chief’s eldest son would inherit the position. In matrilineal tribes, such as the
24 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Wayeyi, chieftainship was hereditary from the female line. In other words, the
chieftainship would pass to the chief’s sister’s eldest son. Chiefs command a lot
of respect amongst their people and other tribes. A chief had responsibilities for
his people as well. He had to protect his people from war, hunger and other natu-
ral disasters. He was to perform ceremonies to launch the hunting and the
ploughing seasons. He was a medicine man who would perform certain reli-
gious practices for his people to protect them from disease and mishap. He
would also marry people, distribute land, and mediate disputes (Mgadla &
Campbell, 1989; Mgadla, 1998). Naturally, a chief would have assistants in the
form of sub-chiefs. In most cases, these would be close relatives. He would also
have his mophato (a team of his age peers). The chief had to be generous, sensitive
to the rule of law and had to live up to the expectations of his people. The expres-
sion kgosi ke kgosi ka batho (a chief is only a chief because of his people) was the
fundamental principle. Without the support of his people, he was nothing, and
so it was critical for him not to abuse his powers.
In January 1885, the British enforced an Order in Council that declared their
intention to occupy southern Botswana. In 1890, this order was extended to the
northern part of the country, and actual colonial rule began. The motive behind
the order was to keep the Germans from occupying the area as had already
occurred in South-West Africa in 1884 (Ramsay, 1998). Through this order, Brit-
ain informed Botswana chiefs that the British were coming to protect them from
the Germans. This meant that the protectorate was actually imposed on the
chiefs; it was not requested as has been stated in some historical accounts
(Ramsay, 1998). Three of the chiefs were summoned to England for consultations
on the acceptance of the protectorate. These were Kgosi (Chief) Khama III of the
Bamangwato tribe in the Central District, Chief Gaseitsiwe I of the Bangwaketse
tribe in the south-western part of the country and Chief Sechele I of the Bakwena
tribe. While Khama III embraced the idea, the others accepted it with some
degree of reluctance (Ramsay, 1998). During the period between 1885 and 1965
the country was known as the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The British divided it
into nine reserves each led by its chief. While traditionally the chiefs had had
complete legislative, executive and judicial powers, the Order in Council of 1890
transferred those powers to the British High Commissioner. The chiefs were no
longer recognised as the ‘sovereigns of the soil’. Land concessions were awarded
to the British South African Company, which came in and forced out other
companies. Queen Victoria was regarded as the ‘sovereign of the soil’.
Another Order in Council of 1891 gave more legislative powers to the High
Commissioner to enact laws for the administration of justice. However, he was
cautioned to be sensitive to native laws as long as they were not in conflict with
the interests of the British. In 1895, the three chiefs previously mentioned sent a
petition to London, resisting the erosion of their powers on their own lands, but
this was ignored. By this time, their role had been reduced to the collection of a
hut tax to raise funds for the running of the colony. In 1934 the most direct piece
of legislation, the Native Administration Proclamation, was introduced; it
reduced the powers of chiefs and changed Tswana custom and law. It required
the chief’s successor to be appointed by the whole tribe and to be recognised by
the High Commissioner (Somolekae & Lekorwe, 1998). This eroded the heredi-
tary aspect of chieftainship and subjected the appointment of the chief to the
The Language Situation in Botswana 25

THE
CONSTITUTION

The Legislature The Executive The Judiciary

H.E.
The President Court of
National H.E. The Appeal
Assembly President

Cabinet High Court

House of
Chiefs VP Magistrates
Courts
Permanent Secretary
to the President

Clerk of National Office of the Attorney General’s Administrator of


Assembly President Chamber Justice

Ministries

Figure 1 Top central government in Botswana

approval of the High Commissioner. It enabled the British to select chiefs who
were sympathetic to their interests and not necessarily to those of their people.
Consequently, the High Commissioner could hire and fire chiefs. The Native
Tribunal Proclamation No. 75 of 1934 further eroded the legislative and judicial
powers of chiefs. Chiefs’ responsibility to hear cases of rape, murder and homi-
cide was removed. These powers were maintained after independence and the
essence of all these pieces of legislation are still alive within the current regula-
tions. Chiefs and sub-chiefs are employees of the Ministry of Local Government
which has the power to dismiss them.
The constitution of Botswana provides every citizen with fundamental rights
and freedoms. It is based on the four national principles of democracy, unity,
development, and self-reliance. Elections are held every five years. It provides
for the legislative, executive and judicial structure (Figure 1). The legislative
25
26 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Map 2 Botswana tribal distribution by district (Source: Nyati-Ramahobo, 1999a: 83)

structure consists of the national assembly, composed of 40 members of Parlia-


ment, one from each constituency. In addition to elected members of Parliament,
four are especially elected by Parliament to provide for special skills and exper-
tise critical to the proceedings of Parliament. This was the situation in Parliament
after the October 1999 elections. The number of women increased from two to
eight, four of whom are ministers, two are assistant ministers and two were espe-
cially elected.
The legislative branch also contains the House of Chiefs. Currently there are
15 members of the House. Eight of them are Paramount Chiefs of the eight
Setswana speaking tribes (see Table 1 in Note 1), meaning that they are chiefs by
birth. Four are elected sub-chiefs from areas where languages other than
The Language Situation in Botswana 27

Setswana are spoken that do not fall under any of the eight Paramount Chiefs;
these include the North-east, Kgalagadi, Gantsi and Chobe districts (Map 2).
Those tribes in the North-west, including the Hambukushu, Herero, Subia,
Wayeyi, Baciriku (Baqcereku), and Basarwa are represented and ruled by the
Batawana and are regarded as such (Map 2). The House elects three additional
members by special election. Tribes, whose members do not speak Setswana as
mother tongue, are not allowed to be represented by their Paramount Chiefs.
They have to be represented by someone who speaks Setswana as a first
language. This is an attempt to assimilate everyone into the Setswana language
and culture.
The House of Chiefs is highly symbolic, as its role is to express the total culture
of the country and to influence policy from a cultural point of view. The current
composition of the House has been challenged since independence as it denies
other ethnic groups the opportunity to contribute to the decision-making
process. Furthermore, it violates the democratic principle of representation. The
continued imposition of chiefs and sub-chiefs from one tribe on another has been
a matter of contention since independence. In some areas of the country, even for
some of the eight so-called major tribes, tribe members are ruled by others. This
has provoked some resistance; for example, the Bakgatla living in the Bakwena
area are resisting the Bakwena rule and the Barolong in the Bangwaketsi area are
also resisting Bangwaketsi rule. Many observers have called for an increase in the
numbers in the House of Chiefs to make it more inclusive (Molutsi, 1998a).
The issue of chieftainship has also been highly politicised. Since most people
in the country still hold their chiefs in respect, they tend to vote for the party to
which their chief is sympathetic. As chiefs are government employees, they natu-
rally pay allegiance to the government. This is one of the factors that has led
Botswana to be described as a one party state (Molutsi, 1994). Under these
circumstances, there is little prospect for other parties to gain widespread
support. As long as people respect their chiefs as the custodians of their cultures,
and as long as the ruling party ensures the loyalty of all civil servants, the status
quo is likely to remain (Molutsi, 1998b). Chiefs who have not showed sympathy
for the ruling party have been intimidated. For instance, the paramount chief of
the Bangwaketsi, Chief Seepapitso IV, has been a supporter of the opposition
Botswana National Front (BNF), and that area supports the BNF. Having
supported the opposition for a long time, the Minister for Local Government
suspended him in 1994 (Somolekae & Lekorwe, 1998). It was only after a court
battle that he was returned to a position of power.
As chieftainship is related to ethnicity and language, it is against the above
background that government continues to promote an assimilationist policy. If
everyone were Tswana speaking, then everybody would be loyal to the ruling
party, as long as it is led by a Mongwato (Table 1, see Note 1). After the death of
Seretse Khama, the first president of Botswana, who was the chief of the
Bamangwato tribe, President Masire who is a Mongwaketsi had to appease the
Bamangwato by appointing Seretse’s cousin, Lenyeletsi Seretse to the Vice-Presi-
dency. Equally, in 1999 President Mogae had to appease the Bamangwato by
appointing Seretse Khama’s son, Ian Khama to the Vice-Presidency. Ian Khama
was also expected to use his chieftainship to the Bamangwato throne and his
father’s charisma to win the elections for the ruling party, which had lost face in
28 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

the 1994 general elections. Issues of ethnicity, language and chieftainship will
continue to dominate the political debate in the country. The modernist
assimilationist model enshrined within Sections 77 to 79 of the constitution, the
Chieftainship Act and the Tribal Land Territories Act fosters their continued
prominence.
The legislative wing of government is therefore made up of the National
Assembly and the House of Chiefs (Figure 1). There is also the Speaker of the
National Assembly who is elected by the assembly. The Attorney General is also
selected from the National Assembly to advise Parliament on legal matters.
The second wing of the Government is the Executive. It is made up of the Pres-
ident and his cabinet ministers and the Permanent Secretary to the President who
is in charge of the civil service. Finally, there is the Judiciary, which includes the
Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Magistrate Courts and the Administrator of
Justice (Figure 1).

Part I: The Language Profile of Botswana

Theoretical Framework
Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson (1989) describe language rights as existing on a
continuum from assimilation to maintenance. On this continuum, there are laws
and regulations, which may prohibit, tolerate, prescribe non-discrimination,
permit or promote the use of minority languages, either overtly or covertly. They
give the United States as an example of a covert assimilation-prohibition situa-
tion based on Senator Huddleston’s draft English language amendment which
reads ‘The English language shall be the official language of the United States’
(Skutnabb-Kangas, 1990: 27). This proposed legislation was meant to assimilate
all other groups to English and prohibit them from using their own languages.
Other languages are not mentioned and that means that they are indirectly or
covertly prohibited.2
An assimilation-tolerance model exists when the law prescribes one language
but provides room for other languages without any commitment to them. An
example of this model is Zimbabwe where minority languages such as Karanga
are used on the radio without any commitment to their development for use in
other social domains. An example of a maintenance-permission continuum on
the other hand, is South Africa. The Freedom Charter of 1955, also upheld in the
current legislation, stated that ‘All people shall have equal rights to use their own
languages, and to develop their own folk culture and customs’. The intention is
to maintain as many languages as possible, hence permitting their development.
In the discussion in Part III of this monograph, I note that the constitution of
Botswana is silent on language policy. However, Sections 61(d) and 79(c) of the
constitution state that the ability to speak and read English are requirements for
one to be a member of the House of Chiefs or the National Assembly. This indicates
that English is the only language that is permitted for use in Parliament and the
House of Chiefs. The constitution therefore covertly prohibits the use of other
languages. In 1998, Setswana was permitted to be used in Parliament; this was a
The Language Situation in Botswana 29

move from prohibition to tolerance for Setswana on the assimilation continuum.


However, the use of other languages is still prohibited. The Botswana case, there-
fore, can best be described as assimilation prohibition, in which speakers of other
languages are prohibited from using their languages while having to assimilate to
Setswana and English. Practice over the past 33 years further indicates that only
Setswana and English are permitted for use in social domains including education.
Le Roux (1997) has described three types of assimilation. The first he calls
assimilation, a one-way process in which minority groups give up their
languages, cultures and traditions and assume those of the dominant group. He
calls this model the ‘ice-cream plus salt theory’. The second is, amalgamation, also
called the melting pot, another type of assimilation in which minority and major-
ity cultures mix to form a new and unique culture, with characteristics distinct
from the original cultures. Finally, he describes structural assimilation or the
‘blender’ approach in which there is total rejection of any kind of grouping on the
basis of religion, language, ethnicity and so on. This is also called the ‘open
community’ ideology. Under this approach, groups have no rights and individ-
ual rights are regarded as the core of social order. Proponents of this approach
believe that group rights restrict individual rights to some extent, and they
regard assimilation and amalgamation as anti-pluralistic. As this monograph
demonstrates, the Botswana government has adopted the assimilation approach
in which speakers of languages other than Setswana must assimilate into the
culture of Setswana speaking groups.
Ruiz (1984) proposed three orientations towards language planning. These
are: language as a problem, a resource or a right. He believes that ‘basic orienta-
tions toward language and its role in society influence the nature of language
planning efforts in any particular context’ (Ruiz, 1984: 15). He defines orienta-
tions as a ‘complex of dispositions toward language and its role – which are
related to language attitudes in that they constitute the framework in which atti-
tudes are formed’ (Ruiz, 1984: 16). Orientations are largely at the subconscious
level but could be inferred from existing policies and practices. As Table 2 indi-
cates, how language planners view language determines the strategies they
employ to address language problems.

 When language planners view language diversity as a problem, they adopt


the assimilation model. In status planning their goal would be to eradicate
minority languages and corpus planning activities would be characterised
by the development of the national language only and neglect of minority
languages. Under the influence of this orientation, acquisition planning
activities would involve teaching and developing materials in the national
language only.
 When planners or policy makers view language as a right, their status plan-
ning activities would include the recognition of minority languages and
give overt permission to speakers of those languages to use them. In corpus
planning, efforts would be made to develop and standardise minority
languages to facilitate acquisition planning. Children speaking minority
languages would be allowed to learn in their mother tongue.
 When linguistic diversity is viewed as a resource, policy statements in
status planning would be geared towards the development, preservation
30 Language Planning and Policy in Africa
Table 2 Language planning types, orientations and goals (Nyati-Ramahobo,
1998b: 55)
Orientations
Problem Right Resource
Goals: Assimilation Linguistic Linguistic
affirmation pluralism
Types
Status planning Minority Recognise minority Preserve and
(Language eradication develop as many
functions) languages as
possible
Corpus planning Standardisation of Graphisation and Extension of
(Language the national standardisation of minority languages
structure) language only and minority languages lexically and
neglect of minority sociolinguistically
language
Acquisition Curriculum Curriculum Human resource
planning development and development and development,
(Language teaching of the teaching and material
learning) national language learning in production, literacy
only; learning in minority languages skills
minority languages

and use of as many languages as possible. More languages would be


given functions within the life of the nation, such as for use in churches,
voting, the media and many other social domains, as is the case in South
Africa. Corpus planners would then develop written forms of as many
languages as possible. Acquisition planning process would produce
teaching materials to facilitate learning of these various languages.
Table 2 indicates the relationship between language planning orientations, goals
and types of planning.
Nyati-Ramahobo (1999a) maintains that language planning in Botswana has
been influenced by the orientation of language diversity being viewed as problem,
in which minority languages, cultures and identities must be eradicated. All chil-
dren must learn Setswana and use it as medium of instruction. They must assimi-
late to the Setswana language and culture. Democracy demands that group rights
be granted and, consequently, groups such the youth, women and the disabled are
supported. Similarly minority group rights have to be tolerated and groups should
be allowed to form registered organisations along ethnic and linguistic lines. Such
rights would create tensions between an assimilationist model and democracy.
One of the reasons why ethnic identities have not disappeared is that within a
democracy people can no longer be imprisoned for developing and using their
languages. This issue is discussed further in the role of non-governmental organi-
sations in language maintenance in Part Four of this monograph.

Major and minor languages


English is the official language of Botswana. It permeates the social, economic
and cultural lives of all educated Batswana and the government prefers the use of
The Language Situation in Botswana 31

English to any other language in the country. Setswana is the main language of
Botswana. Some scholars estimate that it is spoken by about 80% of the popula-
tion as a first language (Obondo-Okoyo & Sabone, 1986, also refer to Map 1).
Others maintain that, taken individually, most Tswana speaking tribes are
minorities in Botswana, while collectively they may or may not form a majority
over non-Tswana tribes taken together (Mpho, 1987). For instance, Parsons
(1985: 27) maintains that the concept of
Tswanadom that is both philosophical and territorial has led many observ-
ers to assume that Botswana is a mono-ethnic state . . . [but] only in so far as
the Tswana minority has successfully imposed its culture on the majority
population of the extreme diverse origins…[and even then] ethnic identi-
ties have not disappeared.
However, because of this imposition, speakers of the eight dialects, which make
up the Setswana language, are regarded as the majority tribes in the country. The
Chieftainship Act, Cap.41: 01 (Republic of Botswana, 1965) states that ‘tribe
means, the Bamangwato Tribe, the Batawana Tribe, the Bakgatla Tribe, the
Bakwena Tribe, the Bangwaketse Tribe, the Bamalete Tribe, the Barolong Tribe
and the Batlokwa Tribe’ (41:3) (refer to Table 1, Category one). The Tribal Terri-
tories Act (Cap.32: 03 (Republic of Botswana, 1965) also defines tribal territory
with respect to these tribes meaning that only those tribes are sovereigns of the
land. Most of these tribes originated from South Africa during the Difaqane wars
in the 1820s and 1830s (Tlou & Campbell, 1984: 101; Ncqocqo, 1979; Ramsay et al.,
1996: 61). The Bakwena, Bangwato and Bangwaketsi are the descendants of
Malope (Tlou, 1998), which in the 1800s became separate tribes by the Difaqane
wars. Currently, the Bangwaketsi live in the south-western part of Botswana
while the Bangwato (or the Bamangwato) live in the central and the Bakwena in
the southern part (Map 2). About 10% of the population now speak Setswana as a
second language (Obondo-Okoyo & Sabone, 1986).
Other tribes speak languages that are regarded as sub-dialects of Setswana.
However, the speakers regard themselves as autonomous tribes. These are the
Babirwa, Batswapong, Bahurutshe, Bakhurutshe and Bapedi. Most of these
tribes also originated from South Africa and live on the eastern border of
Botswana with South Africa. By 1800, the Bapedi had settled throughout the
Central District, and in 1913 the Bakhurutshe moved to the interior of the Central
District (Ramsay et al., 1996: 15). The Bahurutshe live in the Kweneng District
closer to the Southern border of the two countries (Table 1, Category 2 and 3).
Other language groups include Bakalaka, Basarwa, Wayeyi, Hambukushu,
Baherero, Basubiya, Baciriku, Bakgalagadi, Bakgothu, Bashaga and Banabjwa
(Map 2, also Table 1, Category 3). It is estimated that these groups make up about
15 to 20% of the population (Obondo-Okoyo & Sabone, 1986; Janson & Tsonope,
1991: 86–7). They speak different languages that are neither related to Setswana
nor mutually intelligible. The Basarwa group is made up of about seventeen San
ethnic groups who speak different languages (Appendix 1).
All the tribes described in the previous paragraph are regarded as minority
tribes. The terms minority and majority have, by definition, no numerical signifi-
cance in Botswana. What determines whether a tribe is major or minor is whether
it belongs to one of the eight Setswana tribes and speak one of the eight Setswana
32 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

dialects. For instance, the Bakalaka are believed to be the largest tribe in the
Central District, and yet they are regarded as a minority tribe because they speak
Ikalanga, which is not related to Setswana. The Wayeyi constitute about 40% of
the population of the Ngamiland district (Anderson & Janson, 1997; also refer to
Kamanakao web-site in the reference section). By contrast, the Batawana consti-
tute one per cent of the population and yet the former are regarded as a minority
tribe and the latter as a majority tribe. The Batawana rule over the Wayeyi, and
the Batawana Paramount Chief represents the Wayeyi in the House of Chiefs.
The government does not recognise the Wayeyi Paramount Chief and this matter
is presently before the High Court. The Balete and Batlokwa have small popula-
tions occupying one village, and yet they are regarded as majority tribes and are
represented by their Paramount Chiefs in the House of Chiefs.
The general pattern is that Setswana speaking groups rule over all the
non-Setswana tribes. The village capital of the major tribe is the capital of all the
other tribes nearest to it. It is the place where government services are provided
irrespective of the distance to be travelled. This is the way in which linguistic
imperialism has penetrated the social and economic lives of those tribes which
do not speak Setswana as a first language. In all national events, the major culture
portrayed is that of the eight major tribes. Minority languages and cultures are
suppressed and their use in public domains is discouraged. These policies are
meant to foster national unity and a national cultural identity. They are congru-
ent with an assimilationist model and are underpinned by an orientation that
views linguistic and cultural diversity as a problem and a threat to national unity.

Language of religion
Amanze (1998: 1) maintains that ‘traditional religion is a living faith among
Batswana today’. This is so because ‘they have revived and continued to observe
a great number of their religious beliefs and practices some of which were
attacked by the early missionaries as evil and detrimental to the spiritual life of
Batswana’. He further observes that people in Africa are ‘born, live and die in
their traditional religions’ (1998: 2). A recent newspaper report has indicated
most Batswana, including the highly educated, still rely on traditional medi-
cine (The Voice, Friday, 21 May 1998). Traditional medicine is closely related to
traditional religion. It is this religion that protects the people from witchcraft,
sorcery, drought, uncertainty, disease, misfortune and other physical, spiri-
tual, economic and social phenomena (Amanze, 1998: 3).
Like most Africans, Batswana believe in one supreme being (Modimo in
Setswana, Urezha in Shiyeyi (Tlou, 1985), or Nyambe in Thimbukushu or Nzimu in
Ikalanga. For all ethnic groups in Botswana this one God is always described in
anthropomorphic terms. He can see, hear, get angry, forgive, answer and so on.
This is reflected in given names of people such as Oarabile (He has answered).
They also believe in ancestral spirits (Badimo) in Setswana, or Wazumu in Shiyeyi.
The dead are considered to continue to exist in a spiritual form, and they serve as
the mediator between the living and God. The spirits can also neglect or punish
the living; they can forgive, protect and come closer to them in times of need.
When they are angry they may bring disease, misfortune, or death. Certain prac-
tices need to be followed to make them happy. These practices have stood the test
of time and people in towns go to villages on weekends to perform such rites.
The Language Situation in Botswana 33

This phenomenon has maintained a strong bond between the working class in
towns and their traditional villages. While some practices such as initiation cere-
monies have ceased, those practices related to health and fortune continue
despite attempts by the missionaries to abolish them. Some of the practices
include birth rites to protect the child from disease and bad spirits and marriage
rites to ensure that the couples do not divorce.
The priesthood in the African religion includes diviners, medicine men and
rainmakers. Chiefs also hold religious powers. During colonial rule, the British
overtly banned some religious practices. They felt that practices such as bogwera
(male initiation) took a lot of the chiefs’ time from their work for the colony. For
instance, in 1931 Kgosi Sebele II of the Bakwena tribe, a traditionalist, wanted to
follow the bogwera which one was required in order to be a chief or a respected
male adult (Ramsay, 1987). The British collaborated with his relatives who were
against his policy of promoting commoners to chieftainship duties. They used
their complaints to make Sebele II a political prisoner. The real reason was that he
insisted on practising bogwera. Currently, only the Kgosi Linchwe II Kgafela of
the Bakgatla still practises bogwera. As chiefs are now elected and not necessarily
born into ruling positions, their religious powers have been reduced. They act
only as clients to medicine men who strengthen them and protect them from evil
and opposition. In 1998 the Wayeyi informed Kgosi Tawana that they would like
to have their own chief. He said in a kgotla3 meeting ‘I am not afraid that you will
take my chair [meaning chieftainship seat] because I have put some powerful
charms under it and no one can take it away’ (Davies, 1998). It was not Kgosi
Tawana but the medicine men who provided the charms, and that was under-
stood by the Wayeyi. Chiefs no longer have powers to bring rain and provide
good harvest for their people. They have lost their religious powers.
Missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS) came to Bechuana-
land (Botswana) in the first half of the 18th century to spread Christianity. The
missionaries’ first task was to convert each of the Paramount Chiefs of the eight
major tribes to Christianity. This practice resulted in the LMS playing a major
role in the development of Setswana both in Botswana and in South Africa. It was
the first language south of Ethiopia to have a translation of the Bible, a task that
was completed by the 1850s (Parsons, 1998). The LMS built three senior second-
ary schools in Botswana that still operate today: Moeding and Moeng Colleges
and Maun Secondary School. They also built hospitals, which continue to
provide medical care. During this period the use of Setswana in religion was
obvious, as morning prayers in schools and hospitals were conducted in
Setswana. When deacons and other church leaders visited hospitals to pray for
the sick, the services were conducted in Setswana. After independence, morning
prayers in schools began to be conducted in English. Christianity has therefore
played a major role in the promotion of Setswana and English in the church and
in the exclusion of other languages in accordance with the assimilationist model.
Chiefs were often tutored by missionaries or local priests who were trained by
and worked for missionaries. For instance, Kgosi Seepapitso II of the Bang-
waketsi was tutored as a child by Moruti (Preacher) Mothowagae Motlogelwa of
the LMS and later went to Lovedale Institute, a missionary school in South
Africa. Religion therefore played a significant role, not only in building schools
but also in schooling the chiefs and teaching them English. This was helpful in
34 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 3 Religions and their membership


Religion Membership %
Christians 392, 035 30.00
Bahai 5,000 0.38
Muslims 3,848 0.23
Hindus 2,000 0.15
Buddhists 150 0.01
Sikhs 144 0.01

Source: Amanze (1988: x)

maintaining traditional ways, as some dikgosi (chiefs) like Seepapitso used their
education to resist some of the changes the British wanted to implement. Like
Sebele, he was a traditionalist who believed in Christianity without abandoning
Tswana law and custom (Ramsay, 1987). He spoke English very well and conse-
quently was able to put his point of view to the British. As he himself was fluent
in English, he did not oppose its use in the church along with translations into
Setswana.
While the majority of the people in Botswana believe in their ancestral sprits,
Christianity is the official religion in the country. About 176 Christian denomina-
tions are represented in Botswana (Amanze, 1994). Other religions such as Bahai,
Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are also present (Table 3).
Amongst the Christian churches there are three types (Amanze, 1998: ix): the
mission churches (30.5%), which came because of missionary work in Africa, the
Pentecostal churches (6.58%) and independent churches (64.93%), mainly of
African or specifically Tswana origin (Sic, percentages add to more than 100% in
the original). The latter are mostly a blend of Western and African philosophies
of religion. The independent churches have upheld the African religions and
traditions. Within the mission churches, the largest is the Roman Catholic
Church with 47,000 members followed by the Lutheran church with 24,000
members (Amanze, 1994). A denominational classification of Christian churches
in Botswana includes: Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican,
Congregational, Methodist, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, Pentecostal and
Independent churches (Amanze, 1999). Their approaches to religion include
the apostolic, the prophetic, the evangelical and the spiritual. While traditional
religious acts such as drinking, concubinage, pre-marital sex, polygamy, and
smoking were not banned, most churches, including independent churches,
discourage such practices, of course with varying degrees of success. The meth-
ods of worship, more especially in independent churches, have blended both
Western and African styles. Dress is formal as it is in the West but the proceed-
ings include African styles such as hand clapping, drumming, dancing and the
use of African music.
Religion has increased the use of Setswana and English. A study conducted by
Nyati-Ramahobo (1991) concluded that most churches use English and Sets-
wana, with the former playing a major role in the proceedings of the church. For
instance, in the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA), the
main message of the sermon is delivered in English with translations into
The Language Situation in Botswana 35

Setswana. Batswana ministers in urban areas use English to deliver their


messages. In making announcements, the secretary may use his/her discretion
as to which announcements are to be in both Setswana and English and which
ones are to be monolingual in Setswana. The church choir sings hymns both in
Setswana and English, while the congregation sings hymns in Setswana. The
Scripture may be read in Setswana or English, but not necessarily the same text in
both languages. The increase in the use of English in urban churches is a result of
an increase in the number of younger church leaders and of a greater participa-
tion of younger parishioners in church activities. However, Setswana is domi-
nant in rural churches.
In the spirit of the assimilationist model in which language diversity is viewed
as a threat to peace, minority languages are rarely used in church. However, in
the 1980s the Lutheran Bible Translators based at Aurora, Illinois and the
Botswana Christian Council have played a significant role in the development of
minority languages such as Ikalanga as discussed below. The translation of the
New Testament into Hambukushu and Ikalanga has led to the informal use of
these languages in some churches in the north-east and north-west of the coun-
try. The development of the Shiyeyi orthography has resulted in the translation
of some hymns into Shiyeyi. These hymns are sung at some funeral services.
Increasingly religion is playing a crucial role in the development of minority
languages and their gradual introduction into rural churches which otherwise
use Setswana in their proceedings. Membership of other religions is essentially
composed of foreigners who use mainly English except for Islam and Hinduism,
which use Arabic or Indian languages.

Socio-linguistic Complexity of the Country


Since independence, the national population and housing census has not
included data on the ethnic and/or linguistic composition of the country. Since
linguistic diversity is regarded as a problem, such data might promote ethnic
awareness and disrupt the assimilation process. Implied in this practice is the
promotion of national identity over ethnic identity. Another reason is that, with
the definition of majority and minority being non-numerically determined, such
data would quickly bring to the attention of the people the fact that what the
government regards as major ethnic groups are actually a numerical minority.
This absence of ethnic and/or linguistic information in the census has hampered
easy access to empirical and scientific data that would provide an accurate
description of the socio-linguistic complexity of the country. Because of this
problem, scholars who have worked on the various languages and ethnic groups
of Botswana have based their information on estimates. Table 4 presents census
data from pre-independence in one district, Ngamiland (Map 2). The 1936 and
1946 censuses were the last to include ethnicity (Tlou, 1985, from Shapera, 1959).
These figures can only serve as a rough guide as these ethnic groups are also
represented in other parts of the country, while other ethnic groups are not repre-
sented in this district. Table 4 indicates that the Wayeyi were the most numerous
group in both periods, and yet by government definition they are considered a
minority tribe.
Tlou (1985) cautions against the use of census figures during that period since
36 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 4 Population in Ngamiland by ethnic group in 1936 and 1946


Bantu 1936 (census) 1946 (census)
BaGcereku – 1,513
BaHerero 2,933 5,798
BaKalaka – 728
BaKgalagadi 2,270 1,918
BaRotsi – 744
BaSarwa 3,067 3,704
BaSotho – 42
BaSubiya – 486
BaTawana 7072 8,124
Bayei/Wayeyi/Bayeyi 16,496 13,261
Hambukushu 5,919 5,286
Matebele – 103
Others 4,402 –
Total 42,158 41,707

Source: Tlou (1985: 9)

only major villages were included. The census for 1946 may have been done
during the ploughing season when most people were away in the fields. Another
possible explanation for the decrease between 1936 and 1946 was that the count
was conducted at the height of the conflict between the Bayei (Wayeyi) and
Batawana, just before the 1948 court case. During that period most minority
groups were intimidated and were forced to identify themselves as the
Batawana. This seems to make sense in that the Batawana population was seen to
have increased but others (like BaYei, Hambukushu and BaKgalagadi) had
decreased.
Mpho (1987) presents figures for the 1946 census in the Central District (see
Table 5). The Kalanga were the most numerous in this reserve, and yet at inde-
pendence they were declared a minority and their language was banned from
use in school since it was not Setswana, and recognising it would not promote the
concept of Tswanadom.
Table 6 provides post-independence figures along with the most recent esti-
mates by scholars. The compilation in Batibo et al. (1997) has relied on Anderson
and Janson’s estimates. The figures for Wayeyi could be higher due to denial of
Shiyeyi identity by many Wayeyi at that time. In fact Anderson & Janson (1997:
73) estimate that the Wayeyi could be between 28,000 and 37,000. While the
denial syndrome is not exclusive to the Wayeyi, the Batawana more extensively
subjected them to slavery than any other tribe. Most of them have become assimi-
lated and cannot speak Shiyeyi, while others speak it but do not admit that they
do due to the low status of the language through its association with slavery.
However, things may have changed slightly since 1995, after the formation of the
Kamanakao Association (see Part IV). The figures for the BaHerero could be
much lower. They immigrated to Botswana in 1904/05 (Anderson & Janson,
The Language Situation in Botswana 37
Table 5 Population of the Bamangwato Reserve (now Central District, see Map 1)
Group Population
Bakalaka 22,777
spalphaBamangwato 20,159
Batswapong 11,237
Babirwa 9,636
San 9,567
Bakhurutshe 5,441
Bakgalagadi 3,963
Batalaote 3,538
Bakaa 3,055
Bapedi 2,572
Baphaleng 2,409
OvaHerero 1,013
Balozi 1,006
Bakwena 892
Baseleka 889
Banajwa 844
Bayei/Wayeyi/Bayeyi 724

Table 6 Estimated number of speakers


Ethnic Group Population & per cent of population
Batibo et al. (1997) Anderson & Janson (1997)
BaHerero 31,000 (1.7) 31,000 (2.2)
BaKalaka 150,000 (11) 150,000 (11)
BaKgalagadi 15,000 (1.4) 10,000+ (?)
BaSarwa 39,800 (2.8) 40,000 (4)
(Khoisan)
BaSubiya 7,000 (0.5) 7,000 (0.5)
BaYei/Wayeyi/Bayeyi 20,000 (1.4) 37,000 (4)
Hambukushu 8,000 (0.6) 6,000+
Batswana* 1,100,000 (79) 1,100,000+ (80)
Others 20,000 (1.4) –
Totals 1,390,800 1,381,000

*Batswana refers to the eight dialects spoken by the eight so-called major tribes. There
have been no data on the numbers for each of these tribes for the past 63 years.

1997) but continued to consider themselves to be Namibians. After Namibia’s


independence in 1996, some moved back, while others remained in various parts
of Botswana. The 1991 population census indicated that 54% of the population of
Botswana live in the rural areas (Central Statistics Office, 1995: 5). Due to the lack
38 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

of reliable data, it is difficult to estimate the percentages of each ethnic group


living in rural or urban areas.
The numbers in Table 6 should be treated with great caution; they are esti-
mates based on the 1936 and 1946 census figures for the Ngamiland and Central
Districts only. The discrepancy in the totals confirms that these are only esti-
mates. It is not possible to use figures that are 63 years old to work out current
figures, especially in a situation in which language shift has been accelerated by
deliberate policies. Smieja and Mathangwane (1999) have also discussed the rate
of language shift; Sommer and Vossen (1995) suggest that estimates such as these
may not be reliable. Language shift suggests a shift in self-perception and iden-
tity. The 1991 census did not include ethnic or linguistic information. Secondly,
Batibo and his colleagues relied heavily on Anderson and Janson’s figures.
Hence, they do not provide an alternative level of analysis.

Part II: Language Spread

Development of Language-in-education Policies


Education provision after independence
During the Colonial period, education was provided by only four mission
schools. Few people had access to these schools and at independence there was
an acute shortage of manpower to lead the country. The education sector has
experienced a tremendous amount of expansion during the past 33 years, in
terms of number of students, schools and teachers. In 1974, eight years after inde-
pendence, the first President, Sir Seretse Khama, appointed a commission to
assess the entire education system and make recommendations for implementa-
tion. The National Commission on Education (NCE 1), chaired by Professor
Torsen Husen, then Director of the Institute for International Education at Stock-
holm, started its work in 1975 and brought it to completion in 1977. One of the
major findings of this exercise was that the education sector was expanding in
terms of student enrolment (Table 7). However, a number of problems were
identified including low achievement rates. The Commission stated that ‘schools
are not even achieving their narrow academic objectives well’ (NCE 1977a: 18).
The system was based on European models and has not been changed to
accommodate local needs in terms of curriculum content. Assessment was basi-
cally used for selection into the next level, and ultimately preparing learners for
white-collar jobs. The rapid expansion in enrolment at the primary level (74%)
and at secondary school (a six-fold increase between 1966 and 1976), imposed a
greater demand for increases in teacher training, buildings, equipment and
administrative levels. Thus, while more children were coming into the education
system, not enough was happening to provide for their education. There was a
shortage of manpower in the Ministry of Education. Consequently, schools were
not inspected on a regular basis. There was no curriculum review being carried
out and goals and policies meant to improve the system were not being imple-
mented. The other problem identified was that the Ministry of Education had
The Language Situation in Botswana 39
Table 7 School enrolment: 1966–1976
Year Primary Secondary University
1966 71,546 1531 0
1967 71,577 1854 0
1968 78,963 2299 0
1969 82,214 3099 0
1970 83,002 3905 0
1971 78,442 4740 42
1972 81,662 5564 70
1973 95,511 6152 132
1974 103,711 7055 201
1975 116,293 8434 289
1976 125,588 9558 465

Source: National Commission on Education (1977: 14)

focused on secondary and higher education in terms of quality issues while


primary education was neglected; for instance, most teachers at the primary
school level were not trained. They were also disparities between urban and
rural areas in terms of the provision of education. For instance, in rural areas
most children had to walk long distances to get to a school, and sometimes they
had to move to a different village to go to school. There were also more untrained
teachers in rural schools and poorer facilities. Finally, children in rural areas
speak non-school languages and have problems comprehending instruction in
the national language.
The Commission made recommendations to address some of the most press-
ing issues facing the education system at that time. Amongst these were the
following.
(1) The need to give priority to primary education as the foundation for other
levels of education; specifically to attend to both quantitative and qualita-
tive issues at this level eg, the curriculum should ensure that each child
acquires basic literacy and numeracy skills.
(2) An increase in opportunity to enter junior secondary education in several
ways was recommended, including part-time study, lifting age restriction
to entrance, expansion of facilities, and the development of teacher training
colleges and more schools. It also recommended the development of a
coherent system between technical and vocational education.
(3) The examination marks for Setswana should be included in the Primary
School Leaving Examinations’ (PSLE) mark, and a compensatory pro-
gramme should be developed for children who speak other languages.
(4) The education system should foster the four national principles of develop-
ment: self-reliance, unity, and democracy – which culminate in the philoso-
phy of Kagisano (social justice). The report this Commission produced was
called Education for Kagisano, and the accepted recommendations are
contained in Government White Paper No. 1, the National Policy on Educa-
tion, passed by Parliament in August, 1977.
40 Language Planning and Policy in Africa
Table 8 Education enrolment 1979–1991
Year Primary Junior Secondary Senior Secondary University
1979 156,664 14,165 2,551 –
1984 209,772 23,500 3,864 –
1988 261,352 27,989 12,368 –
1991 298,812 52,866 22,496 –
1997/98 8,302

Sources: National Commission on Education (1993); Central Statuistics Office (1999)

(5) The Commission recommended a change in the education structure from


7:3:3:4 to 7:2:3.4 (primary, junior secondary, senior secondary and university).
(6) The Commission recommended the Establishment of the Department of
Curriculum Development and Evaluation.
(7) The Commission also made recommendations on the use of Setswana as
medium of instruction and other language related issues. These will be
discussed in detail in the following section on language-in-education policies.

From 1977 to 1992, the Ministry of Education (Figure 2) tried to implement the
recommendations of the first National Commission on Education and deliver
education for social justice. In 1992, the second President, Sir Ketumile Masire,
appointed the second National Commission on Education (NCE 2), to reassess
the entire system and indicate its strengths and weaknesses with a view to forg-
ing a way forward into the next millennium. This thrust developed in light of the
fact that there had been many societal, economic, political and cultural changes
since 1977. Mr Ponatshego H. Kedikilwe, then Minister of Presidential Affairs
and Public Administration, chaired this Commission. He was the Minister of
Education, and many people thought that he had the opportunity to implement
his own recommendations. However, he later resigned his cabinet post. The
Commission started its work in April 1992 and completed it in 1994. It identifies
key areas where improvements had taken place since the last Commission and
areas that needed attention within the system. The following improvements
were reported to have taken place:
 enrolments had continued to expand (Table 8);
 the Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation had been
established, and the curriculum was generally sensitive to the philosophy
of Kagisano;
 there were great improvements in the curriculum and new teaching meth-
ods and approaches had been put in place to facilitate learning;
 universal access to primary education had been achieved and there was
greater access to junior secondary education (Figure 3);
 the Department of Primary Education had been established at the Univer-
sity of Botswana in 1981 to train teachers to diploma level and education
officers to degree level. Thus there was a steady decrease in the number of
untrained teachers from 38.6% in 1978 to 13.3% in 1991.
The following areas still remained problematic:
The Language Situation in Botswana 41

The Honorable Minister


of Education

Other
Ministries
Permanent University of
Secretary Botswana
External
Agencies

Coordinator
of RNPE*

MLGH

Exams, Research Planning, Statistics


& Testing & Research

Deputy Permanent Sec. Deputy Permanent Sec.


(Support Services) (Educ. Dev. Serv.)

DEPARTMENTS DEPARTMENTS

* The Revised Policy on Education

Figure 2 Structure of the Ministry of Education

 access to senior secondary education was still a problem (NCE 2, 1993: 148);
 there was still need for equity in the provision of education between rural
and urban areas;
 there was still an imbalance in the provision of education between second-
ary and primary education. Primary school teachers still had no housing,
the schools were not electrified and there was still a shortage of classrooms.
These problems still persist today. There are still large numbers of
untrained teachers found in primary schools.
The Commission then made recommendations in four major areas:
(1) Equity: Not only was equity necessary between rural and urban areas, and
between primary and secondary education, but also for children with
special abilities or disabilities in and out of school education, and by gender.
42 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Age Level

22

21

Tertiary

of Work
World
Tertiary
20 Institutions

19
Distance
Vocational

18
Training

Education
and
17
Senior Secondary Part-Time
Form 4–5 (2 Years) Study
16

Secondary
15
Junior Secondary School
14
Form 1–3 (3 Years)
13

12

11

10

Primary
Primary School Adult Basic Education
9 Standard 1–7 (National Literacy
(7 Years) Programme)
8

5 Pre-School Early
Currently not in Place Childhood
4 (only run by NGOs) Education

Figure 3 Structure of education and training

It noted the high access rate to primary education by girls, but their high
drop-out rate at junior and senior secondary level. It further noted the
under-representation of females in science-related areas at tertiary level.
Some of the recommendations in this area, including the use of mother
tongue at pre-school level and upon demand at primary level, were rejected
by Parliament, and hence are not contained in Appendix 2.
(2) Quality: Academic achievement at primary school was still very low, with a
slight improvement at secondary level over the years. The Commission
further recommended that the education system should now address qual-
ity issues and reintroduce the 7:3:2:4 system. The development of the teach-
The Language Situation in Botswana 43

ing profession has been identified as the main strategy for addressing the
quality of education as teachers have the greatest impact on performance.
This development should include enhancing the status of teachers, provid-
ing better working conditions and incentives and improving teacher-train-
ing programmes.
(3) School management: The Commission noted that poorly managed schools
performed poorly, and recommended measures to address this matter. For
instance, the role of head teachers was to be clearly defined as instructional
leaders and the appropriate training was to be provided.
(4) Finance: The Commission noted that the education system required cost
recovery and effective financing systems. The development of educational
managers and review of the delivery system are critical to improving
education.

A total of 134 recommendations were made and those which were accepted are
contained the Government White Paper No. 2 called the Revised National Policy
on Education (RNPE) passed by the National Assembly in April 1994. Since then
efforts have been geared towards implementing these recommendations. Those
recommendations dealing with language are provided in Appendix 2.
The latest available data is for 1997, and this does not indicate how the system
has been performing since the report. However, it indicates minority-dominated
areas such as Kgalagadi, Ngwaketse, Kweneng, Gantsi and Ngamiland have the
highest number of school drop-outs, the highest repetition rates, the highest
number of untrained teachers and the greatest shortage of classrooms (Central
Statistics Office, 1999: 24, 30,36).

Language-in-education policies
At independence in 1966, there was no clear policy regarding the medium
of instruction in schools. However, there was a general understanding that
English (the official language, required by the constitution) would constitute
the medium of instruction. Due to the relatively low qualifications of teachers,
and their inability to communicate in English, the use of Setswana was toler-
ated in lower grades. Other languages, such as Ikalanga, which were taught in
school before independence, were banned from use in school at independ-
ence.
The policy assumed the use of English as the medium of instruction at all
levels, with tolerance for Setswana when communication problems occurred in
Standards 1 and 2. On the other hand, practice indicated that teachers actually
code-switched between Setswana and English throughout the primary and
secondary school levels (NCE, 1977a). Practice further indicated that in the
North-east District, Ikalanga continued to be used as an informal medium of
instruction in schools despite its ban. Despite this reality, some officials in the
Ministry of Education continued to believe that English was the essential
medium of instruction. More efforts and resources were, therefore, allocated
towards the improvement of the teaching of English and its use as the medium of
instruction rather than Setswana, which was at that time a non-examinable
subject. The First National Commission on Education (NCE 1, 1977a: 76) viewed
this situation as one that neglected the national language. It noted that:
44 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

The introduction of English as a medium of instruction as early as Standard


3 … clearly discriminated against the national language. The Commission
feels strongly that every nation ought to give a prominent place to its
language in its education system.
The Commission further argued that first language education facilitates not only
early concept formation but also the acquisition of other languages. The
Commission then recommended the use of Setswana for the first four years of
primary education. However, it did not make any recommendations on the use
of minority languages in education, but rather recommended that a compensa-
tory programme should be developed for children who speak other languages.
Komarek & Keatimilwe (1988) conducted a feasibility study for the programme.
They recommended a transitional model of bilingual education, from mother
tongue to Setswana and to English for areas where Setswana is not spoken as
mother tongue. However, the government did not accept this recommendation,
as it would have contradicted the policy of assimilation.
The second National Commission on Education (NCE 2, 1993: 113) reduced
the number of years for Setswana as medium of instruction from four years to
one. This Commission felt that ‘[t]he present language policy denies the child
mastering of the main language needed for better achievement in primary school
and in further education and in working life’. The Commission viewed first
language education as hindering the child’s access to the language of business,
which is English. The argument had little to do with the role of the first language
in the learning process. It also ignored the reality that, before the 1977 policy, low
academic achievement characterised the education system and yet English was
assumed to be the medium of instruction at that time. Hence, first language use
could not be solely responsible for low achievement. This Commission, however,
recommended the use of the first language, including minority languages, at
pre-primary education, but the recommendation was rejected by Parliament.
The language planning processes in Botswana are influenced by an orienta-
tion which views language diversity as a problem, a reversal or negation of
democratic gains, a threat to unity, social harmony and to development
(Nyati-Ramahobo, 1991: 201). The first President, Sir Seretse Khama, informed
the nation that his party ‘stands for a gradual but sure evolution of a nation
state …to which tribal groups will, while in existence, take secondary place’
(Carter & Morgan, 1980: 291). In 1989 the second President, Sir Ketumile Masire,
asked Batswana
… not to spoil the prevailing peace and unity in the country by fighting for
ethnic language groupings to take precedence over Setswana, and that
tribes insisting that their languages become media of instruction within
their respective areas would break up the nation. (Botswana Daily News, 30
June 1989, no 123:1)
These statements reflect an overt prohibition of the use of other languages. Presi-
dent Mogae, then Vice-President, visited the villages of Dukwe and Mosetse in
the Central District to diffuse tension between the Bamangwato and the Bakalaka
tribes after two sub-chiefs from the former were imposed on the latter. A journal-
ist reporting on the visit wrote:
The Language Situation in Botswana 45

He [Mogae] is reported to have told residents of Dukwi and Mosetse that all
people who live in the Central District should consider themselves
Bangwato, thus justifying Ngwato hegemony over tribes like Basarwa,
Bakalaka, Babirwa, Batswapong and others. …Mogae failed a leadership
test. This was an opportunity for him to rise to the occasion and concede
that there is indeed a rather skewed constitutional arrangement. Instead, he
continued the tradition of pandering to the whims of the ‘principal’ tribes.
There is sufficient evidence that advocates of tribal equality are all for
national unity, but not at the expense of their integrity. (Moeti, 1998: 9)

This is clearly the assimilatory model of ‘ice-cream plus salt’. The President is
saying these tribes have to melt and give up their cultures and completely assimi-
late into the Ngwato culture. It is overt prohibition of the actualisation of the
cultures of these people. The trend within the ruling Botswana Democratic Party
is to uphold the constitution, discriminating as it may be, and those who point to
this problem are quickly labelled ‘tribalistic’ and ‘engineers of ethnic conflict’. For
fear of being labeled as such, critics tend to remain silent. Because of the push for
monolingualism and monoculturalism by the ruling party, the Revised National
Policy on Education, approved by Parliament in April 1994, contains only those
recommendations of the NCE 2 which deal with teaching of Setswana and
English (see Appendix 2).
It is worth noting that, while the new policy has advocated the use of English
as the medium of instruction (18(a)) at the expense of Setswana, the rest of the
recommendations advocate the use of Setswana in education. Recommendation
3, which calls for the formulation of a comprehensive language policy, could
possibly promote Setswana in other social domains, such as business, technol-
ogy, government, law and in the political structures. It is also worth noting that
recommendation number 46(b) assumes that job opportunities requiring compe-
tence in Setswana are available. Research indicates that such job requirements
are currently rarely found in advertisements as compared to those requiring
competence in English (Nyati-Ramahobo, 1991). This practice constitutes a
major demotivating factor for both learners and teachers of Setswana. The
economic use of Setswana must diversify beyond radio announcers, court inter-
preters and teachers to accommodate Setswana as a language of social mobility
and consequently, must absorb the products of the education system. A compre-
hensive language policy will have to take this issue very seriously in order to
facilitate the implementation of recommendations 31 and 46(b). Five years after
the approval of the policy, none of the recommendations has been implemented,
except that preparations are currently underway to implement 18(a), dealing
with the use of English at Standard 2. More resources continue to be directed
towards the use of English in all social domains including education. This prac-
tice has led scholars and citizens to believe that the government is pushing for
monolingualism in English and, to some extent, recognition of the role of
Setswana.
The language-in-education policy therefore relates to the specific use of
Setswana and English in education. Since none of the recommendations of the
NCE 2 have been implemented, the NCE 1 policy concerning medium of instruc-
tion is still in place. Setswana is therefore the medium of instruction in Standards
46 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

1 to 4 while English is taught as a subject in those grades. English then becomes


the medium of instruction in Standard 5 and extends through the tertiary level,
while Setswana is taught as a subject (Republic of Botswana, 1977: 4). This policy
applies to all government schools in the country. Private schools use English as
the medium of instruction from Standard 1 onward, but they have a flexible
policy on the number of years they teach Setswana as a subject. Since independ-
ence, a credit in English has been a requirement in order to matriculate.
However, there are plans to change this policy as from the year 2000. Access to
the university requires a pass in English except for science subjects. A degree in
Setswana is offered in English and a pass in English is required to enter the
programme.
The assimilation model, which is guided by the orientation viewing language
diversity as a problem, is quite evident in the language-in-education policy.
There is an overt prohibition of the use of other languages for learning. Subse-
quently, minority dominated areas continue to be educationally disadvantaged.
The over emphasis on English is meant to expose learners to the language of tech-
nology, social mobility and globalisation. There is tension, therefore, in balanc-
ing the role of the various local languages against Setswana on the one hand, and
between Setswana and English on the other hand. Arthur (1996: 46) argues that
this ‘inequality reflects and perpetuates hierarchical language values in Bots-
wana society, as does the official exclusion of languages other than English and
Setswana from classroom use’. English is most valued and most people would
report that they speak it even if they cannot (Vossen, 1988). This is further
reflected in the allocation of resources in which English receives the greatest
share in terms of qualified teachers, time tabling and, of course, policy direction.
Setswana is second, though policy direction and its recent use in Parliament
recognises it as the national language. Minority languages are the least valued
and are addressed neither by policy nor by practice. Wolfson & Manes (1985)
argue that one’s native language is so much a part of one’s identity that to deni-
grate it is effectively to deny one’s human ability to communicate (foreword).
Devaluing one’s language is equivalent to devaluing that person. In this regard,
assimilationist policies that deny children the opportunity to learn in their
mother tongue are viewed as inhuman.

Objectives and assessment


Syllabi are prepared by Curriculum Development Officers (CDOs) in the
Ministry of Education’s Department of Curriculum Development and Evalua-
tion. Some of the responsibilities of CDOs include setting out the broad goals of
the syllabus, as well as advice on how materials are to be used in the teaching and
learning situation to achieve the objectives of the syllabus.
The objectives of the Setswana and English syllabi are quite similar and can be
summarised as follows. Both syllabi are written in English:
 to help children in acquiring the very necessary skills of listening, speaking,
reading and writing;
 to ensure that children apply these skills in communicating in their envi-
ronment, with other children, adults and the mass media;
 to serve as a basis for further education;
The Language Situation in Botswana 47

 to lay a sound foundation for the growth of Setswana and English as the
media of instruction;
 to promote creativity on the part of children;
 to encourage the study and preservation of Setswana culture;
 to help children appreciate that good spoken Setswana will be acquired at
home as well as at school;
 to provide a curriculum that will strengthen Setswana as an important
instrument in nation building (Ministry of Education, 1982: 1).
Data from interviews indicate that the main purpose of teaching Setswana is
cultural identity and early concept formation. It is believed that cultural identity
and preservation will be achieved if books are written in Setswana for children in
Standards 1 to 4 (old policy, NCE 1) or in Standard 1 only (new policy, NCE 2).
The question of early concept formation seems to be defined as early as Standard
4. The purpose of teaching English is that it is the language of wider communica-
tion, business and the world of work.
The methodology for teaching both Setswana and English is said to be the
communicative approach. The decision to change to this approach came as a
recommendation from the first NCE, which thought that language teaching
concentrated on grammar and proverbs at the expense of literacy skills of read-
ing and writing. The rationale for this approach is that ‘we don’t expect children
to analyse the language before they can use it’ (Ramatsui, 30 July 1989, personal
communication). It is also necessary for the ten years of the basic education
programme, which seeks to provide children with skills they need in their daily
lives. The communicative syllabi, developed after the Commission’s recommen-
dation, came out in 1982 providing a few communicative topics, but remained
largely structural. However, the syllabi were further revised in 1995. Books that
were developed by publishing companies in 1998 for handling the new syllabi
were based on the communicative approach to teaching and assessment. These
have only been used in schools for one year so far, hence their impact and rele-
vance has not yet been assessed.
Examinations are taken after seven years of primary schooling, three years of
junior secondary and two years of senior secondary education. The first
Commission had recommended continuous assessment and remedial teaching
to enhance performance. These recommendations have not been implemented.
The achievement of universal primary education and ten years of basic educa-
tion have meant that the primary school leaving examinations (PSLE) have
ceased to be a selection tool. About 95.3% of students proceed to junior secondary
school (Central Statistics Office, 1999: xiv). Consequently, examinations have
changed from norm reference to criterion reference. A child’s performance is not
compared with other children, but with a set of criteria.
The new syllabi emphasise that assessment techniques should focus on find-
ing out whether children can read, write, speak and listen. The teacher should
focus on assessing students’ ability to read for different purposes, to write on
different topics for different audiences, to listen and speak in different situations.
If children can perform these four language skills as defined for each skill objec-
tive for each grade level, it automatically means they have the ability to use
language rules at the competence required at the equivalent grade level. The new
48 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

syllabus further states that continuous assessment should be an integral part of


the language assessment procedure. For instance, students should be assessed
based on the number of books they have voluntarily read, written reports and
talked about in class. Criterion-reference testing should be useful especially if the
skill objectives are to be used as the assessment criteria. This type of testing was
implemented for the first time in 1997 and there is a general belief that perfor-
mance has improved (Central Statistics Office, 1999: 107). The overall pass rate
has improved when grades C and D form part of the aggregate. However, when
only A and B grades are used to form the overall pass grade there is no improve-
ment. It is appropriate to include students in grades C and D as they are also
admissible to junior secondary school.
While the official approach to language teaching is communicative, there is
evidence that assessment has continued to reflect the structural approach, even
in the wake of criterion-reference testing that has been adopted for all subjects.
All primary school leaving examinations and all other examinations (except for
the subject Setswana) at secondary school level are in English. The attainment
tests for mathematics, English and science which are written at the end of Stan-
dard 4 are in Setswana. Tests on the subject English are written in the English
language. The tests are meant ‘to determine whether children have achieved
basic literacy in Setswana and basic competence in English and Mathematics’
(Republic of Botswana, 1977: 4). However, it is not a pass-or-fail test as there is a
policy of automatic promotion. Rather, the Standard 4 attainment test is meant to
curb the shortcomings of the automatic promotion policy in the sense that it is
intended to identify those children who need extra help before they proceed to,
or when they enter, Standard 5. It is, however, reported that remedial work is not
always provided since teachers either are not trained in remedial teaching or do
not have enough time to do it (Nyati-Ramahobo, 1999a).

Media Languages
The role of the media in national life in Botswana dates back to 1850s (Sechele,
1998). It was part of what was called the ‘Tswana Press’ in South Africa. Sechele
reports that the Tswana Press was:

… a journalism that was based on the Setswana language in the areas occu-
pied by Setswana-speaking people of Bechuanaland protectorate (now
Botswana), Northern Cape, the former Transvaal, and the former Orange
Free State in South Africa. (p. 412)

The printed press written in Setswana contributed to the spread of Christianity


and the acquisition of literacy skills. It also contributed to the quality of life of
Batswana by providing information on events around them. For instance, in
1886, a newspaper called Mahoko a Bechuana published an article about a white
man who delayed village development by selling liquor to the Bakgalagadi tribe
in Lehututu (South Africa). The Abantu-Batho (People) which reported in Zulu
and Setswana played a major role in developing political awareness in the Afri-
can masses and became a strong organ of the African National Congress. There
were also newspapers based in Bechuanaland: Lesedi la Sechaba (the light of the
nation), which was based in the Kgatleng district, the Lebone la Bechuana (the
The Language Situation in Botswana 49

lamp of Tswana people) and Naledi ya Batswana (the star of the Batswana).
Botswana’s second President, Sir Masire Ketumile was a reporter for the latter.
This paper reported on the chieftainship issue between the Batawana and the
Bayeyi in 1948. All these papers reported in Setswana. While there was no overt
prohibition of the use of other languages, there was no overt permission nor
promotion of these languages in the media either, because the missionaries had
only codified Setswana. It is not clear why, but the Setswana language press no
longer exists, not even in South Africa.
There are currently eight private newspapers in the country. All of them are
written in English. One of them includes pages in Setswana and a column in
Ikalanga. They circulate mainly in larger villages and towns. Since their birth in
1982, the independent media have provided an alternative voice in a country
dominated by government media (Sechele, 1998). Many believe that the inde-
pendent media have exposed corruption, political arrogance, insensitivity, lack
of transparency and accountability on the part of government (Grant & Egner,
1989). Most people believe that it was this media coverage that led to the increase
in opposition seats in Parliament from three to thirteen in the 1994 general elec-
tions (Sechele, 1998). The independent media continued to serve this function in
the 1999 general elections. The landslide win by the ruling party is attributed not
to the fact that Batswana have gained confidence in that party but rather to
in-fighting and the subsequent split of the opposition party twelve months
before the general elections. The ruling party is viewed by many as having run
out of strategies to win elections other than to divide the opposition party. The
twelve constituencies that the opposition won in 1994 still voted for the opposi-
tion in 1999, despite the split. A stronger opposition would have weakened the
ruling party even more than in 1994. The media is seen as central in strengthening
democracy in Botswana.
However, the media have problems which limit their impact. These include
the low levels of literacy in rural areas, self-censorship by some editors for fear of
victimisation, lack of facilities, untrained staff and insufficient motivation on the
part of reporters. The language policy which promotes English and to some
extent Setswana limits the effective flow of information to the rural areas. As a
result, voter and AIDS education are limited to towns and major villages
(Sechele, 1998). Legislation has also limited the freedom of the press. For
instance, in 1995 the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime Act was put
in place to prohibit journalists from reporting on cases that are still under investi-
gation. The Directorate investigates white-collar crimes, including those that
might be committed by ministers.
The Government Printer provides a special service specifically for the govern-
ment. It prints all government documents. Government ministries and depart-
ments place orders which are entered in a register indicating the date the order
was placed, the type of job to be done, the number required and the date the order
was collected. The Ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Health were
selected for a study to find out the language in which the government communi-
cates with the general public. The Ministry of Agriculture was a suitable choice
since a large portion of the population depends on agriculture, which makes up a
significant part of the economy. In 1982 the government, through the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, introduced the Financial Assistance Policy (FAP) to
50 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

encourage ordinary citizens to start small-scale businesses by lending them


money. This policy was designed to create employment opportunities and to
help Batswana to take part in the business world (Republic of Botswana, 1985:
239). One might expect, as a consequence of this policy, that an increase in
communication between the government and the general public, informing
them about these programmes, about how to get started and about future plans,
would occur. The Ministry of Health is an agency that deals with issues that affect
the whole population, not just a segment of it, and especially within the frame-
work of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Thus communication with the people about
health matters is vital and inevitable.
Data collected from the three ministries indicated that 61% of the documents
for public consumption in the Ministry of Agriculture were written completely
in English, while 95% of those for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry were
written in English as well. These English documents included all the forms which
members of the public have to complete when applying for financial assistance.
The Ministry of Health had more bilingual documents (42%) than those either in
English or Setswana. Within the three government ministries, the main language
is English. Thus 100% of the documents which were not for public consumption,
were in English, while 59% of the documents meant for public consumption were
also in English. The government, therefore, communicates on health, agriculture
and commercial issues to the general public in written English. For instance, it is
not unusual to find health posters written in English in the most remote areas of
the country. The forms designed to obtain financial assistance are all in English,
irrespective of the level of education of the applicant (Nyati-Ramahobo, 1991).
This situation is unlikely to change in the next decade.
Programmes aired each week by the government-owned stations were
analyzed to find out the language of broadcasting. The private radio station,
which focuses on the needs of the youth, broadcasts mainly (70%) in English.
Data on the two government stations indicated that 36 (42%) programmes were
in Setswana, 19 (22%) in English and 30 (35%) were in both Setswana and
English. An analysis of the programmes generated by each of the three ministries
previously mentioned was carried out. The results indicated that 62% of the total
number of programmes in the three selected ministries were in Setswana.
The government also owns one newspaper, the Daily News. That newspaper
consists of eight pages, of which six and a half are written in English. The last one
and half pages are translations into Setswana of material on the previous pages.
The government therefore communicates with the general public mainly in
English. It is worth noting that the newspaper does not reach the more remote
areas of the country; as a consequence, only people in major villages and towns
have access to the paper. Based on the data about the newspaper and radio, it
may be concluded that the government seems to prefer Setswana on the radio
and English in written format. Only these two languages are used in the media.
The government has been reluctant to provide radio licences for privately
owned radio stations. For many years, people were made to believe that the
Office of the President was responsible for issuing such licences. This office in
turn kept informing the public that no legislation exists to allow such licencing.
When a young lawyer, Patrick Gunda, took the government to court on this
matter in 1994, it became clear that the Botswana Telecommunications Corpora-
The Language Situation in Botswana 51

tion was charged with that responsibility. Previous references to the Office of the
President were meant to discourage privately owned radio stations, where
government censorship would be more difficult. Stations could also broadcast in
minority languages. Mr Gunda lost his bid for a radio station licence, as his appli-
cation indicated the intended use of minority languages. This suggests that there
is a covert prohibition on the use of minority languages in the media. Many
attribute the rampant spread of HIV/AIDS in the country to the lack of relevant
information in the languages in which people have high comprehension ability.
Other educational campaigns on issues of national interest also do not reach the
people. Crucial messages reach only about 40% of the population, and this ineffi-
ciency in communication inevitably affects development.

Immigration
The movement of the Bakalaka tribe from Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa
into north-eastern Botswana in the 1600s (Tlou & Campbell, 1984) has rendered
that part of the country mainly Ikalanga speaking. The Kalanga were then
enslaved by the Bangwato tribe and brought to the Central District (Map 2).
Currently, Kalanga people predominantly inhabit Serowe, the capital of the
Bangwato, though most of them have assimilated into Bangwato culture. The
Wayeyi (also known as Bayei or Yei) came to Botswana from Central Africa
through Malawi and Zambia. They settled in a place called DiYei in the Caprivi
Strip (Nambia). Tlou (1985) estimates that they must have come to Botswana
around 1750 or earlier. Murray (1990: 4) estimates that they may have come as
early as AD 1000; others say they came around 1400 (e.g. Gazette, 1999).
Nyati-Ramahobo (1999b) concurs with Murray because the Shiyeyi language
adopted click sounds from Khoisan languages with which they came into contact
in the Okavango delta. For this process to have taken place the two groups must
have lived together for a long time. The Khoisan are believed to be the original
indigenous people of Botswana. The Hambukushu came into Botswana at two
different periods. The first group came between 1876 and 1890 and the second in
1969 because of the war in Angola. The Herero came to Botswana between 1897
and 1906 (Murray, 1987), escaping German rule in the then South-West Africa
(Namibia).
The distributions of Setswana speaking tribes caused by tribal wars and other
social events in the 1800s (Tlou & Campbell, 1984: 57–100) have contributed to the
spread of Setswana to all parts of the country. For instance, the war between the
Bangwato tribal sons in the Central District in 1795 (Sillery, 1965) caused one of the
sons (Tawana) to move into Ngamiland (North-west District) where the Batawana
tribe now live; this is the major way Setswana spread to that part of the country. As
the Batawana ‘imposed themselves’ (Sillery, 1965: 22) on the majority Wayeyi in
the area, they forced them to speak Setswana and punished them for using their
own language. Some of the Wayeyi then escaped into the Central District avoiding
Tawana’s subjugation and sought refuge from Khama III, the chief of the
Bangwato tribe and father of the first President of Botswana, Sir Seretse Khama. He
accepted them on condition that they speak Setswana so as to communicate their
grievances to him effectively and to enable him to defend them at the kgotla during
their court cases and in other important circumstances. Consequently, most
52 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Bayeyi do not speak Shiyeyi. Equally, the Bakalaka were discouraged from
speaking Ikalanga, and most of those in Serowe only speak Setswana.
The movement of the Barolong tribe in the 1600s from Transvaal in South
Africa to the north-east introduced Setswana to that part of the country.
Setswana is, therefore, the lingua franca of the country; most children learn it at
home and at school. This factor made the choice of Setswana as a national
language easier. Foreigners learn the Setswana language and culture at the
Botswana Orientation Center. The spread of Setswana was, therefore, facilitated
by the spread of Setswana speaking groups to other parts of the country. The
spread of Setswana has been further facilitated by its use in school as the only
local language and by the prohibition of the use of all other languages repre-
sented in the country after independence.
Unlike the situation in a number of other African countries, there has been no
significant European or Asian settlement in Botswana; after independence other
nationalities came as individuals and have served as expatriates or have become
citizens. As communities have not formed, language or place of origin is not yet
an issue for these individuals.

Part III: Language Policy and Planning

Botswana’s language policy is not written; it is understood, inferred and


observed from reality. It is referred to in various documents such as the Constitu-
tion as previously discussed, in reports of National Commissions on Education,
in the national development plans, as well as in several curricular materials and
in the media. These sources only refer to it, not defining it or making it the subject
of discussion. They refer to it when addressing other issues related to language
and education. For example, while discussing the qualifications for election to
the National Assembly and the House of Chiefs, the constitution states that:
…a person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the National
Assembly if, and shall not be qualified to be so elected unless …(d) he is able
to speak, and unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to
read English well enough to under take an active part in the proceedings of
the Assembly. (Section 61(d):00:37 & Section 79(4)(c) 00:46)
Other sections of the constitution allude to language policy when discussing
people’s fundamental rights and freedoms. For instance, Section 10(2)(f) states
that:
Every person, who is charged with a criminal offense, shall be permitted to
have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot under-
stand the language used at the trial of the charge … (00:11)
At independence, English was indirectly declared the official language through
the constitution, as previously indicated. English is currently used in the judi-
ciary, in administration, in education, and in the business sector and, until late
1998, it was used in Parliament. All government correspondence and records are
The Language Situation in Botswana 53

in English. All meetings in the civil service are conducted and recorded in
English. It is spoken and read by 40% of the population (Obondo-Okoyo, 1986:
12), mainly by the educated élite living in towns. Setswana is understood to be
the national language, but the constitution makes no reference to it. It is mainly
used in informal settings and in traditional matters.
The national adult literacy programme is conducted in Setswana irrespective
of the existence of other languages found amongst the communities in which it is
operating. The Revised National Policy on Education recommended goals for
out-of school programmes as follows:
(1) To establish a learning society in which education is seen as a lifelong
process.
(2) To guarantee universal access to basic education for school-age children
and adults in order to promote equity and social justice.
(3) To provide opportunities for young people and adults to further their initial
education to higher stages in order to raise the general level of education of
the population.
(4) To provide opportunities for adults to acquire work-related skills that will
improve their productivity and standard of living, and promote economic
growth.
(5) To increase the ability of adults to take part in social, political, cultural and
sporting affairs in order to improve their quality of life and promote greater
participation in the development process. (Republic of Botswana, 1994:
34–5).
The policy calls for the provision of adult education as a life-long learning
process. The policy should also provide opportunities for school-age children
who missed their chance for one reason or another to further their education. It
further calls for an educated and informed society through an increase in learn-
ing opportunities beyond normal schooling. Public education is expected to
make people aware of skills needed for life.
Non-governmental organisations have been pushing for the recognition of the
existence of other languages and ethnic groups (see Part IV). This has to some
extent had an impact on government; e.g. Parliament has passed the following
motions to allow the use of these languages in education and on the radio.
However, there are no efforts being made at the moment to make these motions
into laws or to implement them.
 In 1995 Parliament approved the review of sections 77 to 79 of the constitu-
tion which stipulates that only chiefs of the eight tribes can be ex-officio
members of the House of Chiefs.
 On Friday, 8 August 1997 Parliament passed a motion to allow all
languages to be taught in schools, used on the radio and in other areas as
necessary.
 The second President of Botswana, Sir Ketumile Masire, constituted a task
force to develop a national vision for the country in the new millennium.
The task force, led by the then Manager of the Bank of Botswana and
current Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Baledzi
Gaolathe, produced a document known as Vision 2016. This document
54 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

states that ‘there is a challenge to recognise and develop equally all


languages in Botswana’ (Presidential Task Group, 1997: 21, summary
version).
 Vision 2016 further states that ‘Botswana’s wealth of different languages
and cultural traditions will be recognised, supported and strengthened in
the education system. No Motswana will be disadvantaged in the educa-
tion system as a result of a mother tongue that differs from the country’s
two official languages’ (Presidential Task Group, 1997: 5).
All of these parliamentary resolutions are positive signals of a commitment to
pluralism as a necessary ingredient for nation building. They are an acknowl-
edgement of the fact that the suppression of the languages and cultures of
Botswana is not one of the ingredients for democracy or development. Indeed,
suppression of languages and cultures could defeat the government’s purpose,
to build a united and proud nation. As I argued on 26 October 1999 in a panel
discussion for the Millennium lecture series, organised by the Gender Policy and
Programme Committee on Vision 2016, which included government ministers,
the government’s reluctance to implement the actions surveyed above suggests a
lack of political will. It indicates that parliamentary motions may be passed
simply as a result of pressure from the electorate, without any commitment to the
underlying ideals by the government leadership.
Statements made by the three Presidents cited previously in this monograph
indicate that while documents written by professionals provide positive policies,
the political leadership may only accept them with low levels of commitment.
This creates tension between policy and practice. While policies on paper are
progressive and point to reform, practice is conservative. The government seems
to be still committed to the assimilation model and still views language diversity
as a problem. On the other hand, the public calls for the maintenance model and
for an orientation which views the linguistic diversity present in the country as a
resource and a right. Many non-governmental organisations take the view that
language and culture are human rights issues (refer to Part IV).

Language Planning Agencies


In 1979 the Minister of Education constituted the Setswana National
Language Committee (SNLC) to revise the 1937 orthography, which had been
developed in South Africa. This revision was necessary because the orthography
was based on the Setlhaping dialect, which is not represented in Botswana. The
Committee carried out the review and produced the 1981 Setswana Standard
Orthography.
Two years after the publication of the 1981 orthography, users began to
express dissatisfaction with it, indicating the need for yet another revision. The
National Setswana Language Council (NSLC) was formed in 1986 through a
presidential directive and charged to review the 1981 orthography and make the
necessary recommendations with regard to the teaching and learning of
Setswana as a national language. The Council mainly was concerned about the
lack of consistency in the use of the Setswana orthography by authors. Children
were under-performing in Setswana examinations; under-performance was
observable especially among those who spoke languages other than Setswana.
The Language Situation in Botswana 55

The Council also made some recommendations regarding the low status of
Setswana as compared to English and the resulting deterioration of the Setswana
language and culture. The work of the Council was carried out through four
main committees.
(1) The Book Review Committee was to review books used in schools to ensure
that they were morally acceptable.
(2) The Orthography Committee was to review the 1981 orthography.
(3) The Terminology Committee was to compile all foreign words in order to
coin Setswana equivalents.
(4) The Finance Committee administered funds from the Ministry of Education
for the work of the Council.
Recommendation No.3 of the Revised National Policy on Education said that
‘the National Setswana Language Council be renamed the Botswana Languages
Council and be given new terms of reference including the responsibility for
developing a comprehensive language policy’ (Republic of Botswana, 1994: 13).
The second President of Botswana formed another task force in the Ministry of
Education and charged it with the responsibility for the establishment of the
Botswana Languages Council. This task force was chaired by the Coordinator of
Revised National Policy on Education and former Permanent Secretary in the
same ministry, Mr Jake Swartland (Figure 2). The assignment of the task force
was to state clearly the mission and vision of the Botswana Languages Council, to
formulate its terms of reference, to define its structure membership, and to
suggest its home. The task force began its work in March 1997 and ended in
August of the same year. The report of the task force was presented to Cabinet
towards the end of 1997, but it was not approved. As a result, neither the National
Setswana Language Council nor the Botswana Languages Council are currently
functional as language planning bodies. In other words, formal language plan-
ning activities ended in 1997 after the completion of the work of this task force.
Informal language planning activities carried out by non-governmental organi-
sations that are concerned with the imminent death of their languages are
discussed in the following section.

Part IV: Language Maintenance and Prospects

Intergenerational Transmission of Setswana


There is a widespread popular belief that Setswana is losing ground to
English. While in the past English was confined to formal social domains, and to
conversations involving foreigners, it is not unusual to hear Batswana convers-
ing in English at a bar, in the work place and on the street. Most young people use
at least some English, and a few homes are beginning to use English as the main
medium of communication between family members. Some families are
reported not to be using Setswana at all in the home.4 This process, while slow
and insignificant at the moment, seems to suggest a dark future with Setswana
eventually becoming a language for only the old and the uneducated. This is
56 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

indicated by the fact that even adult learners are beginning to demand the intro-
duction of English in the non-formal educational curriculum, since it is now
required for all types of jobs (Nyati-Ramahobo, 1996). This is not surprising,
since, as stated earlier, recommendations meant to enhance the status of
Setswana in education and in society have never been implemented. Janson &
Tsonope (1991: 75–6) note that:
The language has been neglected in the sense that it has been seen mainly as
a part of the traditional society, and by that token not very interesting for
the generation of planners that has been busy leading Botswana on the way
to development. … Official policy shows a degree of indifference to ques-
tions concerning Setswana.
The same can be said for the other indigenous languages of Botswana. It is this
attitude from the leadership that is threatening not only the existence of
Setswana but also its value to future generations.
The radio is an effective means for the intellectualisation of language and for
supporting the transmission of language from one generation to the next. Radio
announcers and members of the public code-switch between English and
Setswana when speaking on the radio. There is no conscious effort to speak pure
Setswana so that the young might be able to learn good Setswana. Consequently,
young people acquire borrowed English words under the impression that they
are Setswana words. The use of English words is common even in cases where
Setswana equivalents exist. For instance, most people seem to prefer the English
word ‘change’ – rendered as chencha – instead of the Setswana equivalent fetola or
fetoga. Young people find it difficult to express themselves exclusively in
Setswana.
On the other hand, a renewed sense of nationhood seems to be growing. This
may be seen from three recent examples:
 the topical debate on the rights of minority groups, which became an elec-
tion issue in 1999 and led to the appointment of the presidential commis-
sion of enquiry into sections 77 to 79 of the constitution, in August 2000;
 the publication of a book on the status of Setswana as a national language;
and
 the fact that Miss Universe for 1999 was from Botswana.
When Miss Universe returned from the success at the Pageant, her first words
were in English and so was her address to the nation, to the great disappointment
of most Batswana. This disappointment was expressed on a radio programme
called Maokaneng, in which the general public discusses issues of national inter-
est by telephone in Setswana. Upon her second visit, Miss Universe was to
deliver her HIV/AIDS message at a concert organised in her honour by the
Ministry of Health. On that occasion she was reduced to tears when the youthful
crowd demanded that she deliver her speech in Setswana. Despite her tearful
claim that it was difficult for her to do so, the crowd insisted and she finally did
(Ndlovu, 1999). Every year Batswana express disappointment that the President
delivers his independence message in English (Kgengwenyane, 1996). This
public attitude could be a signal of a quest for national identity by the general
public.
The Language Situation in Botswana 57

Other positive signs are:


 as stated earlier, beginning in 1989, one of the private newspapers has
provided an insert in Setswana;
 other newspapers are beginning to accept articles in Setswana as well;
 while Setswana is losing some of its distinctive features, such as idioms and
proverbs, more Setswana words are being coined for new concepts (Ander-
son & Janson, 1997); and
 Setswana continues to be the main language in the traditional courts in
villages and towns alike.
These efforts signal the desire among the people to promote and maintain the use
of Setswana or the natural persistence of Setswana as a dominant language. The
success of various efforts to preserve Setswana will depend on the breadth of
support and/or political will. Should the current official attitude continue,
Setswana is likely to become an endangered language in the next three decades.
The future of other minority languages, which are not recognised by govern-
ment under the assimilation model, is even bleaker (Tsonope, 1995) if current
policy does not change to be more inclusive. The role of the élite in promoting
language death is critical. Most parents see the use of English in the home as facil-
itating the acquisition of English at school, and indeed, it does. As English is
required for matriculation, with limited spaces at senior secondary and tertiary
levels, most parents view the use of Setswana as a medium of instruction as a
contributing factor to low academic achievement. They therefore send their chil-
dren to English medium schools, where all instruction is in English, with
Setswana as a subject. Children from these schools rarely speak Setswana, except
through code-mixing.

Language Death and Language Maintenance


This monograph has demonstrated that, at independence, the Government of
Botswana adopted the orientation that language diversity was a problem and
aimed to eradicate all minority languages. Economic prosperity and the provi-
sion of social amenities such as schools, clinics and roads led many Batswana to
accept this position for a long time. Because of this policy, minority languages
were banned from use in all social domains. Under such circumstances, one
would not be surprised if by now all languages in Botswana were extinct except
Setswana and English. However, as assimilation occurs over a period of time,
and is influenced by factors such as self-esteem, 26 languages (Botswana
Language Use Project, 1996) are still spoken in some parts of the country. Most of
them are spoken by adults over 40 years of age. In some cases, children aged 17
speak the language, while in others, children younger than 17 may only compre-
hend the language. However, Kalanga, Subiya, Thimbukushu, Herero, and some
Khoisan languages are still spoken by young children in some communities.
Vossen (1988) conducted a socio-linguistic survey on language use in
Ngamiland (North-west District) (Map 2). The study included 13 languages in 19
schools situated in 12 villages. While the population of the Tswana (Batawana) is
less than that of all other languages collectively, he observed that most children
in the survey reported a greater knowledge of Setswana than of any other
58 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

language. He further observed a general decline in the use of the mother tongue
amongst his informants in some areas, indicating some degree of language shift.
Higher levels of language maintenance were observed amongst the Mbukushu
and Herero in some areas rather than others. He concluded that Shiyeyi was the
most threatened language in Ngamiland, as children no longer spoke it. Work by
Sommer & Vossen (1995) later complimented Vossen’s study.
As indicated previously, the Batawana enslaved the Wayeyi for over 250
years. Even after the abolition of slavery worldwide, the majority of Wayeyi still
continue to be ruled by the minority Batawana, despite their efforts since 1936 to
achieve autonomy. As a result, the Wayeyi suffer from low self-esteem; many
would prefer not to reveal their true identity, but rather say they are Batawana,
particularly to outsiders who have no reason to know anything to the contrary.
Those who can still speak the language are reluctant to use it in public places.
This situation, therefore, implies that Vossen’s data may primarily indicate an
identity crisis and the lack of overt language use but not an accurate picture of
language knowledge. On the other hand, it is also correct to suggest that
language knowledge without language use leads to language death. It is difficult
to say to what extent Shiyeyi is dead, or to what extent revival efforts would be
likely to succeed.
As previously indicated, the attitude of the government towards Setswana is
accompanied by intolerance for all other languages spoken in Botswana. Because
of this suppressive attitude, it is proper to say that all languages in Botswana are
somewhat threatened. Evidence that young people are not able to speak their
first languages is also showing up in other languages including Setswana. Smieja
and Mathangwane (1999) also observed a high degree of language shift amongst
the non-Tswana speakers such as the Babirwa, Kalanga, and Batswapong
towards Setswana and English. A great deal of cultural and linguistic loss among
many minority groups has been observed (Vossen, 1988). This has caused
concern, and some minority groups have begun to form organisations to revive
their languages and cultures. The work of some of these is described in the
following sections.

Informal efforts in language maintenance


Within the Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs is the Registrar of Societies’
Office. Since group rights are granted, through the right to associate, the main
duty of this office is to register non-governmental organisations (NGOs), under
Regulation 5 of the Societies Act No 19 of 1972. In order to be registered, an
organisation must have a constitution, with clear objectives, activities and
membership. It must indicate the specific areas on which it will focus. It must also
state the geographical region in which it will operate. A registered organisation is
a legal entity in its own right; it can sue or be sued. It has the right to receive dona-
tions from individuals and other local and international bodies. In Botswana,
there is a mother body for all registered NGOs, called the Botswana Council of
Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO). Its role is to assist its members
in three main areas: (1) policy research and advocacy; (2) capacity building, and
(3) networking and information dissemination. To become a member of
BOCONGO, an organisation pays an initial enrolment fee and an annual
subscription fee. Benefits include receiving invitations to training programmes,
The Language Situation in Botswana 59
Table 9 Non-government organisations (NGO) by category
Category Lead NGO
Disability Botswana Council for the Disabled
Women Women NGO Coalition
strightHealth/AIDS Botswana Network for AIDS
Human rights Ditshwanelo
Children and youth Botswana National Youth Council
Agriculture Forum for Sustainable Agriculture
Ecumenical Botswana Christian Council
Community Botswana Comm. Based Network
Media Media Institute in Southern Africa

Source: BOCONGO (1999)

which BOCONGO mounts for its members. For instance, it provides training in
management, accounting and marketing strategies. NGOs may send their
personnel to such seminars free of charge. Other benefits include general dissem-
ination of information on what other NGOs are doing, including work on the
international scene. BOCONGO also places all valuable information on each
member on its own website for dissemination. Once registered with BOCONGO,
an organisation will also have access to donors who are interested in its field.
Currently there are 81 NGOs registered with BOCONGO. It is difficult to tell
the number of those that are not members of the mother body, since data on
these is not readily available. These NGOs fall within nine categories. In each
category, one NGO is selected by BOCONGO to be the lead organisation in that
area (Table 9).
Registration with the Registrar of Societies gives an NGO liberty to operate
within the legal framework, while registration with BOCONGO gives it the
opportunity to network with other bodies with similar interests. BOCONGO
also offers these NGOs a united voice to speak to the government on issues of
mutual interest. Due to the high fees charged by BOCONGO, not all NGOs regis-
tered with the Registrar of Societies are members of the BOCONGO. An organi-
sation dealing with language and or culture would fall under the Human Rights
category; their lead agency is Ditshwanelo (a Setswana word for rights), The
Botswana Centre for Human Rights. Within the framework of the assimilationist
policy, speakers of languages that are not recognised by the government view
this policy as a denial of their human rights, i.e. denial of the ability to access
information in their own languages. Their work therefore focuses on reviving
and maintaining their linguistic and cultural rights. Those dealing with language
from a religious perspective fall under the ecumenical category. Currently, there
are six organisations dealing with language and culture from a human rights
perspective.

The Society for the Promotion of Ikalanga Language (SPILL)


Within the limitations of data reliability, the Kalangas are considered the larg-
est of the so-called minority groups in Botswana. The 1946 census indicated that
there were 22,777 Kalangas in the Bamangwato (Central) District (Mpho, 1987:
60 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

134, see Table 5). This excluded those in the North-east District (Table 6).
Kalangas have a strong sense of identity. Currently, they are one of the few
minority groups whose children speak Ikalanga at home, including those in
homes in the upper and middle class areas living in cities and towns. This is quite
phenomenal given that the Bamangwato tribe enslaved them in the 1800s. There
is a popular belief that, due to this oppression, the Kalanga developed a coding
system for gaining access to educational opportunities. When applying for
entrance to schools, each Kalanga application would have a drawing of a peanut
at the lower right-hand-side, their staple food. Education officers who were
mostly Kalanga would then ensure school admission. Many Batswana believe
that this is the main reason they are currently the most highly educated and hold
high government posts. Due to pressure from the Tswana presidents, Kalanga
ministers overtly support the assimilation model, but they covertly support the
promotion of the Kalanga to high positions as an alternative empowerment strat-
egy.
Because of the banning of the Ikalanga language from the educational system
at independence, the language was formally relegated only to the home environ-
ment. For this reason, the culture of the Kalanga people has been slowly disap-
pearing. Based on this realisation, the SPILL was formed by the Kalanga élite in
1981 to develop and maintain the Ikalanga language and culture. Also embed-
ded in the work of the society was the issue of land rights and the right to self-rule
through the chieftainship structure. When SPILL started, it created a negative
reaction from within government quarters. It was perceived as tribalistic and
divisive. There was a strong campaign to shun it and to denounce it as a threat to
the peace and stability prevailing in the country. Those Kalangas who believed in
the movement, saw this as an intimidating strategy to discourage them and
potential donors from developing Ikalanga. There were also divisions amongst
the Kalangas themselves. Some, especially those holding high government posi-
tions, were against the formation of SPILL, at least in public. They feared victimi-
sation at their jobs should their loyalty to government be doubted. Therefore,
while the Kalangas are highly influential in government circles, they could not
use that influence to convince government to allow the use of Ikalanga on radio
or in education, prior to the presentation of the 1997 motion which has not yet
become law.
The SPILL began its work with the revival and revision of the pre-independ-
ence Ikalanga orthography, which was published in 1995. The organisation has
now published a hymnbook in Ikalanga. The New Testament has been translated
into Ikalanga as well. The Mukani Action Campaign (MAC), the educational
wing of SPILL, has developed 14 literacy booklets for informal teaching of
Ikalanga and for future use in schools as soon as government implements the
1997 motion. The MAC also publishes a newsletter and encourages the publica-
tion of news articles in Ikalanga. One of the independent newspapers publishes a
weekly column in Ikalanga. Their major donor, as previously indicated, is the
Lutheran Bible Translators based in the United States, an organisation which has
provided technical support to run an office in Francistown. This office was at the
forefront of the development of the orthography and the translation of the New
Testament. Through the Department of Adult Education at the University of
Botswana, UNESCO is funding a project on the use of minority languages in
The Language Situation in Botswana 61

adult literacy. The project includes Kalanga and Shiyeyi. With respect to the
Kalanga project, it funds training workshops for members of the MAC as well as
the production of some of the materials. The other source of funding is through
membership fees. SPILL raises funds using several strategies, and the funds are
used to run the daily work. Further details on SPILL are available on the refer-
ence section of their web-site.
One of the issues that the Kalangas have been pushing for is the right to be
represented in the House of Chiefs by their Paramount Chief. As indicated in
Part I, politically, they are regarded as members of the Bamangwato tribe, and
their Paramount Chief is that of the Bamangwato. Within their immediate locali-
ties, they can have Kalanga sub-chiefs. Currently, there is a Kalanga sub-chief in
the House of Chiefs, but he is not regarded as representative of all Kalangas since
he is not a Paramount Chief. The SPILL is, therefore, playing a crucial role in
language planning. It is one of those bodies promoting the orientation to viewing
language diversity as a right and a resource for development.

Kamanakao Association
The Wayeyi live in Ngamiland (North-west District, Map 2). Politically and in
accordance with the assimilation policy, every one in this district is called a
Motawana, since the Tswana speaking Batawana tribe rule them. As indicated
previously, the Batawana subjected the Wayeyi to slavery. There are two main
reasons why the Wayeyi were the most subjected: first there was direct contact
between them and the Batawana on the arrival of the Batawana in Ngamiland;
the second reason was the soft and peace loving nature of the Wayeyi. In 1962,
Pitoro Seidisa (a Moyeyi from Gumare) started some work with Professor Ernst
Westphal of the University of Cape Town to develop the orthography for the
Shiyeyi language. Due to the conflict between the Wayeyi and Batawana over
serfdom, the then Queen Regent of the Batawana, Pulane, ordered the arrest of
Mr Seidisa for presuming to develop Shiyeyi. The Batawana thought that the
development of Shiyeyi might raise the consciousness of the Wayeyi and
strengthen their struggle for freedom from slavery. When Westphal realised the
unacceptability of the Shiyeyi language among the ruling Batawana, he discon-
tinued his work on the language and stated in his will that all the material on
Shiyeyi should be burnt after his death. By the time of his death, the orthography
had been completed, a dictionary was still incomplete and Chapter 8 of the
Gospel of Matthew as well as a few hymns had been translated into Shiyeyi.
After independence in 1966 the language policy continued to discourage the
development and use of any languages other than Setswana. The Kamanakao
Association was founded in 1995 by the Wayeyi élite to continue the work of Mr
Seidisa and Professor Westphal. Its aim was to develop and maintain the Shiyeyi
language and culture. The work on orthography was completed in 1998 and
work on materials production and training is on going. The Association has
produced a draft of an interdenominational hymnbook, a phrase book for teach-
ing Shiyeyi and a booklet containing songs, stories and poems. It also produces a
calendar in Shiyeyi.
The Kamanakao Association has three main sources of funding for its
programmes. The Lutheran Bible Translators funded the development of the
orthography and some of the publications previously mentioned. They continue
62 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

to fund the translation of hymns and the translation of the Jesus Film into Shiyeyi.
Currently, plans are under way to translate the Gospel of Luke. The UNESCO
project has three phases concerning the development of Shiyeyi: the first phase
covers the training of secondary school leavers in using the Shiyeyi orthography
to write stories on cultural themes; the second phase will subsume the writing of
the stories and songs, and the last phase will involve writing primers for adult
literacy. Currently, the training is going on simultaneously with story and song
writing. The third source of funding is from the communities. The Kamanakao
Association has nine branch committees throughout the northern part of the
Central District and in Ngamiland. These communities are responsible for the
cultural aspects of the organisation. They organise cultural activities and are also
responsible for hosting the Shikati (Chief in Shiyeyi) Kamanakao5 as he visits the
villages. These committees fund their own activities. They raise funds for the
association through the sale of T-shirts, booklets, bags and calendars and of
course through cultural activities.
The relationship between these two organisations and the government is one
of uneasy tolerance. While the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs authorised
their registration in accordance with the right to associate, they are seen as
moving against the assimilationist policy. This is particularly so in regard to the
chieftainship issue. The Wayeyi élite holding high government posts are torn
between supporting a just cause in which they believe and risking their jobs.
Consequently, they tend to remain neutral and unpredictable. Some Wayeyi,
especially politicians within the ruling party, have been used to campaign
against the work of Kamanakao Association. They have portrayed the Associa-
tion as tribalistic and have worked against the acceptance of Shikati Kamanakao
to represent the Wayeyi in the House of Chiefs. The Wayeyi have taken the
government to court for discriminating against their Paramount Chief. On the
other hand, some Wayeyi élite and academics have been successful in taking the
message of the Association to the people, through the village or branch commit-
tees. The message is understood as linguistic human rights as well as political
rights in terms of representation. After his installation as Paramount Chief of the
Wayeyi, in April 1999, Shikati Kamanakao has taken his role to be that of educat-
ing his people about their rights to develop and maintain their language and
culture through public meetings. His meetings have been attended by Criminal
Investigation Officers from the Police Department to try and intimidate people
attending. After a year of public education campaigns, people now feel free to
attend and participate in village committees and other cultural activities. They
are gaining confidence in demanding their rights to representation. They have
contributed money towards the costs of the lawsuit.
This lawsuit may have some influence in expediting the government’s deci-
sion to review Sections 77 to 79 of the constitution, which discriminate along
tribal lines concerning representation in the House of Chiefs. In February 2000,
an independent newspaper reporter held an interview with President Mogae
that was reported as follows:

Mmegi: Parliament passed a motion for the amendment of Sections 77–79


of the constitution which were deemed offensive but last year during the
elections you said there is no discrimination in terms of tribe. Would I have
The Language Situation in Botswana 63

a member of my tribe as an ex-officio member of the House of Chiefs in my


lifetime? (the reporter is Kalanga).
President Mogae: I don’t know where you get the impression that I have
gone back on anything. I and Parliament never said that the constitution
discriminates against tribes. We have said those sections you have
mentioned should be amended and I have said yes, if there is any section of
the constitution that causes irritation to any member of our society we must
look at them and amend. We are going to do that. We have appointed a task
force to go around asking Batswana including yourself. It would start work
early next month. (Chilisa, 2000: 19 (11–17 February)).

While the President’s promise is not a new thing, many people believe that the
lawsuit is likely to end the unreasonable delay in action on the constitutional
amendment. However, speculation is rife that the government is lobbying the
general public to accept the status quo. In fact, the President mentioned his own
preference for the status quo during the interview. He said, ‘I have my own views
… the arrangement with regards to the North East, Kgalagadi and Ghanzi is the
type I will be inclined to. It’s more democratic but Batswana believe in chiefs by
birth and I am not going to change that’ (Chilisa, 2000: 19 (11–17 February)).
As stated above (Background section), the areas mentioned here are minority
dominated and they are represented by elected sub-chiefs in the House of Chiefs
and not the Paramount Chiefs by birth of these minority tribes. This is in line with
the assimilation theory that only Setswana speaking tribes can be represented by
their Paramount Chiefs by birth. Minority groups can only be represented by
elected sub-chiefs to ensure that the people elected are sympathetic with the
ruling party policy of assimilation into Tswanadom. In the case of Ngamiland,
the tribes there are represented by the Tswana speaking Batawana chief. Accord-
ing to the Wayeyi, they are not represented, since imposing a Motawana chief on
them and rejecting their Paramount Chief is not democratic. The consultations to
be held with the people are less likely to change the current situation, as lobbying
will follow the elections pattern where people are alleged to have been bribed
and misinformed in house-to-house campaigns. The rural population is less
informed as it has no access to information, and it is likely to accept information
provided by the government. For this reason, the status quo is likely to prevail
after the consultations. On the other hand, should the educated élite make writ-
ten submissions to the task force, and work with NGOs to put pressure on the
government to change, there is a window of opportunity for change. Should the
task force complete its work and the relevant sections be changed, while the
lawsuit is still delayed in court (the hearing had been postponed twice between
October and December, 1999), the ruling of the court would contribute to the
recommendations of the task force. The work of the task force may also lead to
the withdrawal of the lawsuit. Both Kamanakao and SPILL are locally driven and
members of BOCONGO.

The Etsha Ecumenical Community (EEC)


The Etsha Ecumenical Community was an initiative by the Botswana Chris-
tian Council in 1970. The Council is composed of twenty churches and seven
church-related organisations (Hopkins, 1995). It runs a number of ecumenical
64 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

projects for disadvantaged groups including the disabled, women, and street
children. The Etsha project focuses on the development and use of the
Thimbukushu language for religious purposes (see Table 1). It utilises reading
material developed in Namibia and by other linguists elsewhere on Thimb-
ukushu to conduct literacy classes at least three times a week for female adults
among the Hambukushu people. Some of its activities include: training in basket
weaving amongst the Hambukushu and Wayeyi females at Etsha, marketing the
baskets outside Botswana, running a pre-school in Thimbukushu, running a
poultry project for out-of-school youth, and running a guest house. This work
has served as a source of inspiration for the revival and maintenance of the
Thimbukushu language in Botswana. Currently, there are efforts to register a
Thimbukushu cultural organisation by the Hambukushu people.
The Basarwa (Bushmen) belong to about 17 main Khoisan language groups
(Appendix 1). They are the indigenous people of Botswana and are nomadic. It is
estimated that there are about 40,000 Basarwa in Botswana, making up about four
per cent of the population. They are mainly hunters and gatherers. Due to their
nomadism, they are found in seven of the eight administrative districts (Mazonde,
1997). Their main areas of concentration are Ghanzi, Kweneng, parts of Ngamiland
and Ngwaketsi districts and they have a high degree of language maintenance
(Smieja & Mathangwane, 1999). From time immemorial, the Basarwa have
worked for the wealthy Setswana speaking groups who use them as herd-boys for
low wages, provided mainly in the form of food. They own no land and are ruled
by the Setswana Paramount Chief in whatever area they happen to reside. For
instance, those in Kweneng are considered Bakwena and ruled by the Bakwena
Paramount Chief. Mogwe (1994: 57) best describes the plight of the Basarwa.
The Basarwa are the poorest of the poor.… Why have development
programs aimed at the improvement of their standard of living focused
instead on assimilation or integration without informed choice and with-
out the participation of the Basarwa during both planning and implemen-
tation? … Rampant discrimination against the Basarwa peoples has meant
that they have become marginalised culturally, politically, socially, and
economically.… The state imposes leaders on them who are not of their
culture or language group. This in turn has exacerbated their position of
marginalisation. Attempts to use the law are frustrated because they lack
the operation language of Setswana customary courts.
In 1999, two Basarwa who had been sentenced to death by the high court for
murder; their case was appealed by Ditshwanelo, the Botswana Center for
Human Rights (see Table 9). It was discovered that the Basarwa were not given
an opportunity to speak in their language in court and were not listened to when
they struggled in Setswana to air their unhappiness about their lawyer. The high
court did not listen to their pleas but sentenced them to death. However, in 1999,
the appeals court ordered a retrial. Mogwe argues that the human rights of the
Basarwa have neither been respected nor protected by the state. The state had
argued that Ditshwanelo had no right to represent the Basarwa, further violating
their right to representation by challenging Ditshwanelo’s efforts.
Due to the marginalised status of the Basarwa, many international organisa-
tions have come to Botswana to establish community based development
The Language Situation in Botswana 65

projects. Three such projects operating under registered organisations will be


briefly described in the following sections. They were a result of external initia-
tives and mainly funded by church organisations in The Netherlands and by
development agencies such as CIDA, UNICEF, World View, the Norwegian
government and others.

The Kuru Development Trust (Kuru)


Fidzani (1998) maintains the distribution of cattle in Botswana is uneven. Only
five per cent of the population own 50% of the national herd, and 45% of the rural
households do not own any cattle. This means that rich cattle owners also own
most of the land. It is therefore difficult for the nomadic Basarwa to own land.
The tourism policy of the government of Botswana calls for their removal from
areas with tourist attractions. In 1979, the government grouped all Basarwa
living inside the Kalahari Central Game Reserve (KCRG) in one place within a
reserve called Xade. In 1986, the government decided to freeze developments in
this area and move the Basarwa outside the reserve to New Xade (Mazonde,
1997). With the support of two external agencies based in The Netherlands, the
Kalahari Support Group and the Kalahari People’s fund, Basarwa communities
in ten villages in the Ghanzi District in 1986 established the Kuru Development
Trust. The main aim of the organisation is to facilitate active participation of
Basarwa communities and individuals in the development process and to
support the acquisition of land and land rights. Mazonde (1997) observes that the
hunger for land has resulted in Basarwa in Ghanzi demanding their own district,
as well as a Mosarwa councillor, a Mosarwa member of the House of Chiefs and a
Mosarwa member of Parliament. The Kuru Development Trust has been sensi-
tising the Basarwa to stand up for their rights and achieve their dreams. They too,
like other groups, need to reap the fruits of democracy. The assimilationist model
has not proved to be fruitful for them. In the 1999 general elections, a Mosarwa
lady stood for council elections in Ghanzi, but unfortunately she lost. A Mosarwa
sub-chief was installed in Xade, but he is not yet a member of the House of Chiefs.
Some of the activities of the Kuru include the development of enterprenial
skills among Basarwa, to promote participatory learning processes for self-
awareness and development. Kuru also promotes agricultural activities by intro-
ducing alternative agricultural methods. Kuru is heavily involved in social
education, language development and cultural identity. It hosts an annual
cultural festival, featuring songs and dances in the Naro and Ju/hoan languages
(Appendix 1). Kuru runs a museum funded by the Bernard Van Leey foundation.
This museum displays the history of the Basarwa and has a good collection of
their artefacts. The trust also collects Sarwa artefacts and markets them at both
national and international levels. The Kuru Development Trust has a language
wing, specifically working on the Naro language through the Naro Language
Project which was started in 1991 and is funded by the Christian Reformed
Churches in the Netherlands (Visser, 1998). By 1997 the project had produced an
orthography and phonology of Naro. A number of publications (e.g. primers, a
dictionary and literacy material) have been produced. The Language Project
runs pre-school classes in Naro; adult literacy classes are conducted in Naro in
the Ghanzi District. Currently, Kuru runs a leather tannery, a carpentry shop, a
66 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

fence-building workshop, a silk screen craft production project and workshops


on HIV/AIDS, business skills and negotiation skill in Sarwa languages.
In 1998, Kuru expanded its activities into the Okavango delta. Kuru has estab-
lished an office at Shakawe to provide community development work amongst
the Bugakhwe and Xanikhwe San peoples, the Wayeyi, Hambukushu and
Giriku, with specific focus on the development of cultural tourism. Kuru is
currently assisting these communities to form and register trusts and to apply for
land for tourist activities. The work of this trust has not been easy. Like most
ethnically oriented organisations, Kuru was perceived as inciting the Basarwa to
disobey government orders and to impede the government’s effort to provide
social amenities to the Basarwa at New Xade.
The missionaries from The Netherlands who were working with Kuru were
seen as people who were in Botswana to pursue their own personal interests
rather than those of the Basarwa. Consequently, in 1993 the government issued a
deportation order against Reverend Le Roux for his activities with the Kuru
Development Trust. He was seen to be influencing the Basarwa not to move out
of the Kalahari Game Reserve. While human rights organisations managed to
put pressure on the government to lift the deportation order, they did not
convince the government to reverse the decision to move the Basarwa out of the
KCGR. Eventually the Basarwa of Xade became divided, some supporting the
move to New Xade and others choosing to stay in the Old Xade in the KCGR. The
government has viewed its own policies and efforts as intending to modernise
the Basarwa and bring them into the mainstream. Development agencies, on the
other hand, saw such policies as assimilationist and aimed at eradicating the
languages and cultures of the Basarwa and, most importantly, to disempower
them economically. The removal of the Basarwa from the KCRG to New Xade
meant that they could not hunt and gather fruit, but would be more dependent
on government subsidies. In turn, this would make them loyal to the ruling
party. The assimilationist model is not only intended to assimilate minority
groups into Tswanadom but into the ruling party as well. The covert goal is to
have one language, one nation and one party.

The First People of the Kalahari (FPK)


The First People of the Kalahari was established in 1992 to fight for the land
rights of the Basarwa people, specifically the San/N/Oakhine group (see
Appendix 1). Like Kuru, it was established with the support of the Kalahari
Support Group and the Kalahari People’s Fund. The issue of land rights is funda-
mental to the survival of the Basarwa who are mainly hunters and gatherers. FPK
is one of the organisations trying to address the issue. Its founder, John
Hardbattle, died in 1996 at the height of the New Xade controversy.
While the FPK was formed by an identifiable ethnic and linguistic group, and
some of its activities have included language development, the main objective of
the organisation is the achievement of Basarwa human rights, specifically the
right to own land. The state maintains that the Basarwa, being nomads, have no
right to land (Mogwe, 1994). This defines where they can hunt and gather fruit, as
the non-nomadic groups own and control the land. This has serious conse-
quences for the daily living of the Basarwa. The only option for them is to work
for the wealthy for low wages. FPK serves as a national advocate that strength-
The Language Situation in Botswana 67

ens, organises and coordinates development projects within the settlements and
communities in Ghanzi towards the acquisition of land and land rights to gather
and hunt. It links these communities to those in neighbouring countries like
South Africa and Namibia. It has an education wing responsible for collection
and dissemination of information on human rights, and monitors human rights
abuses, especially those dealing with game licensing for hunting. FPK’s major
activities include advocacy and negotiating with government for the rights of the
Basarwa. The FPK also has income-generating projects in ostrich and poultry
farming and it runs a cultural centre.

The Basarwa Research Project


The Basarwa Research Project is coordinated at the University of Botswana,
through the former National Institute of Research and Development, now the
Directorate of Research and Development, and in conjunction with the Depart-
ment of African Languages and Literature. The Norwegian government funds
the project, which is aimed at conducting research on the social, linguistic,
cultural, political and economic well-being of the Basarwa within the Southern
African region. The project conducts regional workshops to provide a forum for
scholars to report on their work related to the Khoesan languages and cultures
and other aspects of the San peoples. Western scholars who come to Botswana as
individuals to conduct their studies on the Basarwa are also provided an oppor-
tunity to present their findings at the University of Botswana through this
project. These efforts are helping to revive and maintain the Khoesan languages.

Summary
The work of non-governmental organisations has begun to signal to the
government that there is a language and cultural problem to be attended to. The
Department of Youth and Culture (DYC) was established in the Ministry of
Labor and Home Affairs in 1989, and the Botswana National Cultural Council
(BNCC) was established in 1992 within the Department. The Department has
been charged with the responsibility to develop a national cultural policy.
Currently, there is a consultancy to review the draft of this policy document and,
amongst other things, to review the capacity of and the linkages between institu-
tions dealing with culture, especially the DYC and the BNCC, the House of
Chiefs and NGOs. The consultancy will also provide a state of the art account of
the sociological, historical and linguistic relations of peoples within the cultural
setting of Botswana. This signals a willingness on the part of the government to
begin to address the thorny issues relating to the linguistic and cultural diversity
of the country, and the chieftainship issues within the framework of human
rights and globalisation.
The government seems to be convinced about the role of culture in develop-
ment, and there are plans to develop cultural villages. However, the govern-
ment’s view appears to be that culture can best be preserved through museums
and cultural villages set up for public viewing. Culture is not considered as a way
of life that a community must live as part of national development. There are no
serious efforts to instil language and cultural studies into the curriculum (Milon,
1989; Nyati-Ramahobo, 1998a). Apparently there is also the belief that the
cultures of minority groups can be preserved without the use of their languages.
68 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

This constitutes a difficult task, since some crucial aspects of culture can only be
expressed through language. Efforts to revive and maintain Botswana languages
rest with the civil society’s will to work tirelessly despite the government’s resis-
tance. The role of the élite, especially academics, is crucial to the development
and maintenance of the languages of Botswana. One major characteristic of
democracy in Botswana is freedom of speech. Academics, other activists and the
media have taken advantage of this characteristic to take the issues into the
public arena. However, there is another element of our democracy working
against this. While there is freedom of speech, there is no freedom after speech
(Mogwe, 1994). That is, people can talk, but they are not listened to, and there are
a number of subtle ways of victimising those who speak out and who are
employed by the government. It is for this reason that government employees
play rather a debilitating role in the promotion of linguistic and cultural rights of
minority groups in Botswana.

Pidgins and Creoles


When the Wayeyi were enslaved by the Batawana and forced to speak
Setswana, language contact occurred between Shiyeyi and the Sengwato dialect
of the Setswana spoken by the Batawana. This contact resulted in the emergence
of a creole called Setawana – the basic structure of which consists of Sengwato
syntax with a heavy Shiyeyi lexicon – which is now accepted as a dialect of
Setswana. For instance:

Ba ne ba ile go shaora.
(They went swimming).
Shaora is a Shiyeyi word for swimming.

Ha o bua maxambura ke tla go caka


(If you say nonsense I will axe you (hit you with an axe).
Maxambura is the Shiyeyi word for nonsense and caka is to axe someone.

While the Setswana equivalent for such words may exist in other parts of the
country, to people in Ngamiland only the Shiyeyi words exist, and this is the
normal way of speaking. They would never use words such as go thuma for swim-
ming as it is used in the southern part of the country. As this creole variety has not
been studied, it is difficult to say whether it is in fact a creole or whether it is a
dialect with some Shiyeyi lexical code-switching. As a result of the low status of
the Wayeyi, and the movement of more people from the north-west (Maun area)
to work in the south (see Map 2), there seems to be a movement towards standard
Sengwato dialect and towards an avoidance of Shiyeyi words at all costs.
However, the old and uneducated population continues to use this mixture.
Anderson & Janson (1997) discuss Tsotsitaal and question whether or not it is
spoken in Botswana. A number of factors may be responsible for the importation
of this pidgin language into Botswana from South Africa:
 the movement between the two countries for economic activities is a
constant factor;
 families are divided across the border;
The Language Situation in Botswana 69

 there was the influx of South African refugees into Botswana during the
apartheid era;
 Batswana watch South African television.
As a result, Tsotsitaal is spoken by the youth in towns, especially those in the
southern part of the country, to almost the same extent that they speak American
English. Currently, these phenomena are confined to the youth who switch to
normal Setswana when speaking to adults. The current situation concerning
pidgins and creoles in Botswana is that none of the varieties have really been
studied by scholars in a detailed manner.

Probable Future Directions


The debate about ethnic and linguistic inequality has been going on for a long
time in Botswana. A motion to review Sections 77–79 of the constitution was first
debated in Parliament in 1988. The opposition party lost the motion and one
member of Parliament from the ruling party remarked ‘we defeated them’
(Republic of Botswana, 1988: 511). The discourse of hegemonic power was stron-
ger at that time. Within government circles, therefore, there is the ‘them’ and ‘us’
mentality. This does not seem to augur well for democracy and social justice.
Tswadom was seen to have settled in, and the chances for the minorities to assert
themselves to change the constitution were seen as slim. However, the discourse
changed in 1995. The same parliamentarian who dominated the debate in 1988,
and concluded with the above utterance, did not say a word during the 1995
debate. The ruling party had lost ten seats to the opposition in the 1994 general
elections. In this debate, parliamentarians from minority groups from both the
ruling and the opposition parties presented their case powerfully during this
discussion. One from the ruling party said:
… each one of us will want to appear and to be recognised in the eyes of the
law, especially the supreme law of the country, as being equal to his breth-
ren.… Our circumstances now require that we amend sections 77, 78, and
79 of the Constitution so that other tribal interests are presented. That
would ensure that our republic has characteristics of a true republic. A
Constitution should reflect those characteristics … there should be no
notion, no impression created in the mind of anyone that some persons or
some groups or some tribal interests are superior than others. If we do, or
allow for such a situation, there is bound to be social disharmony in our
country. (Republic of Botswana, 1995: 86–7)
The motion was passed in 1995, as stated in Part III, mainly due to pressure from
the opposition parties and vocal members of the ruling party who supported it.
The majority of Tswana parliamentarians from the ruling party barely accepted
the motion, but the discourse of hegemonic power has subsided. This tension
explains why there have been no efforts to implement it to date. On the other
hand, the pressure from non-governmental organisations working to promote
minority languages and cultures has intensified continuously over the past four
years. The current situation is that, while non-governmental organisations are
encouraged by such positive policy statements to push for reform at the imple-
mentation level, the efforts of those NGOs are frustrated by the covertly negative
70 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

attitudes of the leadership. This situation is likely to continue to limit the impact
the non-governmental organisations might have. With this kind of tension, it is
difficult to predict the future directions of language development and usage in
Botswana.
In discussing whether the 1999 general elections were issue-driven, one news-
paper stated that:
…[p]erhaps the only issue that was articulated effectively is the one relat-
ing to ethnic inequality. . . . The opposition, in particular, seems to have
been effective in presenting its case to the electorate. . . . And it would
appear that many people in the affected areas were bought into it. (Mbuya,
1999: 15)
Many opposition parties promised the electorate that, if elected to power, other
languages would be taught in schools, and sections of the constitution, which
discriminate on the basis of tribal affiliation, would be reviewed. However, an
analysis of the election results indicated that people in minority dominated areas
voted for the ruling party. Four factors have been alleged to be responsible for this:
(1) Internal conflict amongst opposition parties which went on until the date of
the election left the electorate with no choice but to elect the devil they knew’
(2) The ruling party has exploited the ignorance of the rural poor who have no
access to the media. It is alleged that the people were informed in house to
house campaigns that the constitution had been amended to incorporate
laws on ethnicity and gender.
(3) There were also allegations of bribery – the use of money and the deliveries
of drought-relief foodstuffs in some villages during the election week.
(4) In his tour of the country just a week before elections, the President
informed his audiences that the constitution does not discriminate. This
created the impression that it had been amended, thus confirming the infor-
mation provided in the house-to-house campaigns. In fact, many Wayeyi
were happy that their Shikati would be admitted to the House of Chiefs, and
so they voted for the ruling party.
Should these allegations be true (though they are not new), then change is less
likely to be achieved through the parliamentary process. In a country where
more than 40% of the population lives below the poverty datum line (Jeffris,
1997), this practice is likely to continue for some time, at least until there is a
strong and united opposition.
One of the organisations advocating ethnic and language rights has taken
the government to court for discriminating against their Paramount Chief, by
refusing him membership of the House of Chiefs. Should the government win
the case, the issue is unlikely to go away, and the debate may go to higher levels.
The government has demonstrated intolerance on the issue, and it is most
unlikely to accede to the demands of non-Setswana speaking tribes. Whether
the government accepts change or not, many languages are likely to be
preserved and enhanced through the work of non-governmental organisa-
tions. It is necessary for these non-governmental organisations to work
together and to seek the support of the human rights groups, in order to exert
more pressure on government. Members of Parliament who are from minority
The Language Situation in Botswana 71

groups hold the passport for change. Should they stand firm on their word
during the debate of the motion to amend Sections 77 to 79 of the constitution,
the government is likely to act quickly. However, should they feel threatened,
change will be slow and painful.
The very principles of unity and democracy which all the ethnic and linguistic
groups of Botswana embraced at independence, which subsequently resulted in
the acceptance of the modernist/assimilationist paradigm into Tswanadom, are
the very principles providing them good grounds to assert and not relinquish
their subnational identities. After 33 years of independence, the issue of nation-
hood is no longer in question. The question now is what has this democracy and
nationhood achieved for every one of us. Attempts to react to this question
clearly demonstrate that the concept of Tswanadom has relegated some
members of this nation to a low and unacceptable status, economically, politi-
cally and culturally. For this reason, the democracy for which Botswana is well
known and respected is challenged. The orientation to view linguistic and
cultural diversity as a problem is counterproductive to democratic gains. The
option is to move quickly from overt assimilationist models to true pluralistic
models, in which both group rights and individual rights are guaranteed, and
democratic principles of representation are respected.

Correspondence
Any correspondence should be directed to Dr Lydia Nyati-Ramahobo,
Faculty of Education, University of Botswana, Private Bag 0022, Gaborone,
Botswana (ramaholn@mopipi.ub.bw).

Notes
1. The name of the country is Botswana, the people are Batswana, one person from
Botswana is a Motswana and the national language is Setswana. This formula for
prefixing applies to the eight Setswana speaking tribes, who are represented by their
paramount chiefs:

Table 1 Linguistic groups


Category 1 (The eight Setswana speaking tribes)
Name of tribe (plural) Dialect/language Individual
Bamangwato/Bangwato Sengwato Mongwato
Bakgatla Sekgatla Mokgatla
Batawana Setawana Motawana
Balete Selete Molete
Batlokwa Setlokwa Motlokwa
Bakwena Sekwena Mokwena
Bangwaketsi Sengwaketsi Mongwaketsi
Barolong Serolong Morolong
The formula also applies to those tribes whose languages are close to Setswana
but are not considered to be dialects of Setswana (some are represented by
elected sub chiefs from their own tribes – the four areas, while others are not
represented by their own people but by the paramount chief in that area).
72 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Category 2 (Tribes with languages close to Setswana)


Name of tribe (plural) Dialect/language Individual
Bakgalagadi/Makgalagadi Sekgalagadi Mokgalagadi
Babirwa Sebirwa Mmirwa
Batswapong (Baseleka) Setswapong Motswapong
Bahurutshe Sehurutshe Mohurutshe
Bakhurutshe Sekhurutshe Mokhurutshe
Bakgothu Sekgothu Mokgothu
Bashaga Seshaga Moshaga
Bangologa Sengologa Mongologa
Batlhwaring Setlhwaring Mo tlhwareng.
Batalaote Setalaote Motalaote
Bakaa Sekaa Mokaa
While tribes who speak languages that are not related to Setswana at all did not
originally follow this formula over time the formula has been applied to them.
The original name is supplied and the ‘tswanalised’ version is bracketed.
Category 3 (Tribes not related to Setswana)
Name of tribe (plural) Dialect/language Individual
Ovaherero (Baherero) Herero (Seherero) Herero (Moherero)
Wayeyi (Bayeyi)/Bayei Shiyeyi (Seyeyi) Muyeyi (Moyeyi)
Hambukushu (Ma/ Thimbukushu (Se-) Hambukushu
Bambukushu) (Mombukushu)
Kalanga (Ma/Bakalaka) Ikalanga (Sekalalaka) Kalanga (Mokalalaka)
Subia (Ma/Basubia) Subia (Sesubia) Subia (Mosubia)
Ciriku (Ma/Baciriku) Othiciriku (Seciriku) Mociriku
Ba/Masarwa (includes 13 Sesarwa Mosarwa
Khoisana languages)
Ba/Manajwa Senajwa Monajwa

Note: The alternative prefix Ma- is used to demean the tribe. Languages spoken by
tribes in Categories 2 and 3 are considered minority languages.
2. A more detailed description of the ‘English only’ situation can be found in Kaplan and
Baldauf (in press).
3. A traditional meeting place where the chief hears cases, consults and informs his
people about development matters in the village.
4. Contribution from a participant at a symposium on ‘The Quality of Life in Botswana’
organised by the Botswana Society, 15–18 October 1996.
5. The name of the Chief is the same as the name of the Association.

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Appendix 1: Main Khoisan Language Groups (in brackets are


sub-groups)
Ju/hoan
Xani
Tcg’aox’ae (or = Kx’au//’ein or ‘Kxc’au/ein)
Dxana
Dcui
Naro: (//Ana: Naro, //Gana, /Gwi, Khute)
Qgoon
San/N/Oakhine
Nama
Shua: (Xaise, Deti, Cara, Shua, Ts’ixa, Danisi, Bugakhwe, Xanikhwe)
Tshwa: (Tshwa, Kua, Tshauwau, Heitshware)
Tchuan
 Hua
Hai//om
!Xoo
!Kwi: (/Xam, = Khomani, //Xegwi and //Ng!’e)
Tshu

Appendix 2: Recommendations related to Setswana and English


(National Policy on Education, March 1994)
Recommendation 3 [para. 2.3.30]
With respect to language policy, the Commission recommends that the
National Setswana Language Council be renamed the Botswana Languages
Council and be given revised terms of Reference, including the responsibil-
ity for developing a comprehensive language policy (p. 13)
Recommendation 18 [para.4.4.31]
With respect to the teaching of languages in primary school,
(a) English should be used as the medium of instruction from standard 2 as
soon as practicable (p. 59)
(d) Setswana should be taught as a compulsory subject for citizens of Botswana
throughout the primary school system. In-service training programs should
commence immediately to improve the teaching of Setswana as a subject (p.
18)
Recommendation 31 [para. 5.5.7]
The Commission recommends the following statement of goals for the
three-year junior secondary program: The goals of the Junior Certificate
Curriculum are to develop in all children
The Language Situation in Botswana 77

– Proficiency in the use of Setswana and English language as tools for effec-
tive communication, study and work
– an understanding of society, appreciation of culture and sense of citizen-
ship; etc. (p. 21)
Recommendation 32 [para. 5.5.13]
With respect to Junior Certificate curriculum,
(b) each student should take eight core subjects, namely, English, Setswana
Social Studies etc.
(d) in addition each student should select a minimum of two and a maximum of
three optional subjects. At least one of the subject selected should be from
each of the following groups of subjects:
(ii) Third language (p. 63)
Recommendation 46 [para. 5.10.33]
In order to improve the teaching of Setswana, the Commission recommends
that:
(a) teachers should be exposed to as many language teaching methods as possi-
ble so as to provide a variety for the teacher and the learner, with emphasis
on communicative approaches, and therefore make Setswana more interest-
ing as a subject (p. 26)
(b) information on job opportunities other than teaching, e.g. in the media,
professions and as translators, Court interpreters, and Parliamentary trans-
lators, should be more extensively disseminated. With some guidance
students at school level would then take their study of the language more
seriously, recognising opportunities for development in the language (p.
66)
(c) the University of Botswana’s Department of African Languages and Litera-
ture should play a leading role in guiding academic presentations in
Setswana and cooperate with the Faculty of Education in promoting the
teaching of Setswana.(p. 26)
Recommendation number 70 [para.7.6.9]
With respect to the development of a core curriculum for students in tertiary
education institutions, the Commission recommends the following compo-
nents:
(d) a module on Botswana’s culture and values, within the context of heteroge-
neous African cultures, noting the uniqueness and universals of Botswana’s
ways of life (p. 34)
Recommendation 100 [para. 10.5.9]
(c) the primary teacher training curriculum should prepare teachers to handle
adequately some of the innovative methods such as Breakthrough to
Setswana, Project Method, continuous Assessment, Guidance and Coun-
seling, Special Education, Remedial Teaching, especially to support
assessed progression (p. 45)
78 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Recommendation 101 [Para.10.5.13]


(e) admission requirements should be reviewed to allow experienced primary
school teachers holding COSC/GCE to be recruited for training as Setswana
Teachers (p. 46)
Recommendation 103 [para.10.5.19]
(a) Setswana teacher training should be included in the category of critical
human resource shortage alongside the Science and Technical fields of
study in the proposed Grant/Loan Scheme (p. 46)
(b) Setswana teachers should enjoy enhanced entry salary and parallel progres-
sion similarly to Science and Mathematics teachers (p. 46)
The Language Planning Situation in
Malawi
Edrinnie Kayambazinthu
Department of English, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, P.O. Box 280,
Zomba, Malawi

This monograph presents a detailed study on the language planning situation in Ma-
lawi. It explores the historical and political processes, as well as current practices of lan-
guage planning in the country. The discussion further reconstructs and demonstrates
how sociopolitical change has been perceived in Malawi and how this perception has
translated into language planning in education, the media and the general patterns of
language use. The role of prominent individuals, the language situation itself and the
sociopolitical issues serve as bases from which language planning in Malawi should be
understood. Taken together the resultant language planning practices (past and pres-
ent) present an interesting case study of pervasive ad hoc and reactive language plan-
ning based more on self-interest and political whim than research.

Introduction
Malawi is situated in central southern Africa and shares boundaries with Tan-
zania in the northeast, Zambia in the west and Mozambique in the southeast. The
country is approximately 900 kilometres in length and ranges in width from
80–160 kilometres. It has a total area of 118,486 square metres of which 94,276 is
land and the rest is taken up by Lake Malawi which is about 475 kilometres long
(Malawi National Statistical Office (MNSO), 1996: 1). Malawi is divided into
three main administrative areas: the Northern, the Central and the Southern Re-
gions. The country is further divided into 27 districts, 5 in the Northern Region, 9
in the Central Region and 13 in the Southern Region. Malawi has an estimated
population of 12 million1 of which 42% were literate in 1987 and 89% are located
in the rural areas.
Malawi is linguistically heterogeneous with 13 Malawian languages and their
numerous dialects being spoken within the country (Kayambazinthu, 1995). The
language situation in Malawi, like that in most other African countries, is charac-
terised by the asymmetrical coexistence of English, the official language;
Chichewa, the national language, and 12 other indigenous languages and their
varieties. This monograph provides a description of the language situation in
Malawi and its various dimensions including the dynamism of multilingualism.
The monograph focuses on the major languages, their spread, language planning
and language maintenance and prospects in Malawi. The monograph also draws
together a number of isolated surveys carried out in Malawi to elucidate the lan-
guage situation there. The interplay and use of both major and minor languages
are focused on at both macro and micro levels.

Part 1: The Language Profile of Malawi


Definition of terms
In this section language is defined on a combined geopolitical and genetic ba-

79
80 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

sis. The term language, as opposed to dialect, is defined according to Chambers


and Trudgill (1980: 5) who regard dialects ‘as subdivisions of a particular lan-
guage. A language therefore is a collection of mutually intelligible dialects’ or
varieties. The discussion further recognises that there are many borderline cases
where politically and socially it is difficult to make the distinction between a lan-
guage and a dialect. On the basis of mutual intelligibility one would consider
Malawian languages such as Khokhola and Lomwe as one and the same lan-
guage, but not Yao and Lomwe. Therefore, the definition and count of different
languages may vary considerably from the traditional or official count, espe-
cially in Chitipa District, where the definitions are based on an exaggerated older
state of linguistic knowledge and or sociopolitical considerations than linguistic
ones (see Ntonya, 1998).
The names of the languages are those currently being used in Malawi. Lan-
guage names derive from the ethnic groups by adding (or not adding) either the
prefix Chi-, Ki- or Kya- depending on the language. For purposes of this mono-
graph and for consistency the language prefix will not be used.2 The term speaker
is reserved for active speakers able to converse with ease on a variety of topics
who are likely to raise their children speaking the language and who are able to
provide information on the basic documentation of the language. This then ex-
cludes those only able to understand the language or those with fragmentary or
less fluent ability. The number of speakers given can only be taken as an estimate
given the 32 year gap since the only language census was done. Malawian lan-
guages have not been studied or properly documented, except to a limited extent
for Chichewa, Yao and Tumbuka.

The languages and their historical background


Geographically and culturally Malawi is linked with eastern Zambia, north-
ern Mozambique and Northern Tanzania. All these neighbouring countries have
contributed to the ethnic and linguistic composition of Malawi and vice versa.
Typologically all Malawian languages are of Bantu origin. From the thirteenth to
the nineteenth centuries AD, several political entities originated from the Congo
Basin, each of which was presumably dominated by a single monoethnic and
monolingual core: the Chewa, Tumbuka and the Ngulube group. The founda-
tions of the modern ethnic and linguistic map were completed with the coming of
the Ngoni, Yao and Lomwe. In spite of the increasingly divergent ethnic and lin-
guistic presence in the region, the political history of Malawi was characterised
by peaceful existence of the groups. During this period, most of these Malawian
languages had roughly equal positions as dominant languages of their culture. It
was the coming of the missionaries and the later rise to power of Dr Banda that
decisively turned the balance of power in favour of Chichewa. This section fo-
cuses on the history of the indigenous people, their languages and dialects from
the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries AD with a view to showing the historical
processes that gave rise to the various dialects. In view of their different historical
relationships, the languages spoken in Malawi may be divided into three distinct
groups: major indigenous languages, minor indigenous languages and minor
non-indigenous languages. The territorial identities and sociolinguistic posi-
tions belonging to each language are discussed in the sections that follow.
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 81

Indigenous languages
Chichewa (zone N, group 20)3
In its standard and non-standard variety, Chichewa has been used as the sole
national language since 1968, for both regional and national administrative, liter-
acy and cultural purposes in Malawi. It is the native language of 50.2% of
Malawians, both rural and urban (MNSO, 1966). A number of source dialectal
varieties are spoken, reflecting the geographical origins of the population and
their wave of migration connected to territorial expansion. The major dialects re-
cognised in Malawi are Chewa, Nyanja and Mang’anja.
According to Phiri et al. (1992: 608), the central and southern part of Malawi
was dominated by the Chewa speakers and their subgroups: the Mang’anja of
the lower Shire Valley and Nyanja around the southern end of Lake Malawi. The
northern area stretched on the western side of Lake Malawi from the
Tumbuka-Chewa marginal zone in the centre to the Songwe river in the north
was occupied by three language families: the Tumbuka group,
Ngonde-Nyakyusa and the Sukwa-Lambya-Nyiha group.
Historians (Alpers, 1968, 1972; Pachai, 1973; Phiri et al., 1992: 615) agree that
between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries AD, most of central and southern
Malawi was settled by Bantu speakers. These were at first a collective part of the
vast and widely settled community of the Maravi or Malawi peoples, now
known as Chewa, Nyanja and Mang’anja. The Maravi migrated from the
Luba-Lunda kingdoms of eastern Zaire and settled in a place called Mankhamba
(present-day Dedza district) in Malawi under their leader, Kalonga. Here they
fused with the early inhabitants, the proto-Chewa.
Historically, a wave of migration took place connected with lack of space and
territorial expansion. As noted by Pachai (1973: 8), terminologically, the various
dialect clusters of Chewa,4 the language they spoke, is better understood within
the framework of migration, economic power and the political organisation of
the Maravi Empire. What started off as Maravi ended up as Chewa, Mang’anja,
Nyanja, Chipeta, Nsenga, Chikunda, Mbo, Ntumba and Zimba, as a result of dis-
persion and decentralisation. For over half of the seventeenth century, the
Maravi established an empire built upon ivory trade to Kilwa and Mozambique
with the Portuguese and, later, the Arabs, and embarked on territorial expansion
that took them beyond central and southern Malawi into adjacent parts of Zam-
bia and Mozambique (Phiri et al., 1992). Phiri also claims that by the early
seventeenth century, their federation of states encompassed the greater part of
eastern Zambia, central and southern Malawi and northern Mozambique. Popu-
lation growth led to pressure on land, local quarrels, the desire to settle on one’s
own, and the urge to control or protect trade routes and goods (Pachai, 1973).
Consequently, the empire disintegrated, leading to several different established
subsidiary chiefdoms and kingdoms of related people speaking various dialects
of the Chewa cluster (Marwick, 1963; Pachai, 1972).
For example, Kalonga is said to have sent out a number of his relatives to es-
tablish settlements in various areas for political and economic reasons (Alpers,
1968). Mwase settled in an ivory rich district, Kasungu; Kaphwiti and Lundu set-
tled in the lower Shire Valley and Mkanda in eastern Zambia (now Chipata
District). All these tributary kings owed allegiance to the Paramount Kalonga
82 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

and paid tribute. However, the bond was later severed. For example, Undi left
for Mozambique territory and was by 1614 reported to be trading with the Portu-
guese. This reduced Kalonga’s position (Pachai, 1973: 8). External factors such as
trade, availability of arms and ammunition acquired from the Portuguese and
Arab traders, gold and ivory trading led to the strengthening of the power of the
tributary kings like Undi, Lundu and Mwase-Kasungu (Pachai, 1973).
Kabunduli, Chulu, Kaluluma and Kanyenda moved into the Tumbuka-Chewa
marginal areas creating a mixed sociolinguistic group of whom the Tonga of
northern Nkhota Kota and Nkhata Bay districts are the most obvious (Phiri et al.
1992: 622).
Wherever they moved, the Maravi called themselves by the geographical ar-
eas in which they settled, to distinguish themselves from other groups. For
instance, people from the chiefdom of Mkanda in Zambia referred to themselves
as Chewa, Kunda, Nsenga and Ambo; those of the southwestern lakeshore and
the Shire River as Nyanja (meaning people of the lake or people living along the
lake). Those of Undi and Mwase Kasungu who settled in the hinterlands of
Kasungu, Dowa, Ntchitsi, Mchinji, called themselves Chipeta (Chipeta means
tall grass or savanna). Those of Kaphwiti were known as Mang’anja. ‘These vari-
ous dialectal names were no more than regional or geographical designations of
people who belonged to the same cultural and language groups, later on devel-
oping distinct dialects’ (Schoffeleers, 1972: 96). Of these, the name Chewa
referred to the numerically strongest group (Marwick, 1963; Pachai, 1973), of
whom about 80% live in Malawi and the remaining 20% or so in Zambia and Mo-
zambique (Pachai, 1973: 6).
Schoffeleers (1972: 96), unlike other historians, maintains that the
Chewa-speaking people were never known collectively as Chewa or Maravi but
were known by two names: a specific one and a generic one, the latter being
Maravi. But what is clear from all historical accounts is that the name Maravi (not
Chewa) stood for an ethnic group or part of it. One would therefore disagree with
Chilipaine (1985: 3) who stated that all these groups were ethnically Chewa, be-
cause ethnohistorical evidence points to the fact that they were ethnically Maravi
but dialectally rather differentiated. Although the linguistic affiliation between
the Chewa and the Nyanja is still a matter of dispute as to who owns the lan-
guage, it is likely that Chewa ethnohistory has involved a cyclic alternation
between the three groups and Chewa dominance. There is also lack of consensus
regarding the name Mang’anja. Banda (1975) and Mchombo (n.d.) maintain that
it is a Portuguese corruption of Nyanja. The Portuguese encounter with South
African ethnic groups like the Ama Tchangane, Ama Xhosa led them under the
influence of Portuguese phonology, to velarise the palatal ny // to ng /ŋ/
thereby giving rise to a non-existent ethnic group Mang’anja, a people who were
no other than Chewa.
There is little evidence in support of this patriotic statement that needs to be
examined in the light of the available historical and oral evidence adduced by
Schoffeleers, who argues that:
we have some evidence in Portuguese documents of the 17th Century that
the present ethnic designations were already used at that time. The names
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 83

Nyanja and Mang’anja occur already, although it is not quite clear whether
they were also used as ethnic names. (1972: 6)
This statement makes more sense than Banda’s since the Mang’anja are
mainly found in the Shire Highlands and not the Lake Shore. Most likely they
called themselves by a different name like the rest. The dialects Chewa, Nyanja
and Mang’anja are still present in Malawi but not those of Ntumba, Mbo5 and
Zimba which can be found in Mozambique or Zambia (Henriksen, 1978: 249).
According to Pachai (1972), in Malawi these groups mixed with the Ngoni who
are mainly found in the areas these groups once occupied.
Tumbuka (Zone N, Group 20)
Tumbuka is a dominant ethnic and regional lingua franca in the northern part
of Malawi. Tumbuka was (1947–68) the northern regional language for educa-
tion and broadcasts until Dr Hastings Banda banned it in favour of Chichewa. It
has the status of a second language for most northerners (Kayambazinthu, 1995).
Tumbuka is broadly distributed in three of the five districts in the northern re-
gion and, according to the 1966 census, it was a language of 9% of the total
population. The origins and diversity of the language stem from areas of settle-
ment and Bryan (1959) identifies eight dialects: Tumbuka, Nkhamanga, Henga,
Phoka, Wenya, Fulirwa, Lakeshore and Senga.
The area that covers the Rumphi and Mzimba Districts and extends as far west
as the Luangwa valley in the modern Lundazi district of eastern Zambia also ex-
perienced a steady influx of Tumbuka migrants from 1700 to the middle 1800
(Vail, 1972; Phiri et al., 1992).6 Pachai (1973) suggests that the Tumbuka are the
oldest ethnic group in northern Malawi and were basically pastoral and
matrilineal people. According to Vail (1972), and Phiri et al. (1992) the Tumbuka
were organised into a loose confederation under their ethnic chief whose eco-
nomic and cultural life changed with the coming of traders under their leader
Mlowoka. For example, the Phoka inhabit the Nyika Plateau and the fringe lands
between the Plateau and the lake shore; the Nkhamanga group are found in the
Nkhamanga Plains, the Henga in the Henga Valley, the Wenya and Nthalire in
Chitipa District and the Fulirwa between Chitimba and the southern part of
Karonga. Below the Phoka are settled the Lakeshore people, so called because
they settled along Lake Malawi. Phiri et al. (1992: 612) further state that the
Nsenga, the present day inhabitants of Lundazi district, seem to have evolved
into a tribe as a result of interaction between Tumbuka groups and Luba-Lunda
immigrants from the west. Their language is akin to that of the Tumbuka with
whom they share clan names. Like the Maravi, the Tumbuka geographical settle-
ment also caused the present distinct dialects that are mutually intelligible.
In the 1780s Tumbuka economic and cultural life changed with the coming of
Mlowoka, who had knowledge and experience of external trade. He stayed in the
area and traded with locals in beads, cloth and ivory. Through economic power,
Mlowoka established a loose confederation under the Chikulamayembe dynasty
at Nkhamanga but his influence was confined to this area and the areas con-
trolled by his trading associates (Katumbi, Mwalweni, Jumbo and Mwamlowe)
(Vail, 1972).
84 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Tonga (Zone N, Group 10)


Functionally, Tonga is an ethnic language of the Tonga inhabiting the present
day Nkhata-Bay District. According to the 1966 census, it had about 1.9% of
speakers and is one of the minority languages confined to its borders. The Tonga
inhabit the area between the Viphya range of mountains to the west and
north-south of the Luweya River. To the north and west of Tongaland, now the
Nkhata Bay district, are the Tumbuka, while the Chewa are to the south in
Nkhota Kota District. According to Pachai (1973), the earliest inhabitants were
the Nyalubanga clan, but he also connects the Tonga with the Maravi and the
Balowoka. Tonga, according to Vail and White (1989), is similar in grammar and
vocabulary to Tumbuka but is a distinct language.
The Ngulube Group
(Ngonde and Nyakyusa, Zone M, Group 30; Lambya, Zone N, Group 20;
Nyiha, Zone M, Group 20; Sukwa, Ndali and Mambwe, Zone M, Group 10).7
All these languages can be functionally grouped as ethnic languages used
within their ethnic group; in other words, they do not transcend other ethnic
groups and are not documented. The area between the Dwangwa River in the
south and the Songwe River in the north is the home of many ethnic groups who
formed different linguistic groups. The sixteenth century also saw the coming in
of the Ngulube immigrants from the northeast. They founded the states of
Lambya, Ngonde, Chifungwe, Sukwa and Nyakyusa (Phiri et al., 1992).
The Ngonde settled in the Songwe area on the northwestern shores of Lake
Malawi and border with the Nyakyusa of southern Tanzania to the north, the
Sukwa and Lambya to the west and the Tumbuka to the south. Kalinga (1985) (a
Ngonde historian) dates their settlement to around the middle of the fifteenth
century. Their new land was rich in ivory which they exchanged for cloth, porce-
lain and metal work with the Nyika people and those of the Misuku hills. Trade
in ivory made their leader, Kyungu, a powerful figure (Kalinga, 1985;
McCracken, 1972). Even at the peak of their power the Ngonde did not have
much influence outside their country of settlement, the present day Karonga Dis-
trict. Wilson (1972) comments that the common factor among the Ngonde,
Nyakyusa and Lambya is that they all originated from Bukinga country beyond
the tip of Lake Malawi. Wilson (1972: 138) further claims that the Ngonde and
Nyakyusa had close cultural and historical ties, speaking the same language al-
though with a different accent. Kalinga (1985: 1) states the same: ‘they (Ngonde)
are more closely related to the Nyakyusa than any other ethnic group in this re-
gion. Their language, KyaNgonde is a dialect of KiNyakyusa, and like the
Nyakyusa, they are great cattle keepers’. From this, one would conclude that
Ngonde is a dialect of Nyakyusa8 (see also Tew, 1950: 75), even though in Malawi
they are treated as separate or distinct languages (see Table 1).
Another group, the Lambya, under their leader Mwaulambya, is traced back
to Rungwe in Tanzania. Ethnohistorical evidence points to the fact that the Nyiha
were the earliest inhabitants of the area where the Lambya settled and peacefully
established their political authority. Lambya is a dialect of Nyiha (Phiri et al.,
1992; Wilson, 1958: 28–9). My own personal communication with a Lambya9
points to the same fact. That is, the Lambya and Nyiha are related linguistically
and their languages are mutually intelligible. Another Ngulube leader, Kameme,
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 85

Table 1 Home languages in numerical order55


Language Number of Projected % District where spoken
speakers number of
speakers, 1998
Chichewa 1,644,916 5,263,731 50.2 Dowa, Dedza, Lilongwe,
Ntchitsi, Blantyre, Kasungu
south, Chiradzulu,
Nkhota-kota, Mchinji, Salima
Lomwe 476,306 1,524,179 14.5 Mulanje, Thyolo, Zomba,
Blantyre Machinga, Chiradzulu
Yao 452,305 1,447,376 13.8 Mangochi, Machinga, Zomba,
Chiradzulu, Blantyre, Mulanje
Tumbuka 298,881 956,419 9.1 Mzimba, Rumphi, Karonga,
Chitipa Nkhata-Bay
Sena 115,055 368,176 3.5 Nsanje, Chikwawa,
Khokhola 74,466 238,291 2.3 Thyolo, Mulanje
Tonga 62,213 199,082 1.9 Nkhata-Bay
Ngoni 37,480 119,936 1.1 Mzimba, Deza, Ntcheu
Nkhonde 31,018 99,258 <1 Karonga
Lambya 18,646 59,667 <1 Chitipa
Sukwa 18,300 58,560 <1 Chitipa
Nyakyusa 3,994 12,781 <1 Karonga
Swahili 2,854 9,133 <1 Karonga
Other
Mambwe 39,538 126,522 Chitipa
Ndali Chitipa
Nyiha Chitipa
English 209 Chitipa

also settled and established his political power over the Nyiha, west of Ulambya.
Phiri et al. inform us that the Mambwe and Namwanga linguistic groups mi-
grated into the Kameme chiefdom. The linguistic interaction between the
indigenous groups and the migrants clearly summarised by Phiri et al. (1992: 626)
who argue that:
the modern language situation reflects something about the numerical
strength of the various immigrant parties who founded chieftaincies as
well as the means by which they assumed power and later governed the
people. Cilambya and the language of Kameme are dialects of the indige-
nous Nyiha while Kyangonde and Kinyakyusa are dialects of the Ngulube
people’s language. In other words, the Mwaulambya and Kameme and
their followers were assimilated linguistically while in Ungonde and
Unyakyusa, the indigenous people were assimilated by the immigrants.
Modern Chisukwa is a dialect of Ndali (a linguistic group north of the
Songwe) understood by the Nyiha speakers and relatively easy to learn
[sic] by the Ngonde than Nyiha proper. Chisukwa thus forms a bridge be-
tween Nyiha and Ngonde languages.
What is interesting and worth noting is that Chitipa (where most of these lan-
guages are spoken) is the most linguistically heterogeneous district in Malawi.
86 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

My informants from this district reported up to 13 languages being spoken in the


district (see also Ntonya, 1998). This might be an exaggeration or confusion of the
differences between languages and dialects, but it points to the interaction of dif-
ferent ethnic groups who have coexisted but maintained their separate
languages within a small district.
The Sena (Zone N, Group 40)
Sena was spoken in Nsanje and Chikwawa by about 3.5% of the total popula-
tion in 1966. In the Lower Shire, the Sena are said to have migrated to Malawi
from Mozambique, their native country, along the lower Zambezi. Tew (1950)
views Sena as a group of languages with its main dialects being Sena, Nyungwe
and Chikunda. The absence of literature or documentation on this ethnic group
in Malawi makes it difficult for one to tell exactly when they migrated into the
country, especially into the Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts. However, Watkins
(1937) states that the Sena language is spoken in the lower Zambezi and accord-
ing to Werner (1906) is virtually identical with Nyanja. She also states that the
languages called Sena and Tete (Nyungwe) are dialects of Nyanja. However, this
assertion needs to be questioned on the basis of knowledge from native speakers
and the writer’s own experience in the country. Native speakers of Sena claim
that their language is not mutually intelligible with Nyanja.10 Any Malawian
coming across this language would agree that it is a different language from
Chewa or any other language in Malawi.
Phiri et al. (1992) claim that these Malawian people enjoyed a certain degree of
social and religious cohesion even though they were politically and linguistically
divided. Whilst most of the ethnic groups in the north were patrilineal and
patrilocal (except for the Tonga), those in the central and southern part of Ma-
lawi, including the Tonga, were matrilineal and matrilocal (see also Tew, 1950).
Religious practice for almost all ethnic groups involved ancestral veneration,
spirit possession, rainmaking and the control of witchcraft. For the Chewa, the
Nyau Secret Society was an important vehicle for expressing and dramatising
ethnic creation myths, the moral code and so on (Phiri et al., 1992: 613). The rain
cults were the chief manifestations of a territorial religious experience. The
Chikha-ng’ombe and Chisumpe cults of the Tumbuka and Chewa respectively
belonged to this category. For both ethnic groups the deity took the form of a
snake (Phiri et al., 1992).
From the preceding discussion we can see how sociopolitical and economic
circumstances created the seeds of the present language situation in Malawi. Fac-
tors such as mass migration, political expansion, decentralisation, trade and
disintegration contributed greatly to the geographical distribution of early eth-
nic language groups. Geographical distance later on created dialect distance
between people of the same language and culture. The migration patterns also
touch on the possibility of genetic relationships between languages such as
Chewa, Tumbuka and Tonga on the one hand, and those of the Ngonde,
Nyakyusa, Ndali, Lambya and Nyiha on the other. These ethnic groups, through
time and geographical distance, have developed distinct cultures and languages.
It is difficult to speculate on contact languages for this period since there is very
little documentation. These groups had settled in Malawi for six centuries before
the coming of the other ethnic groups that are the subject of our next discussion.
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 87

Nineteenth century Malawi: 1848–1897


This period in Malawian history is treated as one of isolated ethnic migration
of ‘intruders’ (Palmer, 1972) as opposed to the mass migration considered previ-
ously. It has its own sociolinguistic trends of coexistence with acculturation of
small ethnic groups into the numerically large ethnic groups under different cir-
cumstances.
The Ngoni (Zone N, Group 10)
Ngoni is another minority language that was spoken by about 1.1% of the pop-
ulation in 1966. Ngoni is a dying language and most of its speakers use Chichewa
or Tumbuka except in the few areas where it still survives.
The first group to intrude upon nineteenth century Malawi was the Ngoni, a
branch of the Zulu ethnic group in South Africa. Following the death of their
leader, Zwangendaba, in 1848 at the south end of Lake Tanganyika, and due to
succession disputes, the Ngoni dispersed in different directions. Of significance
to this monograph are the Maseko Ngoni and Mpezeni Ngoni. The former, under
Gomani, settled in the Kirk Range of Dedza and Ntcheu Districts, whilst those
under Chidyaonga settled in Ntcheu, among the Chewa. Another group to settle
among the Chewa was under Gwaza Jere who settled in Dowa district. The
Mpezeni Ngoni under Mbelwa destroyed the Chikulamayembe dynasty and set-
tled in Mzimba District among the Tumbuka.
McCracken (1972) and Spear (1972) agree that the Ngoni were a militant group
who imposed their political or state structure upon their subordinates wherever
they went. However, economically and socially, they adopted the agricul-
tural-pastoral economy of the indigenous people. This was augmented by local
raiding.
The Ngoni settlements produced a number of cultural and societal changes to
the Ngoni themselves as they coexisted, interacted and integrated with the indig-
enous people. The cultural and linguistic exchanges between them and the
indigenous people took a variety of forms depending on the Ngoni policy of as-
similation or the lack of it, coupled with the local conditions. For example,
Harding (1966) comments that the Gomani Ngoni who subjugated the
Nyanja-speaking people in Dedza and Ntcheu spoke the Nguni dialect of Zulu.
‘Except for a few words, no trace of Nguni is found in their present dialect hereaf-
ter called Chingoni’ (Harding, 1966: 2). Similarly, the Mpezeni Ngoni who settled
in Zambia became largely influenced by Chewa and Senga customs and lan-
guages and those of Mbelwa were influenced by Tumbuka (see also Mtenje &
Soko, 1998).
The process of acculturation that led to language shift among the Ngoni is
better explained in ‘the lessened prestige and power of the Ngoni and the greater
persistence of the culture of the peoples who were numerically superior in their
home territory’ (Spear, 1972: 36). Spear further argues that during what is gener-
ally regarded as the ‘march’, or migration period, and prior to settlement, Nguni
was retained as the language because of its prestige and because there was no
language competing with it. After settlement, however, the alien group became
the minority, and due to intermarriages between the Ngoni and Senga, Ngoni
and Chewa, Ngoni and Tumbuka, the children spoke the language of their moth-
88 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

ers (who belonged to the conquered group). Even during the march, Ngoni was
already a changed language through the accumulation of ethnic groups that
swelled their armies. The Nguni remained a minority and the captives, the ma-
jority. Vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar were all altered in turn by
various assimilated groups so that the characteristic Nguni clicks were dropped
and new vocabulary and prefixes adopted (Spear, 1972). Even though they re-
mained Ngoni ethnically, linguistically they became either Chewa or Tumbuka
and their languages had a significant impact on the languages they mixed with,
leading to distinct dialects. Their settlement patterns followed those of the con-
quered but their political structure and names remained (Mtenje & Soko, 1998).
Among the Tumbuka, Ngoni was retained for some time because of the Ngoni
policy of segregation, primarily by the older Ngoni, and in Emcisweni
(Mpherembe’s headquarters) Ngoni was retained well into the twentieth cen-
tury (Spear, 1972: 31).11 The language however, has undergone some
considerable changes.
Dialect modifications such as the gradual elimination of the clicks and the
substitution of ‘r’ for ‘l’, the double consonants ‘dl’ and ‘hl’ characteristic of
Nguni language were lost as well, pronoun forms of the verb were altered
and there was large scale borrowing of vocabulary from Tumbuka.
(Werner, 1906: 35)
Tumbuka gradually took over because of intermarriage, i.e. there were an in-
creasing number of Tumbuka mothers within Ngoni society (Kishindo, 1995;
Read, 1936). It is clear from Ngoni historiography (Elmslie, 1899; Fraser, 1914;
Read, 1956; Kishindo, 1995; Mtenje & Soko, 1998) that cultural dominance in core
areas other than language was still there. For example, the Ngoni Ingoma dance
and war gear, their paying of the bride price, patrilinealism and Ngoni ceremo-
nies were still their pride and have continued unabated (Mtenje & Soko, 1998).
Whilst they remained culturally Ngoni, linguistically they became Tumbuka.
The Ngoni language was basically dead and Donald Fraser (1914: 189) wrote:
‘There are large districts in which it is an unusual thing to find even an old Ngoni
who speaks the pure language of his fathers and one seldom hears it from the lips
of a young person’.
Apart from factors like intermarriage and minority group status, one can also
speculate that the Ngoni did not enforce their language on their subjects. For a
militant group as powerful and aggressive as the Ngoni not to enforce their lan-
guage on their captives is surprising. One probable explanation for not doing so
can be found in their lack of concern for and promotion of their language, cou-
pled with the tenacity of the Tumbuka language. One byproduct of the Ngoni
policy of segregation and lack of control over their subjects in the periphery was
the breakaway of the Tumbuka. One group settled at the end of Lake Malawi in
Karonga District where they dwell to this day, ‘an island of Tumbuka language
and culture in a sea of Ngonde people’ (Vail & White, 1989: 153).
Yao (Zone P, Group 20)
The Yao form the third largest ethnic group in Malawi and their language was
spoken by 13% of the total population in 1966. Yao dialectal variation also stems
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 89

from geographical settlements and three dialects are identifiable: Mangochi,


Machinga and Makanjira Yao (Kishindo et al., 1997).
They were the second group of immigrants to invade Malawi, and derive their
name from the Yao Hill situated near Mwembe (between the Lujenda and
Rovuma rivers) in Mozambique (Murray, 1922: 45). The Yao were long-distance
traders from Mozambique (where they are found in large numbers) who in the
1850s, as a result of either internal disputes or defeat (Alpers, 1972) or drought
(Webster, 1978), migrated into Malawi and settled among the Nyanja at the
southern end of Lake Malawi. They bred strong chiefs who traded with the Arabs
and Swahili (as middlemen) in ivory and, later on, in slaves in exchange for cloth,
ornaments and firearms. According to Alpers (1972) the Yao became the domi-
nant population group of the entire northern half of the southern part of Malawi.
Militarily powerful and commercially aggressive, they dominated and subju-
gated the Chewa or Nyanja and Mang’anja for the remainder of the nineteenth
century in the Shire Highlands. Their long contact with Muslim traders influ-
enced the majority to profess Islam and adopt Arab dress (Henriksen, 1978: 248).
The Yao came in two groups: the Mangochi Yao who are now settled in
Chiradzulu, Blantyre, Zomba and Mulanje Districts, and the Machinga Yao who
are settled in the Mangochi, Machinga and Liwonde areas. Murray (1922: 84)
comments that there were few if any mixed marriages between the Mangochi
Yao or Liwonde Yao and the Chewa, unlike among those who settled in the Shire
Highlands. We learn from Murray (1932: 46–47) that:
The Shire Highlands Yao have lost their pride of race and do not observe
their customs and the young generations do not know the customs of their
ancestors and there are a lot of intermarriages between Nguru and Yao, Yao
and Nyanja . . . so that most of them will be Yao in name but linguistically
Nyanja. Even today many of the natives in the highlands are of doubtful or-
igin and the majority of the so called Yao have little claim to the name.
Amongst them, the Yao language is poorly spoken and shows signs of dis-
appearance.
This reveals that through interaction with the Nyanja, the Yao gradually
shifted towards Nyanja culture and language. This owes much to the initial har-
monious existence between the peace-loving Nyanja and the Yao, a relationship
that changed when the Yao took to the slave trade (Phiri, 1978). Even though in-
termarriage was one of the causes of language shift, this was also coupled with
European employers finding the Nyanja dialect easier to learn and therefore pro-
moting it to the detriment of Yao (Murray, 1932: 46).
Whilst the Shire Highlands Yao mixed with the Nyanja and Mang’anja, the
Mangochi and Machinga Yao, having embraced Islam, were more conservative.
Even today, they form the highest concentration of the Yao ethnic group in terms
of numbers and lack of integration with other ethnic groups. One should also
note that the Shire Highlands was an area of great linguistic interaction with the
coming of another group, the Lomwe.
The Lomwe (Zone P, Group 30)
The Lomwe comprise the second largest ethnic group in Malawi (14%). The
language is confined to its ethnic group and is the least used language in the
90 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

country. Lomwe historiography points to the fact that they migrated in small
groups and their migration dates back to about 1760 (Rashid, 1978) even though
their main impact was not felt until after 1895 (Vail & White, 1989: 167). The
Lomwe derive their name from Lomwe Hill in Mozambique and they are akin to
the Lolo (Boerder, 1984; Soka, 1953). Nurse (1972), from lexicostatistics, suggests
that the Lolo were the forebears of the Lomwe. Soka also records that the Lomwe,
who today inhabit Zomba, Mulanje, Thyolo, Chiradzulu and Machinga Districts
belonged to five dialectal subdivisions: Muhipiti, Makua, Meeto, Nyamwelo and
Mihavani. Another group, the Khokhola (people of the woodlands) crossed the
Ruo River and settled in Mulanje, whilst another section, the Athakwani (named
after a hill) also settled in the same area.
Rashid (1978), who did research on the relationship between one branch of the
Lomwe, the Mbewe, and the Yao and Chewa, argues that there was a great deal
of interaction between the Yao, Lomwe and Nyanja contributing to a multiethnic
society, primarily Nguru12 and Nyanja in origin among whom the Yao language
was gaining popularity. Through interethnic interaction and the ivory trade, the
Lomwe adopted the
language of a numerically very small but prestigious trading elite … It may
have been an advantage in state building and assimilation that the lan-
guage being adopted was not a lingua franca of one of the major ethnic
groups … its use is linked to economic advantage and prestige. (Rashid,
1978: 20)
Even though this was the case in the early nineteenth century, later Lomwe
immigrants are generally treated as late arrivals in the Shire Highlands where the
Mang’anja and Yao had a strong foothold. This probably arose because they
came in not as militants or traders, like the other intruders, but as settlers in
search of land. The Lomwe settled in the Shire Highlands under the terms of
Thangata (a feudal system of labour in exchange for land) to both Yao lords and
later on British planters. The Lomwe provided a ready and permanent labour
supply under this system. Acculturation for the Lomwe like the other immi-
grants was that of language shift either to Yao or Chewa, as Murray (1932: 56)
observes:
The Anguru who have settled in Malawi are rapidly losing their tribal and
social characteristics. Of the children born in the protectorate, a few boys or
girls have their teeth filed and almost none of the girls have their lips
pierced for the lip ring. Most girls later adopt what are accepted as Yao
markings and wear a nose button and intermarry among the Mang’anja,
Anyanja and Yao. The language readily adopts Mang’anja words, some-
times in a more or less modified form … a verb within the Lomwe o instead
of ku for the infinitive and with the stress in the wrong place. But the major-
ity of the younger generation speak Nyanja or Shire Highland Yao with
considerable fluency.
From the Lomwe account it can be argued that the Lomwe were not invaders
like the Yao and Ngoni; rather they settled and lived as subordinates to their
lords, a position that has had and is having serious consequences for their lan-
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 91

guage and self-esteem. Culturally, the Chewa, Lomwe and Yao are matrilineal
and matrilocal whilst the Sena are the only patrilineal group in the south.

Non-Malawian minor languages


Arabic and Swahili
The Swahili and the Arabs belonged to the East African coast and their first
connection with Malawi was mainly through the ivory and slave trade from the
1840s onwards (McMillan, 1972: 263). The Swahili formed the fighting force of
the Arab slave traders and according to Murray (1922) were never numerous.
They established settlements at various centres on the lakeshore of Malawi, nota-
bly Karonga, Nkhota-kota and Mangochi Districts. Murray (1922) states that
through intermarriage with the local Nyanja speakers their language was
adopted in these areas under their influence but not beyond it. Like other mi-
grant groups, they also influenced the languages they interacted with, giving rise
to a Chewa dialect that is very different in pronunciation and vocabulary from
that of the Shire Highlands.
English
The last group of intruders were the British13 who introduced English in Ma-
lawi. Though there were only about 250 native speakers in the country in 1966,
the British form another important and interesting part of linguistic history in
Malawi. The role played by Scottish missionaries, Shire Highlands’ planters and
government administrators is important in both the formulation and shaping of
the language policy. The discussion here will be brief as a fuller account is given
in Part III of this monograph.
The first British visitors to Malawi were Dr David Livingstone and his party in
1858–64 and again in 1866–73, in the name of commerce and Christianity. The
next group of Europeans were the pioneer parties of the Universities Mission to
Central Africa (UMCA), Livingstonia and Blantyre Missions who settled along
the lake in 1875 and at Blantyre on the Shire Highlands, respectively. The other
groups, who came later, were referred to as ‘planters’ and were fortune seekers
who acquired huge pieces of land for growing coffee and tea in the Shire High-
lands.
The advent of the Europeans brought many changes to Malawian society.
First, in a bid to protect her nationals in Malawi, Britain declared Malawi (then
Nyasaland) the British Central African Protectorate in 1891. On 6 July 1907, the
name was changed to Nyasaland Protectorate. Second, the growth of Christian-
ity and its elite challenged the cultural and social fabric of Malawi. Third, it led to
the development of a communication system and imbalanced economic devel-
opment that favoured the Southern Region and in particular the Shire
Highlands. Cole-King (1972: 88) states that by 1918, the basis of modern commu-
nication systems consisting of a rail, road and river route in and out of the
country for goods and passengers, telegraphic and postal communications with
the rest of the world and a road network linking the administrative centres
within the country had been established. This infrastructure, the availability of
employment for the cash economy, the development of urban centres like Zomba
as the capital city for administration and Blantyre as a commercial centre, had a
92 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

tremendous impact on the mobility of various ethnic groups. People started to


work in the tea and tobacco estates. Migration became one-sided, that is, towards
the southern part of the country in the Shire Highlands and even to the mines in
Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia. Urban migration created the need for a lin-
gua franca for inter-ethnic communication. In an area like the Shire Highlands
which was already linguistically heterogeneous, the situation became even more
complex. The varied responses of different societies or ethnic groups to these
changes, discussed later in this monograph, are of crucial importance to the un-
derstanding of the current language situation in Malawi.

Demographic distribution of Malawian languages


This section gives some figures indicating the size of each native speaker com-
munity based on the 1966 Census data (Malawi National Statistics Office Report
(MNSO, 1966).14 About 16 languages were investigated. The criteria used for de-
termining languages and dialects are not clear. The total population in 1966 was
about 3,275,181. Table 1 presents the languages and their location (see also Figure
1). The problem with the census data, as recognised by many scholars, is the diffi-
culty in distinguishing accurately the number of persons of a given indigenous
origin and identity living near traditional territory. Some of the people’s identity
could be considered more official than functional, with the younger generations
forming an insignificant proportion of those who speak the language. This is es-
pecially true of languages such as Lomwe and Ngoni whose younger generation
rarely, if at all, speak their languages (see Kayambazinthu, 1995; Matiki, 1996/7;
Mtenje & Soko, 1998).
As Whiteley (1984) cautions, census data usually uses ethnicity rather than lin-
guistic affiliation as a way of identifying people. Since ethnic and linguistic units
are not comparable, the census figures presented do not give precise information
regarding the number of people speaking the language as their mother tongue or
as a second language. Also, as Stubbs (1972) observes, the census made no at-
tempt to analyse the extent of cultural assimilation as indications of home
languages and languages understood, for the four largest language groups in
Malawi. The census only asked about the language people usually spoke in the
home and their ability to understand one or more designated languages: Nyanja,
Tumbuka, Yao and English. The base figure estimates are outdated and are there-
fore being used as a general guideline. The total population in 1966 was
3,275,181, while it is being estimated at 12,000,000 in 1998.
Data in Table 1 show that Chichewa was the largest home language. About
50.2%15 of the population spoke Chichewa. The next largest group was Lomwe
(14.5%) followed by Yao (13.8%) and Tumbuka (9.1%). Quantitatively, these four
are the largest linguistic groups in Malawi. Given the annual growth rate of 3.2%
(MNSO, 1996), we can project new figures for these ethnic groups. The projec-
tions should, however, take into account the fact that some languages such as
Lomwe, Ngoni and Yao in that order are dying languages and they might not in-
crease at the same rate as Chichewa. On the basis of isolated survey data
(Kayambazinthu, 1995; Matiki, 1996/97; Kishindo et al. 1997 — Chiyao Survey;
Chitumbuka Survey, 1998) we can project that Chichewa is now spoken by more
than 50% of Malawians, both urban and rural.
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 93

Figure 1 Malawian home languages (Stubbs, 1972: 73)


94 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Some observations
This section has emphasised the emergence of multilingualism as a manifesta-
tion of historical events and the nature of society in Malawian history. From the
foregoing historical background we can trace trends of sociolinguistic change.
The sisteenth–eighteenth centuries were dominated by the Maravi or Chewa in
the southern and central regions of Malawi whilst other indigenous groups such
as the Tumbuka and other smaller groups dominated the northern part of the
country. One should look at this period of language contact as one of integration
and synthesis between the immigrants and the earlier inhabitants. Among the
immigrants themselves, it was a period of peaceful coexistence and stability,
with little language assimilation or language shift.
The nineteenth century Malawi was economically and politically dominated
by intruders (Yao, Ngoni, and British) who subjugated the indigenous ethnic
groups. What is interesting sociolinguistically is that prior to the advent of British
rule, there was a trend toward language maintenance by the indigenous groups,
due to their being numerically stronger, and towards language shift among the
intruders regardless of their political, military and economic power, due to their
being numerically small. Factors such as the numerical size of the group, inter-
marriages, the nature of migration, the attitude of the immigrants and the
friendliness of the indigenous groups can be put forward as possible causes of
language shift. However, the continued existence of most of these immigrant lan-
guage groups shows that this was a period of integration without total or
complete synthesis. There are core areas where Yao, Lomwe, and a few Ngoni
can still be found and their effect on Chewa or Tumbuka dialects is evident.
Apart from language shift, we can also trace the development of lingua
francas, that is, languages that were adopted and used for purposes of inter-eth-
nic communication. These were mainly Chewa, Tumbuka and Yao, either
because they were indigenous and demographically favourably distributed
(Chewa and Tumbuka) or because of the economic advantage and the prestige
associated with them (Yao). The development of distinct regional languages,
Chewa in the central and southern regions, Tumbuka in the northern region and
Yao in the southern region can be observed; as can the development of geograph-
ical dialects of the various languages.
The coming of the British and the need for streamlining administration, lan-
guage for education and evangelism ushered in a different language — English.
This forms a different period altogether. Colonialism created and confined Ma-
lawi within its present borders and artificially separated linguistic groups from
each other, including the Chewa in eastern Zambia and western Mozambique
from those of Malawi, and the Yao and Lomwe in Malawi from those of Mozam-
bique. The Tumbuka from eastern Zambia were also cut off from those of
Malawi. The British invasion, unlike that of the African groups, was complete
and led to total European control over the country and contributed greatly to the
rise and spread of lingua francas in Malawi and the stratification between Eng-
lish and indigenous languages.

Part II: Language Spread in Malawi


This section provides a description of Malawian languages that have spread
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 95

beyond their ethnic boundaries to become either a national language (Chichewa)


or regional language (Tumbuka). Given their spread and important role, atten-
tion will be paid to these two languages whilst the other languages will not be
treated in depth.

Conceptual framework
The phenomenon of language spread is defined by Cooper (1982: 6) as an in-
crease, over time in proportion to a communication network that adopts a given
language or variety for a given communication function. A distinction is also
made between increase of spread in number of speakers and number of func-
tions. This distinction is important in discussing Malawian languages with few
speakers but having a wider communication function. As stated by Von Gleich
(1994: 77), language policy spread has to be interpreted as a policy by a state or
government that aims at fostering the spread of a specific language within and
outside its boundaries in terms of who adopts what, when, why and how. Lan-
guages spread for a number of reasons, e.g. military conquest and religious
missionary activities (Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997: 67; see also Djité, 1988). These au-
thors have also observed that language spread can be a natural occurrence even
though language planners make it an explicit goal (see Ammon, 1992). In lan-
guage planning terms, language spread is the attempt to increase the number of
speakers, often at the expense of another language(s) leading to language shift
(e.g. Wardaugh, 1987). However, language spread can also be seen as an un-
planned language planning phenomenon (Baldauf, 1994). The discussion that
follows attempts to contextualise the rise of Chichewa and Tumbuka in Malawi
and explains the reasons for their spread. In discussing the spread of these two
languages the role of language-in-education policy in Malawi is central to the ar-
gument of both planned and unplanned language spread.

The current education system in Malawi


As Welsh (1985: 1) points out, there is enough evidence that secondary and
higher education in Africa represents the results of unequal educational oppor-
tunity. Also, occupational and educational structures in Africa are tightly
interwoven, the occupational level attained by an individual being determined
by the level of educational qualifications that s/he has managed to achieve. The
educational structure started by the colonial regimes in Africa, which has been
continued by most independent African countries, is a pyramid with a narrow-
ing opportunity for advancement at each stage.
The formal education system in Malawi consists of an eight-year primary cy-
cle, a four-year secondary cycle and various post secondary diploma and degree
programmes. The basic structure can be seen in Figure 2. Primary education has
been universal since 1994, but parents are required to pay school fees from sec-
ondary school level up to the University. Since 1996, education has been free for
girls under the Girls Attainment of Basic Literacy and Education (GABLE) pro-
ject. Wastage is high in the education system because once the students get into
the system, it fails to sustain them.
Access from the primary cycle to the secondary cycle (standard 8 to form 1) is
highly restricted and competitive so that the majority of primary school leavers
96

Figure 2 Basic structure of the Malawian educational system


Language Planning and Policy in Africa
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 97

do not enter secondary school. For example, in 1996 the total enrolment in stan-
dard 1 was 2,887,107 pupils. Only 2% (N = 57,812) of these pupils made it to
secondary school and 0.13% (N = 3872) continued to the University (Basic Educa-
tion Statistics, 1996). Primary education is essential for one to climb the
educational pyramid and enter the ‘modern sector’. However, access to educa-
tion and the efficient passage of a pupil through the system also depends partly
on levels of regional development or on stratification factors such as class, ethnic-
ity and other reasons. Important issues affecting access and wastage include: sex,
household standard of living, parental education, occupation, income and pov-
erty (Welsh, 1985). Despite the educational growth rate,16 the government does
not provide equal opportunities for education for all its citizens in secondary
schools.
If differences in access and wastage in the primary and secondary cycle exist,
these should have direct consequences on the basic economic differences be-
tween regions, districts, communities, classes, ethnic growth and all other social
variables used to differentiate between groups in society. Conversely, this too
will affect people’s language learning and use.
Apart from regional disparities, the ratios also depend on whether one lives in
urban or rural areas. Those in the urban areas are at an advantage since
teacher–pupil ratios and education facilities are better than in the rural areas. The
pupils in Zomba, Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre had a teacher–pupil ratio close
to the 1:70 compared to the rural ratio of up to 1:203 (Basic Education Statistics,
1996: 20–21).
If educational statistics are reliable, one could argue that by the time pupils
complete the primary level, literacy in Chichewa has been established. Also,
many people in the north and other areas where literacy is high will have learnt
Chichewa. However, if those who drop out at the primary school level integrate
into their various linguistic groups (as is the case), the level of competence or ac-
quisition of Chichewa would be difficult to determine. They may lapse back into
their own languages and lose competence in the national and official languages
they have acquired at school, but do not use at home. This is coupled with a lesser
motivation for learning the national language which may not be as profitable as
English. Also, the nature of the system creates a small minority (3.4%) of an elite
group of urban dwellers (Malawi National Statistical Office [Preliminary Re-
port], 1987: 2) who speak English and or other European languages with varying
degrees of competence. Adult illiteracy rates stand at 58% for women and 28%
for men (World Development Report, 1997).

Language-in-education policy issues


Language planning for educational purposes has received much attention in
Africa and elsewhere and the discussion has not been conclusive. According to
Faure (1972: 170), cited in Hartshorne (1995: 306), the education policy of any
country reflects its political options, its traditions and values and its conception
of the future. Education policy also exists in the context of a particular socioeco-
nomic and political order. Education is directed towards the achievement of
certain goals behind which rest fundamental issues such as philosophies of life,
religious beliefs, and ideas about state and society, political ideologies and the
98 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

working of economic forces. It is in this context that the language-in-education


policy of Malawi will be discussed.
The major question confronting language education planners in post-colonial
societies such as Malawi, and indeed in Africa as a whole, is what language(s) to
include in the school system. The question in Malawi (and in other Anglophone
countries) has often hinged on the feasibility of English as a lingua franca for its
practical usefulness for science and technology and world civilisation, as well as
the maintenance of cultural identity as Malawians and ease of communication
with the masses, since English remains far removed from them. This dilemma of-
ten translates into programmatic issues such as what should be the first medium
of communication in school and when should the transition to English be made.
Another argument revolves around which language should be used as a subject,
which for literacy (Bamgbose, 1984) and when to introduce it. Most educationists
and language planners acknowledge the cultural and educational benefits of us-
ing the mother tongue or a vernacular as a medium of instruction (Bamgbose,
1976; 1984; Fishman, 1989; UNESCO, 1953). There is general agreement that lan-
guage determines what aspects of the culture are transmitted and should
provide an essential link to the individual and group roots of personal identity
and social continuity. Bamgbose (1976) notes that both children and adults learn
to read and write a second language better after first becoming literate in their
own mother tongue. Fishman (1989: 474) argues that the instructional use of dis-
advantaged mother tongues may lead to improved academic outcomes and
safeguard the sociocultural and political interests of minority groups. However,
UNESCO and Fishman, among others, also acknowledge the financial burden
such a programme entails in multilingual countries. Other scholars have cau-
tioned against total vernacularisation vis-à-vis colonial languages, especially if
the chosen vernacular is not tied in with immediate important issues in the local
population (Eastman, 1983: 71), world events, science and technology, employ-
ment and the general upward mobility (Sawadogo, 1990, on Burkina Faso). As
Fishman (1989) rightly points out, vernacularisation should be supported by the
whole community for reasons of integration, economics and political power. The
implication of this discussion is that planners of vernaculars should clearly spell
out the economic and cultural benefits of using such languages. There is no point
in elevating a vernacular to a language of teaching if it does not elevate people’s
social mobility and economic standing. The policy is bound to fail as it did in
Burkina Faso (Sawadogo, 1990).
The next section will discuss language planning in Malawi within the frame-
work of continuing social-cultural interaction patterns and needs.
Language use in the education sector17
The history of language in education planning in Malawi is characterised by
the dilemma of when to use the vernacular language and when to introduce Eng-
lish. The literature reviewed in the previous section was indicative of the need to
establish literacy and numeracy in one’s mother tongue first before introducing
English, a language that was seen as vital to one’s socioeconomic advancement.
The language(s) used in the Malawian education system varies according to the
level of education and type of school. The schools can be classified into three cate-
gories: government schools, mission but government grant-aided schools, and
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 99

private or designated schools. Whilst the government controls the language pol-
icy in the former two, the latter category formulate their own policies and English
is the medium of communication.
In the preschools, there is no official language policy regulating language use.
In practice, however, three categories of language use can be identified. The ma-
jority of preschools use vernacular languages plus a bit of English. The second
largest group adopts a bilingual policy and use both English and a vernacular
language. The smallest number uses English exclusively for both teaching and as
a medium of communication. Rural preschools are likely to use more vernacular
than English whilst semi-urban preschools tend to adopt a bilingual policy and
the elitist preschools use only English, both as a subject and medium of commu-
nication.
In the primary schools, the current policy on paper stipulates that from Stan-
dard 1 to Standard 4 all teaching should be done in vernacular languages
prevalent in the area except in the two subjects, English and Chichewa which are
supposed to be taught in those languages respectively. From Standard 5 to Stan-
dard 8 all teaching is to be done in English except when teaching Chichewa.
English becomes the sole language of instruction from Standard 5 up to univer-
sity level. The number of hours devoted to the languages varies according to the
prestige attached to the language. The number of hours assigned to each lan-
guage is presented in Table 2.
Entrance into university demands a credit in English. All teaching is done in
English except for French, Latin and Chichewa. English is also compulsory in the
first year, that is, all first year students have to take an English for Academic Pur-
poses skills course for four hours per week in the five constituent colleges of the
University of Malawi, and must pass English in order to proceed to the next year.
Table 2 illustrates that Malawi adopts a bilingual language policy in education
and that as the students progress into the upper years the role of English in-
creases and that of Chichewa diminishes.

Language in the media


Table 3 presents a weekly schedule for Malawi Broadcasting Corporation
(MBC). According to the controller of programmes, MBC since its inception in
1964 has largely broadcast in two main languages, English and Chichewa.
Tumbuka was used on a minor scale up to 1968 when Dr Banda banned it on the
radio. MBC broadcasts for 19 hours daily and since 15 November 1996 has broad-
cast in six Malawian languages mainly for news bulletins: Chichewa, Tumbuka,
Yao, Lomwe, Sena and Tonga. Languages such as Tumbuka, Sena, Lomwe, Yao
and Tonga account for only 15 minutes of daily broadcasts or one hour and 75
minutes per week of news bulletins. Special broadcasts in each of these minor
languages are done on issues such as for MASAF, Privatisation, prayers, election
campaigns and a few sports messages and advertising.18 This accounts for 4.7
hours per week. Another 3.3 hours per week are devoted to bilingual broadcasts
(Chichewa and English) for commercials, sports, personality shows and special
productions. It is evident from the data that MBC broadcasts in Chichewa more
(58.9%) than in English (41%) or any other language. Chichewa is given more
prominence because radio broadcasting is viewed as the only means of effec-
100 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 2 Time allocation for each language depending on level of education56


Standard/level Language No. of periods Time allocated per Total no. of hours
taught per week lesson/lecture in taught per week
minutes
1–2 English and 9 30 4 hr 30 min.
Chichewa
3–8 English and 9 35 5 hr 25 min.
Chichewa
Forms 1–4 English 8 40 5 hr 20 min.
Forms 1–2 Chichewa, 3 40 2 hr
French, Latin
Forms 3–4 Chichewa, 4 40 2 hr 40 min.
French, Latin
University English 4 60 4 hr
Year 1 (Compulsory to
all)
Year 1–4 Classics, French, 4 60 4 hr
Chichewa, Eng-
lish (by choice)
Source: J.T.K. Banda (Principal Education Methods Adviser for French) 16 January 1998. Ministry
of Education.

Table 3 Broadcasts in Chichewa and English


Total weekly broadcast hours: 109.5
Weekly Chichewa broadcasts Weekly English broadcasts
Day No. of hours % No. of hours %
Monday 8.9 13.9 5.7 12.7
Tuesday 9.7 15 4.9 10.9
Wednesday 9.0 13.9 4.8 10.6
Thursday 7.5 11.6 7.8 17.3
Friday 9.2 14.2 8.2 18.2
Saturday 9.7 15.0 7.6 16.9
Sunday 10.6 16.4 5.9 13.1
Total 64.6 100 44.9 100
Total % per week per 58.9 41
language

Source: Personal communication with the Controller of Programmes, Radio One, Malawi
Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) 22 January 1998.

tively reaching the masses (which are largely illiterate) with important
socioeconomic messages. However, it is presumed under the monolithic belief
that most Malawians understand Chichewa, which is not true (Kamwendo, 1994;
Ntonya, 1998), that there need only be limited use of other Malawian languages.
The local newspapers also typify bilingual language usage in Malawi (see
Chimombo & Chimombo, 1996) but, unlike radio broadcasts, English is the dom-
inant language for publications. The data in Table 4 reveals that although some
newspapers publish in both Chichewa and English, English is the dominant lan-
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 101

guage and only those papers or sections of the papers which are geared to rural
population are produced in Chichewa and sometimes a bit of Tumbuka and Yao.
The two factors which account for the dominance of English vis-à-vis Chichewa
are affordability of the papers and literacy. Newspaper costs are unaffordable for
an average Malawian. Secondly, English dominates the spheres of elite Malawi-
ans’ everyday life in reading and writing. Most educated Malawians prefer to
read and write in English than in Chichewa or any other vernacular language be-
cause English (and not the vernaculars) is the language in which grammar and
writing are thoroughly and formally taught in school (Kayambazinthu, 1995).
Out of all the papers, only two papers are predominantly in the vernacular, a
government paper and a church paper aimed at disseminating information in the
rural areas for free. As in Samoa (Baldauf, 1990: 261) the data show that the print
media in Malawi foster English language usage.
The predominance of English can also be seen in other media areas such as
films and the availability in large numbers of books in English in the libraries and
bookshops. The illiteracy rate and the affordability of the papers necessitate that
newspapers cannot be a medium of general information and dissemination of
political ideas among the masses. Both the print and electronic media in Malawi

Table 4 Newspapers in circulation in Malawi


Title Publisher Language(s) published in
Boma Lathu Government of Malawi Chichewa only
The Enquirer Lucene Publications Predominantly English and
Chichewa
The New Vision New Vision Publications Predominantly English and
Chichewa
The Star Star Publishers Predominantly English
The Statesman Benfin Publishers Predominantly English
The Telegraph Akwete Sande Predominantly English
The Weekend News Government of Malawi Chichewa and English
National Agenda – English and Chichewa
Care Magazine Catholic Church English
The Chronicle Jamieson Promotions Chichewa and English
The Daily Times Blantyre Print English only
Malawi News Blantyre Print Predominantly English and
Chichewa
The Independent Now Publications English and Chichewa
The Mirror Mirror Publications English and Chichewa
The Nation Nation Publications English only
The Weekend Nation Nation Publications Predominantly English and
Chichewa
Odini Catholic Church Chichewa only
This is Malawi Government of Malawi English
UDF News UDF Party English and Chichewa

Source: Jamieson, R.A. (1998) Jamieson Promotions (Pvt.) Limited.


102 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

favour the highly-educated elite or high socioeconomic class compared to the


lower strata that form the core of vernacular users.

Migrant languages in Malawi


The Malawi government is silent on migrant languages. The education system
and the media do not cater for immigrants, assuming that they might have learnt
or will learn English and Chichewa. Under this category can be included lan-
guages such as Greek, Italian, Gujarati, Somali, Lebanese, Urdu and Punjabi.
These are among the languages spoken by minority groups within their ethnic
group communities in Malawi. Statistics on these languages are not available.
Migrants from neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Mozambique and Tan-
zania are expected to use cross-border languages such as Chichewa. Even
though the Asians are the oldest immigrants, forming the highest socioeconomic
class in Malawi, there are no language provisions for them in schools apart from
their communities. The new immigrants are expected to be absorbed into their
various Indian or Asian ethnic communities where their languages are main-
tained. Most migrant children will attend private schools, which are all taught in
English, and to whom most expatriates’ children go. English-speaking children
go to designated English only schools such as Sir Harry Johnston, St Andrews,
Bishop Mackenzie and Phoenix. All these are prestigious and expensive schools
that are strategically distributed in the three main cities (Blantyre, Zomba and
Lilongwe), to cater for the high socioeconomic groups to which most of these mi-
grant groups belong.

Historical origins and processes in the use and spread of Malawian


languages
The distinctive geographical spread and the functional prominence of
Chichewa and English and to some extent Tumbuka seen in both the education
system and the media can be traced back to the early language practices and poli-
cies applied in both the colonial and post colonial times. The earliest colonial
influential practices were to maintain the distinction between horizontal and
vertical modes of communication (Heine, 1977, 1992). Horizontal communica-
tion refers to all written and spoken discursive practices between and among the
governing structures of a state, while vertical communication is the structure of
interaction taking place between the authorities and the population. In those
days, English occupied the horizontal communication role whilst the latter form
was occupied by Chichewa.
During the colonial days English and Chinyanja were the first official lan-
guages for both vertical and horizontal communication. Both the missionaries
and governments had to consider Malawi’s linguistic heterogeneity that was
seen as an obstacle for operational efficiency. The missionaries’ and the govern-
ment’s concern was to find an appropriate medium to communicate with the
Africans. Preference for both missionaries and government was given to Nyanja
in the south and centre, as a language of vertical communication. After an initial
enthusiasm for Nyanja in the south, it was discovered that its geographical
spread did not include the northern part of Malawi where Tumbuka was favour-
ably distributed.19 The supremacy in both colonial and postcolonial times of
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 103

Chinyanja over other Malawian languages stems from these nineteenth century
practices to simplify the country’s linguistic heterogeneity and administrative ef-
ficiency by applying different horizontal and vertical modes of communication.
Missionary penetration itself also shaped the spread of Chinyanja and
Tumbuka, and their usage. That is, the missionary preference for Chinyanja in
the south and Tumbuka in the north actually organised their spread over areas
where they had never been spoken before and now had to be acquired as second
languages. The emergence of Tumbuka was entirely triggered by the
Livingstonia Mission. As agents and settlers in the northern part of Malawi, they
used, imposed and spread Tumbuka as the mandatory language of colonial edu-
cation in the northern part of Malawi.

The colonial phase 1875-1964


A constant question in language contact and language development has been
how a lingua franca arises. Abdulaziz-Mkilifi (1993) and Cooper (1982) suggest
that we study its linguistic, demographic, sociological origins, people’s attitudes
to it, the degree of dynamism in terms of development and spread and its linguis-
tic and cultural affinity with contact languages. Accordingly, the discussion that
follows focuses on the rise of Chichewa and other Malawian languages in rela-
tion to each other.
The colonial period can be divided into two parts. The period between 1875
and 1918 is the laissez-faire phase of unplanned or uncoordinated planning, when
each missionary body followed its own policy according to its needs and linguis-
tic environment. No attempt was made at status planning, but language was
used as a communication tool for religious and educational purposes. The sec-
ond phase, between 1918 and 1964 was one of coordinated efforts by both the
colonial government and the missionaries. Of importance, during the colonial
period is the ideology and objectives of the colonialists, their treatment of various
linguistic groups and their cultures and how this redefined the relations between
the language groups in terms of status and prestige.

The uncoordinated period 1857–1917

Missionary education, evangelism and the rise of Nyanja and Tumbuka


As in other African countries (see, among others, Djité (1988) on the rise of
Dyula; Diop (1989) on Senegal and the rise of Wolof; Mukama (1991) on the rise of
the Baganda and Luganda in Uganda), formal education in its Western form and
its twin goals of evangelism and colonialism can be singled out as the dominant
forces in language development and language spread. Education was instru-
mental in causing new ideals and ideas of perceived social reality (Kashoki, 1990)
and in exposing Malawians to a foreign language, English, and its values. The
significant development of education together with evangelism are considered
as important social factors that contributed to language spread and later on lan-
guage planning.
The advent of missionary work in Malawi and the many languages that mis-
sionaries encountered created the need for a language for evangelism and
educating Africans. The various Christian missionary bodies adopted local lan-
104 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

guages within their spheres of influence for evangelism and education. For
example, the Universities Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) in the Southern Re-
gion used Nyanja and Yao and so did the Livingstonia Mission Society (LMS).
When LMS moved to the northern part of Malawi, they were hoping to use
Nyanja and English for two reasons: (1) Nyanja was the language in which scrip-
tural writing had already been produced; and (2) English was the language of
‘the high’ culture (Elmslie to Laws, 1892; see also Rahman, 1995). Thus, as early as
1901 Nyanja language was regarded as ‘a common ground or lingua franca, en-
riched by such words as may be adopted from other languages’ on grounds of its
literary heritage (Jack, 1901: 34). Nyanja was already being used by the planters,20
the government and the people themselves in the south. However, the situation
in the north was different because of the decline of Ngoni and the rise of
Tumbuka. The mission accepted the situation and abandoned the policy of using
Nyanja as a neutral way of overcoming linguistic disunity in the north (Turner,
1933; Vail, 1981).
The systematic reduction of Malawian languages to writing using the Roman
Alphabet, which started with the Christian missionaries, contributed greatly to
the development of some languages. This had the effect of elevating the status of
some languages which were ultimately chosen vis-à-vis others. As Doke (1961a:
52) notes:
apart from some elementary school readers, catechisms and hymn books,
the development of Bantu literature in this period was confined to the
translations of scripture. The Bible translation work … is of immense im-
portance. Just as the English vernacular translation of the Bible by
Coverdale in 1535 was of inestimable value in the ultimate standardisation
of literary English, so have the early Bantu vernacular translations laid the
foundations of literature in a number of these languages.
The translation of the Bible or parts of it using a phonetic or Roman alphabet
were done in Nyanja (western and eastern), Ngoni, Yao, Nkhonde/Nyakyusa,
Tumbuka, Lomwe, Nyiha, Tonga. Apart from Bible translations, a number of
publications also came out during this period (see Kishindo, 1990, 1994;
Kayambazinthu, 1995). Both Kishindo and Kayambazinthu note that major lin-
guistic analyses were done on Nyanja, Yao and Tumbuka in that order. This
language development had a significant impact on the status of these languages.
Since different missionary bodies translated the Bible or parts of it into dialects
according to where they were settled, coordinated efforts began towards a uni-
fied dialect of Nyanja.21 In 1900, a joint Bible Translation Committee was formed
with the purpose of coming up with a Union Version of Nyanja that could be
used by all missionary groups. The committee chose to unify Chewa and
Mang’anja dialects and this resulted in the publication of Matthew in 1901, the
New Testament in 1906 and the whole Bible in 1922. A revised version of this Bi-
ble was printed in 1936 (Doke, 1961b; Heine, 1970: 62). It is clear that different
mission groups promoted different dialects: the UMCA elevated the
lesser-known dialect Nyanja (eastern or Likoma dialect), the Dutch Reformed
Church (DRC) Chewa and the Blantyre Mission (BM) elevated the popular dia-
lect Mang’anja.22
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 105

Book publishing and distribution was mainly controlled by various mission


bodies and their publishing houses.23 The major missionary bodies that contrib-
uted to the growth of literature were the International Committee on Christian
Literature for Africa (ICCLA) set up in 1926 to promote the production, publica-
tion and distribution of literature for use in connection with missionary work in
Africa. Another body established for the same purposes was the Society for Pro-
moting Christian Knowledge. By 1949 the ICCLA was assisted locally by the
Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasa Joint Publications Bureau which had a
local branch in Nyasaland — The Christian Literature Council set up in 1958
which has now been replaced by the Christian Literature Association in Malawi
(CLAIM). What is significant is that the literature that came out during this pe-
riod was mainly published in Nyanja and English and other languages used in
the missions areas of influence, notably Yao and Tumbuka. For example, the
Livingstonia Press published in Tumbuka, English and Tonga (school texts)
whilst the Hetherwick Press published mainly in Nyanja and English in that or-
der.

Language policy in education


According to Pretorius (1971) and others, the pioneers of Western type schools
in Malawi (for example, the UMCA, BM, LMS, DRC, among others), used ver-
naculars as a media of instruction, and these included Nyanja, Yao, Tumbuka
and Tonga. Schools were streamlined into three levels: Vernacular, Lower Mid-
dle and Upper Middle. Yao was the medium of instruction in the UMCA schools
in southern Malawi and Nkhota Kota districts, whilst the two government
schools among the Yao used Nyanja. Tumbuka, Tonga and Nkhonde were used
in both elementary and Lower Middle schools by the LMS in the northern region.
English was the language in the Lower Middle schools. In the Upper Middle
schools English became the medium of instruction, but the vernaculars were
taught as subjects (Annual Reports, 1930). By the end of 1902, there were at least
eight missions working in the country, and they had under their management
nearly 300 primary schools, one teacher training school and one superior institu-
tion (the Overtoun Institute) (Pretorius, 1971: 72).

The effect of evangelism and education on the ethnic groups and


cultural stimuli
The different responses from different ethnic groups to education also im-
pacted on the rise and spread of Chichewa and Tumbuka. According to the LMS:
The Henga are a keen, vigorous progressive people, the greater majority of
the church members are from them, their schools are well attended, the pu-
pils alert and the boys and girls in about equal numbers. (Livingstonia
Mission Report, 1911: 38, cited in McCracken, 1977: 106)
However, ‘the Ngonde are . . . slow to move, extremely conservative and sus-
picious of the new movement going on all around them’ (Livingstonia Mission
Report, 1911: 38, cited in McCracken 1977: 106). McCracken maintains that unlike
other ethnic groups, the Tumbuka reacted favourably to Christianity because
their religion, the Chikangombe cult, was largely dead (due to the Ngoni inva-
106 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

sion), and they were ready to experiment with a new one.24 The Ngoni, on the
other hand, invited the mission to stay in their land for political and economic
reasons but at the same time feared the possible corrosive power of the word of
God upon their traditional military ethics (McCracken, 1972). Instead of sending
their children to school, they only sent the children of their Tumbuka slaves (Vail,
1981; Vail & White, 1989). Through their embrace of an education which had a
substantial English language component, the Henga were well on their way to
developing an educated petty bourgeoisie with values shaped by Victorian mis-
sionary teaching and examples (Vail & White 1989: 154). The Henga became the
teachers in the local schools, and by 1909 Tumbuka was being used in local
schools in the district, having largely displaced other languages (McCracken,
1972: 118). By 1914 the use of Tumbuka was widespread (through imposition) in
the mission’s sphere of influence, apart from the Tonga who continued to use
their own language.
As the Tumbuka embraced education, their language gained respectability;
and as the early elites with new educational opportunities, their language could
no longer be seen as the language of the slaves only. Rather it was the language of
a rapidly expanding group of educated and progressive people (Vail & White,
1989: 154). As Vail & White have noted, the mission’s press confirmed the status
of the Tumbuka language by pouring out thousands of texts in Tumbuka. For the
Tumbuka, this was a psychological symbol of their rising respectability and
self-esteem, whilst for the Ngoni, it was their adopted language within a larger
context of competing languages. During the political struggle, Tumbuka became
the northern regional language (Vail, 1981).
However, the situation in the central and southern part of Malawi was differ-
ent: education was less effective. In the south the planters wanted to run their
estates or their workers without government intervention or missionary interfer-
ence. Consequently, missionary work was barred from the estates and the
network of schools that were established in the north did not develop in the south
(Vail & White, 1989: 167). Among the Yao Islam became the main blocking factor.
As Alpers (1972: 175) observes: ‘the Yao embraced Islam because they regarded it
as the most amenable way of modernising their societies, especially of acquiring
literacy for their people … every Muslim village had its own Koranic schools’. Is-
lam in Africa had first offered a way of advance beyond rigid tribalism and still
provided a possible alternative for the African who sought some status and dig-
nity vis-à-vis the Europeans (Shepperson & Price, 1958: 407). Kishindo (1994: 133)
argues that the development of schools and consequently of Yao as a lingua
franca, unlike that of Tumbuka, was a consequence of complex and shifting atti-
tudes of the colonial government influenced by Christian missionary
antagonism to Islam.25 While this is true to a greater extent (especially the period
Kishindo quotes (1912) and thereabout),26 this does not explain the favourable at-
titude the government had towards the Yao which will be shown later in this
monograph. It can be argued that the linguistic environment itself in the south-
ern part of Malawi, coupled with the early development of Nyanja, did not allow
for the development of a competing lingua franca since Nyanja had for a long pe-
riod already occupied that position.27 As observed by Greenberg (1972: 201), once
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 107

a lingua franca is established as advantageous to know, it rapidly overshadows


other languages existing in the same market.
Education also contributed to the production of the early elites and lobbyists
who documented the histories of their ethnic groups. The documentation of cer-
tain ethnic groups’ history inculcated ethnic consciousness and separatism. Vail
(1981) singles out cultural brokers like Edward Bote Manda, Andrew Nkonjera
and Cullen Young for the Tumbuka, Kamuzu Banda for the Chewa, Bandawe for
the Lomwe, Abdallah for the Yao and Yesaya Chibambo for the Ngoni. In short,
these histories emphasised separatism and the important existence of each ethnic
group within Nyasaland. The writers glorified the past of the people they wrote
about whom they portrayed as empire builders, people with a culture and tradi-
tion.
Although it is difficult to generalise about the consequences of the missionary
or educational impact on Malawian society, it can be noted that the policy of dif-
ferent missionary bodies and the reaction of the indigenous people themselves to
education are important in explaining the language practices that emerged. As
McCracken (1972: 230–31) argues:
The dynamic response of various northern peoples, when combined with
Livingstonia’s own exceptional concern for change, had the effect of mak-
ing the northern province the most advanced area in terms of educational
activity in Central Africa.28
Second, education was selective and open to few people, so society was strati-
fied, making English accessible to the few only. Third, the growth of the
Malawian elite in a region that had no industries led to mass migration to areas of
employment in the southern part of Malawi which was predominantly Chewa
speaking. Fourth, education gave this elite bargaining power and led to the de-
velopment of political pressure groups. The emergence of political problems
beyond single self-interested groups to issues that could be put forward to the co-
lonial government united their otherwise disparate separate claims. In the
process of this political evolution, lingua francas were used to articulate their
grievances. Vail and White (1989) argue that political discontent was viewed dif-
ferently by different regions. For the southerners it was the abolition of the
Thangata system (a system of labour in exchange for land) and access to appropri-
ated land. The central region focused on the European monopoly over the
tobacco trade that suppressed African involvement. What is worth noting, how-
ever, is that all this culminated in the formation of the Nyasaland Educated
African Council which allowed these intellectuals (from the south and the north)
to air their views.29 What is also significant is that for the north, Tumbuka became
the language that united the people whilst in the south no one language did so
(Vail, 1981; Vail & White, 1989).

Government contribution 1918–1964


Nyanja gained the lead over the other languages for various reasons. Nyanja
was geographically favourably spread in both the central and southern parts of
Malawi. Secondly, the colonial government documented languages that it con-
sidered vital in the running of the country. Having settled in an area where
108 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Nyanja was the dominant language and a lingua franca, the government chose
Nyanja as their language for administration and promoted it through a series of
publications.30 Thus, Nyanja became the official language of the police and the
army. Using early-educated Nyanja elites as agents, the language was carried to
other areas where it was not spoken in both Malawi and Zambia (Heine, 1970: 61)
and Zimbabwe.31 The Nyanja acted as intermediaries between Europeans and
Africans. ‘On account of lack of skilled workers in the neighbouring territories to
serve as clerks, overseers, artisans and specialists, the Nyanja soon spread them-
selves into Zambia and Zimbabwe, taking the language beyond its borders’
(Heine, 1970: 61).
The government also required officers of the colonial agricultural, veterinary
and forest service to have a thorough knowledge of the language for administra-
tion. The colonial government reinforced the significant position of Nyanja by
making it a language for examinations in the civil service. All new entrants to
these posts were to write a higher standard examination in Chinyanja as a prece-
dent to the first efficiency bar or proscribed bonus (Kittermaster, 1936a: 4).
Chinyanja also received international recognition when it was included in the
syllabi of the Cambridge School Certificate for both Nyasaland (Malawi) and
Northern Rhodesia now Zambia in the late 1940s: ‘Two of the vernaculars,
Chibemba and Chinyanja, have been accepted for about twenty years as subjects
for the Cambridge School Certificate Examinations’ (Mwanakatwe, 1968: 21).
Chinyanja was also being studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies of
the University of London using Malawians as informants (Kishindo, 1990: 65).
Thus Nyanja became widespread as an important lingua franca in both Zambia
and Malawi due to the government policy.
Another language promoted by the government (but not so much as a national
or regional lingua franca) was Yao. Rashid (1978) argues that the interaction be-
tween the Yao, Lomwe (Mbewe group) and Nyanja contributed to a multiethnic
society which was primarily Nguru and Nyanja in origin, among whom the Yao
language was gaining popularity. Through this interethnic interaction and ivory
trade, the Lomwe adopted
the language of a numerically very small but prestigious trading elite … It
may have been an advantage in state building and assimilation that the lan-
guage being adopted was not a lingua franca of one of the major ethnic
groups … its use is linked to economic advantage and prestige. (Rashid,
1978: 20)
Thus the rise of Yao can be traced to trade. Politically, the British embraced the
most traditional and conservative chiefs, the Yao, as instruments of indirect rule
(Vail & White, 1989: 170). These two authors also argue that the colonialists for-
mulated ethnic theories and stereotypes of African differentiation. This is
substantiated by the favourable attitude towards the Yao unlike the other ethnic
groups; while to the whites the Lomwe were ‘gangsters, irregular soldiers, cring-
ing-starving unclothed refugees … drunken, slothful and vicious … They were
candid bandits, their prey human flesh and blood and having gorged eyes like
hyenas, they then returned to Manguru for the most part replete’ (Nyasaland
Times, 13 July and 6 August 1942). The Nguru (Lomwe) ‘are represented among
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 109

the idle and criminal classes to a disproportionate extent’ whilst the ‘Yaos are in-
telligent and quick, making excellent servants, while as soldiers, they have
proved of inestimable value; they also speak perhaps the finest of all Central Af-
rican languages’ (Murray, 1922: 55–7, 95). Compared to the Yao the Nyanja ‘are
industrious, quiet and peace loving people but have not the physique nor the
brains of the Yao nor the agricultural perseverance of the Nguru … He is easily
impressionable’ (Murray, 1932: 83). These stereotyped images of Lomwe, Yao
and Nyanja were to remain powerful, particularly of the Lomwe, into the early
1980s (Vail & White, 1989: 173) and contributed greatly to the decline of the lan-
guage.
Vail and White argue that after the war official support for the political and
economic authority of the Yao ruling elite continued to grow and this further led
to the growth of an alliance between the British administrators and the Yao. As a
mark of respect for a people with real history, in marked contrast to other local
Africans, Abdallah’s The Yaos was published in both Yao and English by the Gov-
ernment Press, with the aim of writing ‘a book that would tell all about the
customs of we Yaos, so that we remind ourselves whence we sprang and our be-
ginnings as a nation’ (Abdallah, 1919: Preface). Note that the Yao looked at
themselves as a nation within a multilingual protectorate. This documentation
was certainly not a consolidation of personal power base as Kishindo (1994)
might suggest.

The coordinated period


Nyanja continued to be recognised as a lingua franca as evidenced by the dis-
courses of the colonial government, the missionaries and the Malawians
themselves in a more coordinated manner. In 1918, a government administrator
proposed that Nyanja be made an official language for use in all schools on the
basis that it was widely spoken in the protectorate. Despite the colonialists’ fear
that such a move would unite the diverse Malawian ethnic groups (Mombera
District Annual Report 1918–1919 in File No. S1/1008/19), the government, con-
cerned with cutting down on administrative costs, argued for the adoption of a
single official language for unity and economic purposes (Moggridge, 1919: 4). In
June 1930, the Ordinary Committee on Education endorsed the recommendation
by making Nyanja a compulsory subject in all assisted schools, not later than the
stages of class three in elementary vernacular schools. The Advisory Committee
also adopted the recommendation of its Language and Textbook Sub-Committee
that Chinyanja be introduced as the medium of instruction not later than Class 4
in all government and assisted schools (Young H. to Cunliff-Lister, 1934).
However, the LMS, which had already been working with Tumbuka in the
north and had published a lot of texts in it announced on 15 July 1933 their inabil-
ity to accept a ruling that jeopardised their efforts socioeconomically (Turner,
1933; Young, 1933). Whilst the Ngonde (Chief Kyungu to District Commissioner,
9 November 1932: 18) and Tonga on whom the mission had imposed Tumbuka
accepted the ruling, the Tumbuka themselves, using their cultural broker and
educationist, Levi Mumba, were opposed to the idea, saying it was ‘unfair to
force people to accept a language which they do not wish … People go to school
to learn their own vernacular books, after which they wish to learn English which
110 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

is more profitable’ (NNM1/16/4, Mombera District Council, 1931/39). If any-


thing, the language issue resulted in a merger of local Tumbuka and ethnic
consciousness into a new regional coalition glued together by the possession of a
common language in a country of many languages. Tumbuka became the lan-
guage for focusing their political discontent with the colonial government (Vail,
1981: 165). Faced with this opposition, the new governor Sir Hubert Young, in an
attempt to sell the policy to the northern region, met with a varied response. The
Ngoni leaders told him, ‘Chinyanja is not wanted in this Tumbuka speaking
area’ and ‘Tumbuka should be preserved for future generations as seed for na-
tive produce, domestic and wild animals is preserved for them’ (NN1/2005,
Native Administration, Mzimba, 1932, Minutes of Barazas). Levi Mumba, a high
ranking Tumbuka on the influential Advisory Committee of Education, in agree-
ment with the anti-Nyanja forces, argued that it was much too early to have a
lingua franca in Nyasaland and that if ever one were adopted, it should be Eng-
lish (S1/449/32, Minutes of 19 October 1933 and 1936 Round Table Conference in
PROCO 525/161). Thus English was held in high esteem and was the language to
learn.
Despite the resistance from LMS, the Tumbuka and the Yao, in 1934 the gov-
ernment proclaimed:
After careful consideration, the government of Nyasaland has decided def-
initely to encourage Chinyanja as the lingua franca and as the official
language of the protectorate. Competency in Chinyanja would be sine qua
non to admission to the native civil service and the missions which worked
in areas where Chinyanja was not the mother tongue would be asked to in-
troduce and teach it as a subject in all assisted schools beginning in class 3 of
the village schools. (Young, H., 1934: 7)
The missions were being forced either to comply with the new government
regulations or lose their government education grant. The LMS however ap-
pealed directly to Whitehall officials in London (Turner to Vischer, 1935). Sir
Harold Kittermaster was ordered to hold a conference and not to implement the
policy (Kittermaster, 1936b; Bottomley to Sir Kittermaster, 1935). A round table
conference was held in Zomba on 22 June 1936 and resolved that Nyanja be en-
couraged as a lingua franca in the protectorate but the free use of other native
languages should not be suppressed or discouraged (Public Records Office, Co-
lonial Office (PROCO) file no. 25352, CO 525/161 1936: 5–7). In 1947, after World
War II, Nyanja and Tumbuka were made official languages (Vernacular Lan-
guage Policy, 1947). They were broadcast on the radio, taught and used as
medium of instruction in schools within their regions. The working of the lan-
guage policy can best be captured in the following quotations:
Chinyanja is the lingua franca throughout the territory … The request of the
Tumbuka people has been granted and Tumbuka is the educational lingua
franca in the northern province … (Annual Report, Nyasaland Education
Department, 1949: 8)
Or in 1951 we are told:
Chinyanja remains the lingua franca of the country but there is an increas-
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 111

ing awareness that Tumbuka is the natural language in the northern


province and the government itself now recognises this language for lan-
guage examination purposes. (Annual Report, Nyasaland Education
Department, 1951: 11)

Standardisation and implementation


Policy implementation involved the standardisation of Nyanja32 in an attempt
to bridge the differences between the various dialects. A committee was ap-
pointed, and its first meeting held in 1931. Among its significant
recommendations was the production of the Chinyanja Orthographic Rules of
1931. In 1945, the Phelphs-Stoke Commission took over the work and recon-
vened the meeting at the invitation of the African Publications Bureau. In 1953
the federal government decreed that all languages with a substantial number of
speakers should be standardised. As a result, a number of languages were broad-
cast on the radio and these were Nyanja and Tumbuka in Malawi.
After viewing the trend that the language issue took during this period, some
pertinent questions need to be raised. Why were only Nyanja, Tumbuka and Yao
selected and not the other languages? And why did Tumbuka, a language spo-
ken by a minority group, gain such status? In answer to the former question, the
growing status and spread of Nyanja (apart from being a lingua franca in the
south and centre) owes much to the following factors:
(1) It was the first contact language between the indigenous people and the mis-
sionaries; between the governed and the government which promoted it. It
became the first language, through this contact, to have a literary heritage.
(2) It was close to the seat of power and authority. The colonisers having their
headquarters in the Nyanja-speaking area and using Nyanjas as aides,
guides or catechists created prestige for the language. Because of this con-
tact they were to constitute the bulk of the first generation elite.
(3) Emergence of new economic poles in towns located mainly in
Nyanja-speaking areas attracted people from various areas and ethnic ori-
gins to look for better opportunities.
Linguistic heterogeneity in the south created the need for a lingua franca and
Nyanja was the obvious choice because it was already established. It is clear from
the historical as well as the sociopolitical facts examined that the main outcome
of colonialism was the tremendous boost of Nyanja prestige nationwide due to
these interrelated factors.
Despite the rise of Yao as a trade lingua franca and a language of instruction in
the UMCA schools, it did not achieve regional lingua franca status for the reasons
already discussed. As for Tumbuka, the alliance of educated Africans as well as
the Scottish missionaries was a vital one. It ensured and promoted Tumbuka’s
current position. It is clear that, apart from being a language that swamped
Ngoni, Tumbuka was still a minority language whose regional status can only be
explained in terms of education and the pride of the people themselves. One can-
not refute the fact that education gave Africans bargaining power. Without
influential people like Levi Mumba and missionaries like Cullen Young,
Tumbuka would not have gained such a status. As much as the mission sup-
112 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

ported the people, it also stood to gain from the policy economically. They did
not have to publish new books or train new teachers. So for both economic and
educational reasons Tumbuka stayed.
The advent of colonialism, the introduction of Christianity and education had
the effect of elevating the status of two indigenous languages as official lan-
guages. From a sociolinguistic point of view, this also changed the existing
culture and the value of these languages vis-à-vis the rest. Among these lan-
guages, Nyanja was an important lingua franca that dominated colonial
administration for vertical communication, setting an important trend as urbani-
sation developed, coupled with the fact that industries were located in the
Nyanja areas. English continued to be an important educational and official lan-
guage for horizontal and vertical communication and therefore a language of
high educational attainment that consequently led to better employment oppor-
tunities.
Exploring the relationship between the imported language and Nyanja, Eng-
lish had more prestige than Nyanja. Thus language stratification had already
taken root. Firstly, through the attitude of the whites themselves who looked at
their language as a language of high culture, implying that the indigenous lan-
guages and their cultures were less prestigious. Thus English became the
language of higher education, parliament and law, of the elite, and in general of
superiority and power. Secondly, as the indigenes themselves attained educa-
tion, the practice was perpetuated as they looked down upon themselves and
their culture in favour of the foreign language and culture. As Roscoe (1977: 4)
has argued:
Colonial conditions produced a situation whereby functional literacy in a
European language for all practical purposes came to be equated with the
ability to speak English. As a result, the African was deliberately made to
look upon his language as ‘primitive’ and to look at the knowledge of Eng-
lish as the golden means of breaking out of the old peasant pattern into the
money economy and white collar comfort of the coloniser.
Thus, from the colonial times Nyanja and other languages were a stepping
stone to the ultimate goal of acquiring English. When Nyasaland (Malawi)
gained independence in 1964, the country inherited that colonial policy.

The post colonial period since 1964


The Kamuzu Banda Phase: 1964–1994
Whilst Nyanja was a well-established lingua franca in Malawi, its spread be-
yond its boundaries into the northern part of Malawi was done single-handedly
by Dr Hastings Banda, the first president of the republic of Malawi from 1964 to
1994. Banda’s language policy was a deliberate and militant way of spreading the
language as can be seen in its implementation and dissemination. During the
1968 Annual Convention of the then ruling Malawi Congress Party held in
Lilongwe, the question of national unity resurfaced and the Convention recom-
mended that in the interest of national unity:
(1) Malawi adopt Chinyanja as a national language.
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 113

(2) That the name Chinyanja henceforth be known as Chichewa.


(3) That Chichewa and English be the official languages of the state of Malawi
and that all other languages will continue to be used in everyday private life
in their respective areas. (Malawi Congress Party, 1978: 6)
Policy implementation and dissemination
The decision to make Chichewa the sole Malawian official language affected
the use of other languages such as Tumbuka on the radio and in the mass media
in general. The second phrase in resolution three in the policy formulation im-
plied that other languages could still be used in the country and that Chichewa
was going to be used solely for intra-communication and national integration.
The other vernaculars could be used in political mass rallies and day-to-day life.
Thus the dissemination of Chichewa was constantly expanding and its implied
status as a lingua franca was increasingly reinforced. The policy was imple-
mented by the education sector and various other organisations set up for its
dissemination.
Ministry of Education and Culture
Following the convention’s recommendation, Parliament decreed that
Chichewa and English were the only two official languages in the country. This
decree was followed by a Ministry of Education and Culture announcement that
from the 1969–70 academic year, Chichewa was to be taught in all elementary
schools as well as in teacher-training colleges. English became a mandatory sub-
ject and a prerequisite for obtaining any certificate or for educational and general
purposes up to the certificate level. As a result, in the first three years of primary
education, Chichewa served as the medium of instruction whilst English was
taught as a subject. Gradually from the third year, English took over up to univer-
sity level. In the last five years of primary education, English became the sole
medium of instruction whilst Chichewa became a compulsory subject up to the
end of secondary level and an optional subject at university level.
The establishment of the Malawi Certificate Examinations Board (MCEB),
now the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB), to replace the Cam-
bridge Overseas Exam was followed by a change in examinations grading policy
which required both northerners and southerners to obtain higher grades in their
School Leaving Exams than those in the central region if they were to qualify for
places in the secondary schools (Short, 1974; Vail & White, 1989). Also the Parlia-
mentary Secretary for Education further decreed that all school children who
failed their required examinations in required courses in Chichewa would be re-
quired to resit the exams (Short, 1974). All these stringent measures were
imposed to enhance the status of Chichewa and ensure that other ethnic groups
had no option but to learn it.
Personalities and the role of the Chichewa Board
According to Nahir (1977, 1984), language reform is a deliberate manipulation
of language triggered by the need to facilitate language use as well as to serve the
underlying political, socioeconomic, cultural and ideological tendencies of the
community at the time. Perry (1985: 295) defines language reform as ‘primarily a
sociopolitical, not linguistic and cultural, process, though its effects remain to
colour the speech and literature of succeeding generations’. Language reform
114 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

during Banda’s era was handled under the Chichewa Board which he estab-
lished in 1972 and mandated to look into the expansion of Chichewa and its
purification, befitting its role as a national language in Malawi (see Chichewa
Board 1984 Malawi Congress Party Convention Fliers Ref. No. CD/4/25/104).
The Board was set up with the aim of:
• providing a new Chichewa dictionary (see A brief history of the Chichewa
Board (1970–71) Ref. No. ADM/1/40:1) to replace the existing ones which
were inadequate not only because they were compiled by non-native
speakers but because they were unrepresentative since they were preoccu-
pied with the Mang’anja dialect;
• providing guidance to language users in education, media and publishing;
• encouraging as well as carrying out research work with the aim of stand-
ardising the description of Chichewa, the results of which would be
reflected in the media publishing and the materials used in the educational
institutions (A brief history of the Chichewa Board 1970–1971: 1; Kishindo,
1990: 67).
The reform process during Banda’s era can be likened to the Turkish
(Dogançay-Aktuna, 1995) and French Academy views of language. In Malawi,
however, unlike in Turkey, it was not religious factors, but rather political, as
well as Banda’s personal preferences that prevailed. Reform took the shape of
purification and the removal of all words that were not in Kasungu Chewa, the
Chichewa that Banda spoke. Banda saw language as an integral part of national
building and elevating Chichewa to become the national language was equated
with the unification of the diverse Malawian population. At the same time Banda
did not believe in authentication of other Malawian languages.
Banda’s interest in Chichewa is traced back to 1937, when he acted as an infor-
mant to Mark Hannah Watkins who published A Grammar of Chichewa, a Bantu
language of British Central Africa in 1937.33 Banda’s continued interest is also seen
in the number of lectures he delivered in the early to mid-1970s (1972–1976) at
Chancellor College, University of Malawi, on various aspects of the language
(see Banda, 1975). Banda, who was the ‘highest authority on Chichewa matters’
(Kishindo, 1990: 67), took a purist attitude to language preservation or reform.
‘Chinyanja would first have to be standardised into a real Chinyanja, a real
Chichewa’ as it had been spoken in his youth and was still spoken in the villages
of the central region. He did not want the anglicised ‘Chi-mission’ or
‘Chi-Heaven or Chi-planter’ which was currently in the town’ (Hansard, 1963:
844). Thus the ‘correct’ form of Chichewa was that of the Chewa dialect under-
stood by him as opposed to the popular Mang’anja dialect of the southern region.
He stressed it in his speeches and public Bible readings. As Vail (1981: 147) has
observed:
the message in the late 1960s and 1970s was clear. The Chewa people and
the Chewa culture was the core of modern Malawi by right of being the
most ancient and least compromised by colonialism, and Malawi culture
would be considered synonymous with Chewa culture.
Like Turkish language reform, Malawian language reform was centralised
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 115

(Tollefson, 1981) and government sponsored. The reform essentially consisted of


two undertakings: changing the orthography and strengthening the use of ‘cor-
rect’ Chichewa. The Board first produced the orthography rules (Chichewa
Board, 1973, 1980, 1992), which were supposed to correct the 1931 rules written
by the missionaries. The Chichewa Board was then to carry out corpus planning
decisions to be codified through dictionaries, grammars and guides. Implemen-
tation occurred as a centralised activity supervised by the president.
The role of the University of Malawi
Banda further strengthened the spread of Chichewa by directing the establish-
ment of the Department of Chichewa at the University of Malawi to do research
on and describe the language. The department (now African Languages and Lin-
guistics) trained Chichewa teachers (Bachelor of Education) and other linguists
to graduate level (Bachelor of Arts). It was not clear if there was any coordination
between the two language bodies that Banda set up to strengthen Chichewa, that
is, if the Board incorporated research findings of this department in its decisions
or changes.
The media and publishers
As in education, the media also adopted a bilingual policy even though most
of the published materials were in English, unless they were for rural population
consumption. This contributed to the prevalence of publications in English and
Chichewa and no other languages. Periodicals containing news, articles of opin-
ion, features and advertising were mainly bilingual. (For a discussion on
language for publications see Ng’ombe, 1985). Short stories, plays, novels are
mainly in English (Chimombo, 1994). Almost all academic and government pub-
lications and other magazines that were not intended for rural consumption
were published exclusively in English. The Bible Society, however, continued to
print the Bible and hymn books in various vernacular languages.
The Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) also adopted a bilingual policy.
The main news bulletin and news briefs were broadcast in both English and
Chichewa at alternative hours. Kishindo (1990) categorises Chichewa
programmes into purely musical entertainment, didactic and educational.
Programmes specifically designed to promote Chichewa were Timphunzitsane
Chichewa (Let’s teach each other Chichewa), where listeners wrote to the
programme expressing their views about a particular expression, vocabulary
item or syntactic structure. A panel headed by a member of the Chichewa Board
then discussed their views. At the end of the programme a solution or conclusion
was reached and recommended to the listeners.

The spread of English


English plays a vital role in Malawi, though its spread cannot be compared to
Chichewa. Its vital role but limited spread should be contextualised within the
functional load along vertical and horizontal modes of communication; and the
concepts of elite closure (Djité, 1990; Scotton, 1993) and imperialism (Phillipson,
1992). Both of these terms refer to the privilege or domination of one language
over another, its use by the elite of power, culture and money, in so many do-
mains as to limit the access of speakers of other languages to positions of power
116 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

and privilege. The dominance and limited access to English from the colonial
times to the present has created an elite group.
The use of English in Malawi can be conceptualised on a proficiency contin-
uum. At one extreme of the continuum are members of the small intellectual
Malawian elite who have received their formal education to university level or
other higher levels of education. Their proficiency in English is near native
(Kayambazinthu, 1994).34 According to my 1992 data these elites maintain and
regularly use their knowledge of English in their professional environments,
where they typically occupy the higher ranks of the political, administrative and
academic institutions. At the other extreme of the proficiency continuum are the
completely unschooled, who do not use English at all or have limited knowledge
of English in the form of word expressions or trade and joking phrases used by il-
literates, especially the vendors at markets and by some comedians.
A wide range of proficiency marks the area between the two extremes.
Codeswitching and borrowing in the form of words or phrases is common
(Kayambazinthu, 1994, 1998). Since level of education is an important correlate to
the learning of English in Malawi (Kayambazinthu, 1994), the education figures
given earlier in the paper are indicative of an education system with a very high
drop out that gives rise to this lack of access to high proficiency in English. Girls are
particularly susceptible under this system. The effects of these historical gender-re-
lated asymmetries are seen in men having higher proficiency and use of English
than women (Kayambazinthu, 1994). From experience, there is a general outcry in
Malawi on the gradual decline of standards and level of expression in English as evi-
denced by data in Table 5. Most employing organisations complain about the
students’ standard of expression as do University of Malawi external examiners’ re-
ports. The causes of this drop in standards may be attributed to the education system
itself, lack of resources (textbooks) and the high pupil–teacher ratio.
With respect to the population’s English usage patterns, Kayambazinthu
(1994) reports that the number of households in which English served as the ex-
clusive means of interaction was negligible (2%), even though use increased with
codeswitching (14%) in the home. One would therefore argue that English has a

Table 5 English performance 1987–9857


Year Distinction Credit Pass
1997 0.13 13 71
1996 0.19 14 68
1995 0.13 12 55
1994 0.4 13 56
1993 0.22 37 71
1992 0.18 27 60
1991 0.17 32 70
1990 0.37 39 7
1989 0.30 38 81
1988 0.30 38 80
1987 0.62 38 90

Source: Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB, 1998).


The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 117

very minor role to play in the home context where the Malawian languages flour-
ish. Although the spread of English is confined to the few elites, its functional
spread and importance in Malawi cannot be denied.
As already argued, English dominates Malawians’ reading and writing prac-
tices, as well as through codeswitching or codemixing. In the 1968 Constitution,
English was identified as the country’s official language. As an official language,
English is confined to the institutional, formal and written patterns of interac-
tion. At the level of horizontal communication, English is the medium of
interaction in all legislative, administrative and judicial institutions in Malawi. In
the legislative assembly, English is the medium of communication for debates
and speeches in the Malawian parliament, making it difficult for those whose
proficiency is low to fully and meaningfully participate in the debate. It is also the
only language in which the constitution of Malawi and all other legal texts are
written. At the administrative level, all written correspondence between officials
as well as oral contacts in formal contexts such as in meetings and the like, are in
English (Kayambazinthu, 1994). In the judicial system, all laws and decrees, as
well as written reports, prosecutions and trials are in English. Overall, all forms
of horizontal communication at an institutional level are typically the domains of
English. At the formal socioeconomic and political decision making level, Eng-
lish is the exclusive language of government matters, only to be abandoned
when disseminating the information to the masses. By virtue of its confinement
English is not a language of mass communication but of power and prestige,
hence its limited spread but crucial role in the running of the country. Table 6 in-
dicates the domains of official language use during Banda’s era.
English is the main language of the court beyond the lower courts. In the mag-
istrates courts and high court, interpretation services for people who do not
understand English is available. All laws, statutes, decrees, directives, rules and
regulations, contracts and documents pertaining to them are written in English,
making them inaccessible to the average Malawian and empowering the elite.

The use of classical languages


The introduction of Greek and Latin in schools again was a single-handed ef-
fort. Their use stems from Banda’s philosophy that ‘no man can truly call himself
educated’ without learning the Classics (A brief history of the Academy and
Kamuzu Academy Programme, 1986: 13). Banda opened his own school,
Kamuzu Academy (popularly known as the Eton of Africa), in order to reintro-
duce Latin in schools after a 15-year absence. Banda declared in the opening
speech at the Academy that ‘if you are not prepared to learn these subjects (Latin
and Greek, my own emphasis) you must not come here (because) such subjects as
Latin are there to discipline the mind and the brain’ (New Era in Education,
1981). The Ministry of Education was forced to reintroduce the Classics in
schools and in order to cater for the demand of scarce teachers in classics, they re-
hired the old retired teachers. Under the same pressure, the University of Malawi
established the Department of Classics to accommodate Academy students se-
lected to Chancellor College and to produce secondary school teachers of
Classics (Kishindo, 1998: 261). Banda’s rhetoric and enthusiasm about Latin and
Greek far outweighed the usefulness of these languages in Malawi. Hence, as
118 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 6 Summary of official language usage in Malawi, 1968–1994


Domains Language used
English Chichewa French Latin Greek
Parliament ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Law/Legislature ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Courts: ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Magistrate ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
High ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Lower ++ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Radio ++ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Films ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Newspapers ++ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Advertisements ++ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Magazines ++ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Adult literacy ⫺ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Agricultural extension ⫺ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
services
Education medium of
instruction:
Lower primary ⫺ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Standard 5 up to ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
university
Subjects:
Lower primary ++ ++ ⫺ ⫺ ⫺
Secondary up to ++ ++ ++ ++ ++
university
International ++ ⫺ ++ ⫺ ⫺
communication

Source: Kayambazinthu (1995).

Kishindo (1998) observes, now they are dying a natural death at least within the
Ministry of Education programmes.
The foregoing discussion has contextualised the spread of Chichewa and Eng-
lish within colonial and neocolonial practices. The dissemination of Chichewa
can be seen as a deliberate or explicit policy to promote and spread the language,
using education and the mass media as implementation agents. The Kamuzu
Banda phase shows that direct, forceful and unambiguous decisions were made
about the language questions without proper consultation (surveys, etc.) or
guidance and evaluation of the programme. For fear of its inadequacies in plan-
ning, evaluation of the policy was guarded and undemocratic. Amendments to
the educational policy, broadcasting, etc., are clear examples. There was also a
deliberate and active denigration of repression of the development of other lan-
guages apart from Chichewa (e.g. see the mandate for establishing the Chichewa
Board and Chichewa Department at Chancellor College), hence their restricted
use and spread. This denigration has resulted in language shift, especially
among the Yao and Lomwe, as evidenced by the failure of their youth to acquire
proficiency in these languages (see Kayambazinthu, 1989/90, 1994, 1995). The
Banda era was also characterised by the neglect of ‘open’ research into Malawi’s
rich multilingual and multicultural heritage. The study of other Malawian lan-
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 119

guages was hampered and neglected. Also the teaching of these languages as
second languages was prohibited and English which is an exclusive second lan-
guage was promoted. The development of Chichewa into a neutral lingua franca
was hampered by the purist attitude prescribed by Kamuzu Banda who saw the
Chichewa of Kasungu as the model Chichewa or the standard variety. Whilst a
standard dialect needs to emerge, studies have to be done to establish it.
Chichewa needs to be allowed to continue borrowing from other languages in
Malawi to broaden its base. The policy decisions made during the Banda phase,
though explicit, deliberate and to some extent practical, were politically directed
and representative of particular political positions and cultural values of a partic-
ular ethnic group, the Chewa. The introduction of other languages on the radio
has come about only because of the current language policy in Malawi that forms
the basis for the discussion in the next section.

Part III: Language policy and planning


Language planning has been defined as ‘a deliberate language change …
planned by organisations established for such purposes’ (Rubin, 1984: 4) to influ-
ence the behaviour of others with respect to the acquisition, structure or
functional allocation of their language codes’ (Cooper, 1989: 45). As noted by
Kaplan and Baldauf (1997: 3) language planning undertaken by the government
is intended to solve complex sociopolitical (my emphasis) problems, even though
a great deal of societal level language planning is different and modest. The dis-
cussion that follows puts into perspective deliberate language planning
directives in Malawi focusing also on important players in decision making and
implications for policy formulation. This section of the paper will also focus on
the political philosophy, Zasintha (things have changed) behind the current lan-
guage policy decisions in Malawi. The current decisions should be understood
from the conceptualisation of freedom from the autocratic Banda era35 and
should therefore be viewed as politically and pragmatically motivated.

The present phase 1994–


Newspaper publications during the pre- and post-referendum period
(1992–94) initially signalled ethnic language resurgence. According to Kishindo
(1998: 260) opposition papers such as the United Democratic Front’s UDF News
and The New Voice started publishing in languages such as Lomwe, Sena,
Tumbuka and Yao. This could have been indicative of people’s ethnic aspiration
or publishers capitalising on ethnic consciousness for the forgotten languages
during a period of general protest. The fact that most of the papers that published
in these languages are defunct or that these languages are no longer used may
also be indicative of readership apathy towards vernacular languages.
The evolution of the general ethnic consciousness was reflected by that of the
corresponding language policies. Cultural and linguistic activities among Mala-
wians were initiated during the referendum period. After the referendum the
government took an active policy of linguistic pluralism on the radio and
schools. The significance of language movements among the minority or ne-
glected languages in Malawi is closely connected to the new wave of ethnic
consciousness that emerged among Malawians.
120 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

The 1995 Malawi Government Constitution stipulates in article 26 on culture and


language that ‘every person shall have the right to use the language and to partic-
ipate in the cultural life of his or her choice’ (1995: 18). The constitution is silent on
what is the national language and what is the official language. The 1996 UDF
Government Education Policy Document also is silent on the issue. On the basis
of current linguistic practices we can say that the country is still upholding, with
some modifications, the 1968 MCP Convention resolutions cited earlier in this
monograph. The draft National Cultural Policy Plan of Action of 1996 sheds
more light on language issues in Malawi. The document is intended to provide
guidelines from which all players can derive short, medium and long-term
programmes. The overall goal of the policy is ‘to achieve Malawian cultural iden-
tity through the preservation of her cultural heritage …’. In this document,
culture is defined as ‘the people’s way of life’. Research into and local use of ver-
nacular languages is encouraged and the print media are also encouraged to
devote some pages to articles in Chichewa or in any other vernacular languages
(1996: 8). On languages, the cultural policy affirms the role of Chichewa as the na-
tional language but advocates a neutral name because it is a
language that every Malawian understands and speaks though with vary-
ing degrees of fluency. The unifying potential of such a language is obvious
and if Malawi is to maintain a national language, there cannot be much de-
bate about the choice. The debate should perhaps be on what to call it.
Reverting to the old terminology of Chinyanja would be ideal in such a situ-
ation. That would reflect the international status of the language for it is
also spoken widely in Zambia and in Mozambique. Besides it would be a
politically correct terminology locally. Malawi should also recognise the
existence of other vernacular languages and their local importance in the
areas in which they are regularly spoken. Research in all of Malawi’s lan-
guages should therefore be encouraged with a view to promoting one
common language to reflect national unity. (1996: 14)
The cultural policy, which also recommends or embodies the policy the gov-
ernment would like to follow, indicates the need to recognise the role of other
vernaculars that should be researched and preserved. However, the policy
seems to look at this research as a feeder for the promotion of Chichewa. The pol-
icy also falls short of recommending the areas in which the vernaculars should be
used. That this is left to the Ministry of Education and the president is evidenced
by the number of language policy directives the UDF government has issued
since it came into power in May 1994.

The current language policy


The present situation poses its own problems and idealism resulting from the
Zasintha philosophy. There is an assumption that all Malawian languages can be
fully utilised or rehabilitated into full use. It has been a period of general protest
and political activism where sections of the population have mobilised to agitate
for social reform in the promotion of the lesser-used languages as if the nation
has the resources to sustain such a policy.
The UDF government under Dr Elson Bakili Muluzi came into power on 17
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 121

May 1994 through a multi-party general election. Their policy making has been
ad hoc and reactive. On 25 June 1994 the president directed that Tumbuka be rein-
troduced on the radio without prior identification of resources and training of
personnel (Kishindo, 1998). Similarly, on 15 November 1996 the presidential di-
rective to introduce Yao, Lomwe and Sena for news broadcast on MBC radio also
preceded personnel training, as was evident in the failure of a Yao newsreader to
read the news.36 On 13 September 1997 the president, at a political rally in Nkhata
Bay, directed the introduction of Tonga on the radio upon a request from Chief
Fukamapiri (a Tonga).
On 31 July 1995, a cabinet directive dissolved the Chichewa Board and re-
placed it with the Centre for Language Studies (CLS) which came into operation
on 1 April 1996. The directive was implemented by the Ministry of Education and
Culture and the Department of Statutory Corporations that mandated the Uni-
versity of Malawi, Chancellor College establish a Centre for local Malawian
languages. The Centre was mandated with the responsibility of promoting and
developing Malawian languages. The Centre’s objectives are:
• to establish orthographic principles of Malawian languages;
• to develop descriptive grammars for Malawian languages;
• to compile lexicons of Malawian languages;
• to promote and preserve Malawian languages
• to teach various languages of socioeconomic and political relevance to Ma-
lawi;
• to provide translation, interpretation and editing services and to promote
research in language studies.
(Chancellor College ‘Proposal for the establishment of a Centre for
Language Studies’ Ref. No. CC/2/1/3/1)
The Centre therefore provides research and consultancies in both Malawian
and relevant foreign languages such as English, German, Portuguese and Span-
ish.37 Apart from this, the Centre also offers services such as translation,
interpretation, editing, and conducting short courses in both Malawian and
non-Malawian languages in collaborating with foreign research centres. It is
doubtful that the Centre will be able to fulfil its mandate given budget cuts and
the irregular funding it gets (Deputy Director of CLS, 1998, personal communica-
tion).
The introduction of all these languages can be accounted for by the new politi-
cal orientation or Zasintha political philosophy. Kishindo (1998: 264–5) who
believes that the introduction of Tumbuka was for political expediency rather
than serious linguistic concerns, questions the introduction of a minority lan-
guage such as Tumbuka, which ranked fourth in the 1966 census, instead of the
elevation of Lomwe or Yao which ranked second and third respectively. Accord-
ing to Kishindo (1998) the introduction of Tumbuka could only be justified on the
basis that Muluzi was trying to win political favours in the northern region
where his party had polled badly (7% of the total votes) during the general elec-
tion.38 However, contrary to Kishindo’s argument, Tumbuka though a language
of about 6% northerners, mainly in Rumphi, Mzimba and part of Karonga —
since its imposition in schools by the Livingstonia Mission in the 1940s — has and
122 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

would have sustained its regional lingua franca status if it was not for its ban in
1968 that limited its prospects. Kishindo’s argument is a misrepresentation of the
linguistic situation in Malawi, where neither Lomwe nor Yao are learnt as second
languages in their areas, where Chichewa is learnt as the main lingua franca.
Lomwe, as evidenced by two surveys, is a dying language and does not have the
number of speakers indicated in the census (Kayambazinthu, 1989/90, 1994;
Matiki, 1996/97). Secondly, Tumbuka in the north is learnt as a second language
by 64% of the population in a linguistically heterogeneous region. Tumbuka is
the only language that has regional lingua franca status in the north as affirmed
by the recent Tumbuka survey. In my view, Malawi has only two lingua franca
zones, that is, the central and southern regions of Malawi are dominated by
Chichewa whilst the north uses Tumbuka. The political overtones for the promo-
tion of Tumbuka cannot be doubted but the pragmatics of it cannot be denied
either.
A significant directive on education policy came on 28 March 1996, introduc-
ing a three plus or minus language formula. The Secretary for Education stated
that:
The Ministry of Education would like to inform all … that with immediate
effect, all standards 1, 2, 3 and 4 classes in all our schools be taught in their
own mother tongue or vernacular language as a medium of instruction.
English and Chichewa will however, continue to be offered as subjects in
the primary curricula. In the past Chichewa was used as both a medium of
instruction and subject, making it very difficult for beginners to grasp
ideas. However, English will be used as a medium of instruction beginning
in standard 5. (Secretary for Education’s Letter. Ref. No. IN/2/14.)
The justification39 for this directive is based on hearsay and systematic re-
search elsewhere, not in Malawi, as the circular revealed:
You may wish to know that research has revealed that school children learn
better and faster if they are taught in their own mother tongue or in their
own vernacular language during the first 4 years of their formal education
than when they are taught in a second language as a medium of instruction.
It is for this reason that this policy is being instituted.
This policy typifies a policy-by-decree approach that was not based on any re-
search or proper planning despite the fact that it is the only policy document that
assigns a role for the vernacular languages in Malawi other than Chichewa in the
national education system. It should be noted, however, that this directive pre-
ceded the training of teachers, preparation of materials and resources and
general research into the current language situation and attitudes in Malawi. Be-
cause of the impromptu nature of the directive it is not surprising that the
government is failing to implement the policy. The ministry continues to post
primary school teachers where they are needed regardless of whether they know
the language of the community or not, thus contradicting the declaration and its
intentions. The failure of the plan is related to the lack of adequate background
planning before the policy was decreed. The policy also contradicts other rele-
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 123

vant provisions against the backgrounds of availability of physical and material


infrastructure for the successful implementation of such a policy in Malawi.

People’s reaction to the education policy


Chauma et al. (1997: 38) (see also Kazembe, 1996; Saukani, 1996) have summa-
rised the public’s negative reactions to the directive through their asking
pertinent questions and giving reasons ranging from having an inferiority com-
plex to the economics of language planning. Examples of these reactions were:
• If pupils from Standards 1 to 4 are to be instructed in local language domi-
nant or common in an area in which a school is located, children will get
inferior education and will end up drawers of water and hewers of wood.
• It is a political decision because the ruling United Democratic Front does
not want to be reminded of the former ruling party, the MCP, which made
the teaching of Chichewa in primary schools compulsory …
• The use of the mother tongue will encourage tribalism in the country.
Smaller groups of people will want to identify themselves with their
mother tongue.
• What happens to children staying with their parents in areas where their
mother tongue is not dominant? Will they have to transfer back to their
home district to be taught in their mother tongue? (Malawi News, 22–28 June
1996).
• The policy is aimed at saving the face of some teachers who, according to
some people, are not conversant with English.
• New teachers’ guides, textbooks, manuals, pupils’ reading materials in all
dialects or vernaculars will need to be produced and printed.

Problems of educational policy


Under this new political orientation, it is obvious that Malawian minority lan-
guages are in a favourable position considering their introduction in schools.
However, the intention of the ministry to develop native language skills and na-
tional literacies is not an end in itself. One looks at the entire programme as a
stepping stone to prepare pupils for further instruction in Chichewa and English.
The policy does not build in the development and maintenance of reading and
writing skills in the native languages. It will be interesting to find out if in a de-
cade’s time people have acquired literacy in these languages. The Ministry of
Children Affairs and Community Services runs adult literacy classes. The gen-
eral policy has been to teach reading and writing skills in Chichewa only
throughout the country.40
As previously pointed out in this monograph, the process of vernacularisation
does not improve the linguistic and cultural situation without the accompanying
measures of broader socioeconomic impact. The general tendency of viewing the
elevation of a language through functional use on the radio or in early primary
school does not always raise its prestige as much as it might change its
sociolinguistic position. Research has yet to be done to ascertain the impact that
these elevations are having on the languages and how the speakers themselves
view the move towards the preservation of their languages. Another crucial is-
124 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

sue is the unilateral emphasis on native languages in schools rather than learning
them in families and during preschool education. It is doubtful that Lomwe chil-
dren who do not learn the language in their homes will pick it up in schools.
Msonthi’s (1997) BEd dissertation on the vernacular policy in Malawi concludes
that parents are not in favour of vernacular languages in schools. They would
rather have their children learn English, the prestigious socioeconomic lan-
guage. Similarly, the 1996 Yao survey also revealed that parents would favour
the strong use of English (which would make them clever) or Chichewa in
schools rather than Yao (see also Bwanali (1998: 10) on Chichewa as a communi-
cation tool). Also, the policy seems to treat the issue of mother tongue use as a
monolithic problem. In areas where three languages prevail which one will be
used and what criteria will be used for selection? Will the teacher’s proficiency
determine it or its wide usage in the area? How will the system cater for pupils
with insufficient knowledge of the school language?
It is clear from the discussion that the current policy is giving higher priority to
ideological and prestigious issues rather than practical objectives in planning for
language in education. The needs of the communities are parallel with the gov-
ernment policy. If the general public is complaining about the decline of the
standards of English (the cherished language) what will happen when the num-
ber of hours are reduced because of the proliferation of languages of instruction?
The government, which is one of the poorest and most debt ridden in the third
world, has to realise that it cannot sustain such a policy, hence its failure to imple-
ment it. One would also question whether the standard pattern of creating and
developing literacy language (i.e. alphabets, school textbooks, formation of na-
tional elites), and popularising them through the media is always the way to go.
Probably efforts should be spent on teaching and learning the ethnic language in
its oral mode first in the villages or urban schools and creating conditions for the
preservation of the language in its traditional domains before the formal school
system as Chauma et al. (1997) suggest.

National consciousness: Debates in newspapers and language


movements
Kishindo (1998) states that in the months preceding the National Referendum
of 14 June 1993, writers openly debated the language issue in the newspapers.
The arguments revolved around Chichewa as a national language vis-à-vis other
vernacular languages and what to call the national language. Arguing on the ba-
sis of national unity one contributor said ‘the use of one language as a national
lingua franca makes people really feel as one’ (Phiri, 1993). Another argument re-
cognising the spread and use of Chichewa stated that:
Chichewa should still be used as a national language … as long as it is
widely spoken. Not of course (because) Chichewa was chosen by MCP as it
is Kamuzu’s language … I think people must learn and appreciate that a
common language is the one of the most powerful means of communica-
tion. (Mandimbe, 1994)
Counter-arguments against Chichewa wanted equal treatment of all lan-
guages because the elevation of Chichewa as a national language was
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 125

detrimental to the development of other vernaculars and called for a change in


the name of Chichewa Board to be all-encompassing.
The truth is that the country has only preserved Chewa culture and this is
very unhealthy, and if not checked, our children will question our thinking.
The Chichewa Board should change. It should be called the Language
Board. I do not see the future of our children where only one language dom-
inates the conversation of our nation. This is our dream. Our children shall
switch from Chichewa to Tumbuka, Yao, Nkhonde, Tonga, Sena etc., and
our children will never look down upon other language speakers (Timau,
1993).
The name of the language also became a contentious issue. Some contributors
felt that Chichewa was too closely identified with Dr Banda and wanted to revert
to the old name Chinyanja for neutrality.
This debate reflects people’s strong feelings against the way Banda elevated
and implemented Chichewa in Malawi. The language policy that Banda fol-
lowed (the Chewalisation of the Malawi nation) was seen as divisive. The issue of
using Chichewa as a tool of communication was not well understood in that cli-
mate.
The earliest case of ideologically ethnic based movements was that of the Yao
(two journalists and six intellectuals) who formed a ‘Society for the advancement
of Chiyao’, formerly known as ‘Society for the preservation and promotion of
Yao culture and the language’ in order to promote cultural and literary activities
in Yao.41 According to the minutes of their first meeting (n.d.), the idea was
hatched by two journalists in collaboration with a linguist at Chancellor College.
Committee members agreed on the need to provide a philosophy as a foundation
for cultural diversity and for divergent views of life, to promote cultural plural-
ism and to help establish the basis of national unity. The society was going to
focus on research in Yao, build schools where Yao culture could be taught and
create a Yao cultural Centre which would preserve and promote Yao. The society
was also going to draft a bill for tabling in parliament with the intention of includ-
ing Yao in the MSCE syllabus as an optional subject. The meeting noted that Yao
was becoming more or less extinct (Minutes of the first meeting of members of
the Likuga lya Chiyao, n.d.). It was also documented in these minutes that Yao
was the official language of deliberations, even though the minutes were written,
as usual, in English!
Apart from the Yao group, the Tumbuka formed an ‘Association for the Ad-
vancement and Preservation of languages and cultures — Chitumbuka language
and culture sub-division’ — claiming that the movement was nationwide. The
letter mentions the organisation of a workshop involving Tumbuka, Yao,
Lomwe, Sena and Nkhonde. A prominent member in this group was M.S.
Mkandawire who had been involved in Chitumbuka text production before
Tumbuka was banned in schools. Like the Yao group, they viewed themselves as
a forum for all matters pertaining to the preservation of Tumbuka and its intro-
duction in the school curriculum (Letter from Secretary of the Association to the
Secretary for Education, Science and Technology, n.d.).
Another Association, the Abenguni (or Ngoni) Revival Association was
126 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

formed in 1998 by Mr Thole, a Ngoni, who is also the chairperson. The associa-
tion has more than 100 members comprising Ngoni chiefs, journalists and some
intellectuals. The objectives of the Association are to:
• revive the language which is not being passed on from their forefathers to
younger generations;
• bring unity to the Ngoni from both central and northern region;
• foster Ngoni identity.
The association’s activities include the drafting of a constitution, revival of the
Ingoma dance using old Ngoni songs as provided by Dr Soko, a Malawian Ngoni
and French linguist. The Association runs a club at the Mzuzu museum, which
practises old songs and also provides entertainment to museum visitors, Ngoni
classes which have produced a handout in Zulu/Ngoni language using two
books: Learn Zulu by C.L.S. Nyembezi and A Zulu Comprehensive Course by A.T.
Cope, both bought from South Africa. Thus, the Ngoni want to go back to their
roots — are taking a purist attitude towards Ngoni revival — instead of concen-
trating on Mzimba-Mpherembe-Ekwendeni Ngoni that has survived the
century.42 The association is hoping to have village-based clubs where Zulu
learning lessons will be offered and teachers will be identified by the chiefs. At
the moment they have two volunteer teachers who have learnt Zulu up to O level
in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The association has not liaised with the govern-
ment or the Ministry of Education.43
It is well documented that the recent political changes in Malawi have affected
positively the role of other indigenous languages in Malawi. The sudden wave of
democratisation and liberalisation following the collapse of Dr Banda’s Malawi
Congress Party machinery stimulated non-Chewa Malawians to raise their na-
tional consciousness and to activate their long suppressed ethnic movements.
Apart from political movements, the democratisation process has included lin-
guistic movements. It is difficult to judge the impact of such movements on the
current state of affairs in Malawi. However, concessions from the government
have now been obtained in the form of the right to use language in education, on
the radio and in the newspapers. At the same time, the legal functions of these
languages have increased, allowing official services and documents to be pro-
duced and circulated in them. Even so, the lack of official status and all other
necessary supporting institutions such as vernacular language schools, materials
for teaching, mass media, or norms for linguistic standardisation, makes these ef-
forts less worthwhile.

Institutional recognition and semi-official status of Yao, Tumbuka and


Lomwe
The functional attribution of Tumbuka, Yao and Lomwe to institutional do-
mains such as education, administration and jurisdiction gives these languages
‘semi-official status’. This status is substantiated by other types of formal and in-
stitutional recognition of these languages. However, there are no statements in
the Malawian constitution or Malawian laws that clearly name these four lan-
guages as a specific class within the totality of Malawian languages. In education
as well, the only explicit distinction made in the official instructions is between
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 127

English on the one hand, and Malawian languages on the other, the latter cate-
gory being treated as a block. This lack of direction in a multilingual country like
Malawi strengthens English and gives it a stranglehold in these domains. In ad-
ministration; there are no official instructions at all regulating the choice of
language in oral contracts, which is similar to the situation in jurisdiction, where
the instructions only refer to orality, not to the languages to be used in this oral
component.
It must be stressed that the absence of any explicit government policy does not
imply that language in Malawi is in no way affected by the political realm. In
practice, there exists a set of linguistic practices applied in domains which are to
be situated outside of the government’s official legislation but which are undeni-
ably close to the political authorities and which have a distinctively semi-official
and institutional character.
Chichewa is the working language of the president and all who are involved
in mass communication. The prominence of Chichewa is a product of the interre-
lationship between implicit activities and the outcome of a consciously modelled
policy. This does not imply however, that the unintended results are less tangi-
ble. These invisible activities are making quite an impact on Malawian society.
For example, both Presidents Banda and Muluzi, though they have not given
Tumbuka the official status of a northern region lingua franca, have indicated its
status by accepting the use of translation into Tumbuka when in the northern re-
gion. In July 1998, a Nkhonde chief who does not speak Tumbuka addressed
President Muluzi in Nkhonde, and the interpreter interpreted in Tumbuka, a re-
gional language he assumed a Chewa and Yao-speaking president should
understand. In other words, Tumbuka’s regionality and interethnicity is further
entrenched. In the south and the central region, Chichewa is the only language
used in political or presidential discourse.
The Bible Society in Malawi continues to follow its policy of translating the Bi-
ble and Jesus Films into various vernaculars in Malawi such as Tumbuka, Yao,
Lomwe, Sena, Tonga, Nkhonde and Braille. Other language planning agents in-
clude the British Council in Malawi and the French Cultural Centre which are
both engaged in the spread of their languages by providing courses, expertise
and training in English and French respectively. Islam is seeing a revival in Ma-
lawi and the Islamic Centre has just completed the translation of the Koran not
into Yao, but in Chichewa (Quran Out, The Nation, 14 July 1998), the language of
wider communication in Malawi.
This section of the monograph has attempted to contextualise the historical,
social and political ecology of the current language planning and implementa-
tion in Malawi. The section has focused on the evolution of change in Malawi and
the perceptions taken by the government and the people. The next section will fo-
cus on language maintenance and prospects in Malawi.

Part IV: Language Maintenance and Prospects


In a linguistically heterogeneous country such as Malawi, the likelihood of lin-
guistic groups coexisting relatively permanently or some losing their language is
expected. Language maintenance or shift in Malawi may be characterised by a
number of factors with common denominators such as numerical strength, so-
128 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

cioeconomic value of the language(s) and migration. The social contacts between
the various groups produce stable or unstable bilingualism, codeswitching and
loanwords. Where shift is occurring it tends to be unidirectional to Chichewa in
the central and southern part of Malawi and to Tumbuka in the north. This sec-
tion discusses the implications of the various language policies followed in
Malawi for the maintenance of Malawian languages. Data on Lomwe, Yao,
Chichewa and Tumbuka will be used to illustrate the current patterns of lan-
guage use and intergenerational transmission of languages from which planners
can draw some insights for future rational planning.
I am using the term language shift according to Holmes (1992: 65) and Fasold
(1984). The former defines language shift as a process by which one language dis-
places another in the linguistic repertoire of the community and the result of the
process, whilst the latter adds a temporal aspect and describes language shift as a
long-term, collective result of language choice. Language shift means that a com-
munity gives up (consciously or unconsciously) its language completely in
favour of another (Fasold, 1984: 213). Language maintenance is the opposite of
language shift.

The Ngoni
In Part I, I indicated that Ngoni is a dying language that is not being transmit-
ted to children in the various Ngoni settlement areas. Only a small pocket of
Ngoni speakers can be found in Ekwendeni and Mpherembe in Mzimba district.
According to Soko (1998, personal communication), a Ngoni, in these two areas,
Ngoni is even spoken by the children. However, as there is no quantitative sur-
vey data to give the exact figures on Ngoni, its decline can only be discussed
based on qualitative reports. Both Kishindo (1995) and Mtenje and Soko (1998)
attest to the decline of the language, which, as reported by the chairperson of the
Abenguni Association, is not being passed on to the younger generation. The cul-
tural aspects of the Ngoni, especially the oral traditions, are still alive and
distinguishable (Mtenje & Soko, 1998: 15), but cultural preservation did not in-
clude the language. The Ngoni are linguistically either Tumbuka or Chewa
depending on their settlement areas. Factors such as intermarriage, nature of
conquest and assimilation of captives; and the fact that Ngoni, compared to
Tumbuka or Chichewa, was an aristocratic language not available for everyday
communication (Kishindo, 1995: 52) account for the fact that the language is dy-
ing. Hopefully the activities of the Abenguni Association will be properly
funded and will focus on linguistic research to revive the dying language.

The Lomwe
The dispersion of the Lomwe from Mozambique and their migration into Ma-
lawi due to Portuguese brutality, their advanced stage of assimilation where
they settled among the Nyanja and Yao in the Shire Highlands, longstanding
negative attitudes towards the use of Lomwe by both the Lomwe themselves and
other ethnic groups, the perceived difficulty of the language, make the Lomwe
an interesting case study of language shift. Lomwe has been well surveyed and
both rural and urban Lomwe data are presented to show how the Lomwe have
shifted from their language to Chichewa.
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 129

The discussion of Lomwe language shift revolves around the interplay of both
external and internal factors and the pressures that were brought to bear on the
people and the language. According to Kulik (1994: 4) shifts in language are not
caused by languages as such, they are rather caused by shifts in the values and
goals of the speakers of the language (see also Holm, 1993). Lomwe historiogra-
phy and cultural practices are bases from which to understand their process of
language shift. Lomwe historiography has already been presented in Part I of
this monograph. According to Tew (1950) the Lomwe doubled in number be-
tween 1921 and 1931 increasing from 120,776 to 235,616. In 1945, they were
379,638, an increase of 144,022 or 61%. According to the 1966 Census report, the
Lomwe formed the second largest ethnic or linguistic group (14.5%) in Malawi
and they stood at 476,306, an increase of 20% over a period of 21 years. Their
growth rate had slowed.
The evolution of negative attitudes towards the Lomwe language and the
identity crisis of the Lomwe can be better understood by examining not only the
values and attitudes of the Lomwe people but also those of the non-Lomwe eth-
nic groups. Labov (1966, 1972) defines a speech community as the sharing of
norms and values and the homogeneous usage of forms and elements. Hymes
(1972, 1974) adds that members of a speech community share strong feelings of
belonging to a local territory and of participating in an interactional network in-
side this territory (also see Milroy, 1987). Both historians (Boerder, 1984;
Chipendo, 1980/81; Rashid, 1978) and sociolinguists (Kayambazinthu, 1989/90,
1994, 1995; Matiki, 1996/97) have confirmed by empirical evidence the evolution
or change in Lomwe usage from the days of settlement to the present situation.
The questions that can be raised include: Does there exist a Lomwe speech com-
munity? Is there a Lomwe culture that can be attached to language preservation
and aspects of identity? What has really distinguished the Lomwe from the other
ethnic groups that they settled amongst? Apart from the distinct family sur-
names, language, and dances, what were the Lomwe core cultural values
(Smolicz & Secombe, 1985)?
According to Chipendo one side effect of mission education, which used
Chichewa and English as mediums of instruction was the dying out of the
Lomwe language. After their arrival and prior to the 1960s the Lomwe language
was fluently and frequently spoken and meetings were held in Lomwe. How-
ever, when writing and doing research in 1980, Chipendo (1980/81) noted that it
was mostly the old people who spoke the language in Mthiramanja area and that
the youth communicated in Chichewa. Chipendo indicated that this was due to
the fact that the young people learnt everything in English and Chichewa only,
and no Lomwe was spoken at school. Chichewa replaced Lomwe even at home
because it became less and less of an advantage to use and preserve. The Lomwe
began to view their language as a severe handicap to socioeconomic advance-
ment, Chichewa being dominant at work, political and commercial activities or
domains. According to one 70-year-old lady, shifting to Chichewa was a way of
weakening the traditional stigmatisation towards themselves and especially
their children (1992, personal communication).
Makonokaya (1981: 12), who studied the Lomwe of Lirangwi, reported his re-
spondents saying: ‘We teach them Lomwe, but when they go out and meet
130 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

friends who speak Chichewa, they easily forget what they had been taught. Most
of the time our children laugh at what we teach them. I do not know what is awk-
ward about our language. This prevents them from learning how to speak
Lomwe’. However another respondent had a different view that sheds light on
the conscious loss of Lomwe: ‘It would be difficult for the children to learn
Chichewa after acquiring Lomwe as their mother tongue’. To eliminate such
problems the informant said, ‘we prefer teaching them Chichewa at an early
stage so that they should be able to grow up with Chichewa as their first lan-
guage’. The children (N = 39) themselves said they were not interested in
learning Lomwe because ‘most of our friends don’t know how to speak Lomwe.
Now for us to have easy communication with them we prefer learning
Chichewa. Moreover, in our schools, we are not taught Lomwe but Chichewa’
(Makonokaya, 1981:12).
Recent data collected at different times by different researchers exemplify lan-
guage shift. Kayambazinthu’s 1992 survey44 collected data in three main cities in
Malawi (Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu) and involved 107 Lomwe speakers
born mainly in the southern region of Malawi, in Lomwe-speaking areas but now
living in the cities. Both observation and survey techniques using a questionnaire
were used as data collection tools over a period of three months. Respondents
were purposely selected on the basis of being Lomwe households. Matiki’s 1995
study (Matiki, 1996/97) was carried out in rural areas of Lomwe-speaking vil-
lages in Thyolo, Mulanje and Chiradzulu; and involved 180 respondents. It also
employed observations and the questionnaire was the main data collection tool.
Respondents’ age, education and place of birth were correlated with language
competence and use. While accepting that each set of data is representative of the
particular groups in question, at that particular time and situation, the two
groups are still comparable in certain important ways. Thus, some similarities
and contrasts can be observed from the data especially on fluency and frequency
with which respondents used Lomwe. Patterns of language use across four gen-
erations and the actual language use in domains was revealing.
Data analysis revealed that the majority of rural (50%) and urban (70%) the
Lomwe acquired Chichewa as their first language. Data further showed that only
40% of rural Lomwe and 9% of urban Lomwe acquired Lomwe as a first lan-
guage. Both Kayambazinthu (1995) and Matiki (1996/97) report that during
fieldwork most Lomwe reported having acquired both Chichewa and their eth-
nic language simultaneously during childhood within their neighbourhoods
before reaching school age. Thus, childhood bilingualism was a common phe-
nomenon. Societal bilingualism has been cited as a crucial stage or precursor in
the processes leading to language shift (Lieberson, 1972). Lieberson (1972: 1981)
noted that almost all cases of societal language shift came about through
intergenerational switching. Since intergenerational switching requires the ear-
lier generation to be bilingual, the proportion of a population that is bilingual
constitutes an ‘exposure to risk’ that one of the languages might eventually be
lost (Lieberson, 1972: 242), as was and is the case with the Lomwe.
The parental language acquisition pattern was rather different. Rural data
showed that most parents (mothers, fathers and grandparents) spoke Lomwe,
whilst urban data showed the reverse. Very few of the urban respondents (16%)
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 131

and their parents (father 6%, mother 4%), children (12%) and spouses spoke the
language or used it as a home language (14%). Matiki’s data on intergenerational
bilingualism showed that the first generation of parents and grandparents of the
50–82 age cohort and parents of the 35–49 age cohort, was monolingual in
Lomwe (51%) followed by those who were bilingual in both Lomwe and
Chichewa (37%). Monolingualism in Chichewa was minimal (12%) amongst this
group. The second (72%) and third (76%) generation were mainly bilingual in
Lomwe and Chichewa; and if they were monolingual it was mainly in Chichewa.
By the fourth generation, bilingualism in Chichewa and Lomwe was still the
dominant pattern (59%) but monolingualism in Chichewa was rising rapidly
(41%). By this stage, no one claimed to be monolingual in Lomwe. Matiki
(1996/97) observes that from the first to the third generation, the number of
bilinguals in Lomwe and Chichewa increased by a little over 100%. By the fourth
generation, however, the percentage of these bilinguals decreased by 17%. The
Lomwe used Chichewa (76%) more regularly than Lomwe (33%). These data il-
lustrate that the Lomwe have overwhelmingly shifted from monolingualism in
Lomwe in the early twentieth century through bilingualism in Chichewa and
Lomwe to monolingualism in Chichewa in the late twentieth century. The data
show that Lomwe and Chewa contact did not lead to stable bilingualism but to
displacement.
Data on competence and frequency of use of Lomwe revealed that most re-
spondents could speak (41%) and understand (50%) Lomwe but could not read
(46%) or write it (54%). Their skills in speaking (69%), understanding (71%), read-
ing (59%) and writing (59%) Chichewa were far superior to their abilities in
Lomwe. It is obvious that the respondents were more fluent and literate in
Chichewa than in Lomwe. More important is the comparatively high level of
mastery of Lomwe by the rural Lomwe compared to urban Lomwe. The urban
respondents could not speak (65%), understand (43%), read (71%) and write
(79%) Lomwe at all. This pattern reflects the literacy policies followed by both the
colonialists and the neocolonialists who did not provide opportunities for the de-
velopment of Lomwe reading and writing skills.
Data on how frequently respondents used Lomwe revealed that Lomwe was
not used regularly (33%) compared to Chichewa (76%). This tallies with their
competence in the language as well. Lomwe use was split between very little
(31%) and regularly (33%) which means that it was a language that was depend-
ent on speakers’ availability. Of the 107 urban Lomwes, 43% claimed never to use
the language or to use it sometimes (43%). Chichewa was usually used (68%).
Even though the rural Lomwe show more competence in the language and to
some extent use the language more than the urban Lomwe, they are similar in
their higher competence and use of Chichewa than their language.
Data on respondents’ actual language use in various domains: home, neigh-
bourhood, school, religion and media use revealed the significant and dominant
use of Chichewa over Lomwe, whether in the rural or urban areas. Literature on
language shift has documented the fact that shift can be detected from the home
domain and if parents are passing or not passing the language to their children.
Even in the family domain, the inability of the Lomwe to maintain the home as an
intact domain for the use of their language has been decisive in language shift. It
132 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

can be observed that respondents in the two surveys reported to speak only or
mostly in Lomwe to parents and older relatives. The proportion claiming the use
of Lomwe with brothers and sisters or siblings fell substantially among rural
Lomwe and was almost non-existent among urban Lomwes. These results are
comparable with the generational decline in Lomwe usage.
Romaine (1995: 42) states that the low usage of an ethnic language in the home
domain is symptomatic of a more far-reaching disruption of domain distribution
and pattern of transmission. Fishman (1991) emphasises the significance of
intergenerational transmission. He proposes a scale to measure the degree of dis-
ruption and shift which a community has experienced in the use of its language.
He calls this the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS). Fishman
proposes that only when a language is being passed on in the home is there some
chance of long-term survival. Otherwise efforts to prop up the language else-
where (e.g. school, church) may end up being largely symbolic and ceremonial.
The low usage and mastery of Lomwe, especially among urban Lomwes and ru-
ral Lomwes, to some extent reflects the low priority given to the language in
homes, community and schools. This tallies with Chipendo’s observation of the
non-reciprocal use of Lomwe between parents and their children. The high use of
Chichewa indicates the tolerance Lomwe adults have of Chichewa. They do not
mind its use; neither do they reinforce Lomwe with their children. Urban data
showed a similar trend even though it showed a more complete shift towards
Chichewa and only few respondents used Lomwe to older brothers and sisters
(4%) and older relatives (7%). None of the children were spoken to in Lomwe and
there were no Lomwe exchanges between husbands and wives.
Due to the nature of their immigration, interaction and settlement, the Lomwe
experienced stigmatisation. First, they were nicknamed the Nguru,45 a stigma-
tised Yao description of those people who lived on the fringes of Yaoland and
could not speak the Yao language properly (Bandawe, 1971). Secondly, due to
their settlement patterns, the Lomwe were seen as less intelligent and more igno-
rant than the Yao.46 An attempt to revive this flagging Lomwe image resulted in
the creation of the Lomwe Tribal Association in the 1940s to try to regain the dig-
nity of the Lomwe. This dignity unfortunately did not include the revival of the
flagging language. Even during this recent period of ethnic consciousness, a
Lomwe group has not yet been set up.
Right from the settlement days the Lomwe were not a coherent group. Use of
Lomwe began to decline slowly, the low status of the Lomwe and the low pres-
tige of the language accelerated the process. Urbanisation and industrialisation
at the beginning of the twentieth century transformed the communities. These
developments made it possible for the Lomwe to escape their poverty and find
better paying jobs and provide their children with educational advantages.
These economic and social processes fostered assimilation into the Chewa cul-
ture and had negative consequences for the growth of Lomwe language. The
proclamation of Chinyanja as the sole and obligatory lingua franca in Malawi
and medium of instruction in schools, alongside English as an official language
since the 1920s, gave no opportunity for the development of Lomwe script in
schools or its extended use in other domains apart from the home. Nyanja domi-
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 133

nated the neighbourhood domain as a lingua franca in a Nyanja-speaking


environment.

The Yao
Another language that has been undergoing shift is Yao. The earliest Yao sur-
vey carried out in the Malindi and Domasi areas in 1987 (Kayambazinthu,
1989/90) revealed that Yao was the dominant mother tongue (77%) and most fre-
quently used language in the home (72%). However, in both Malindi and
Domasi, Chichewa was the main lingua franca outside the home domain and bi-
lingual acquisition and use of Chichewa and Yao was the norm. Yao was
confined to intraethnic communication. The 1992 urban survey however, re-
vealed that the Yao were shifting to Chichewa. Of the 112 Yao interviewed, 14%
learnt it as their first language and both Chichewa (35%) and Yao (37%) were
their best languages. Chichewa was also the respondents’ most frequently used
home language (61%) and that of their children (71%). Thus, in the urban areas
Chichewa was the dominant lingua franca except when talking to ethnic friends,
siblings and neighbours who spoke the language.
Another Yao survey was carried out in 1996 (9–30 April) Kishindo et al. (1997)
with the aim of investigating the current attitudes to Yao among Yao native
speakers of Mangochi, Machinga, Dedza, Salima, Nkhota Kota, Blantyre, Zomba
and Chiradzulu. The survey specifically wanted to find out:
• whether native Yao speakers in these Yao-speaking areas would favour the
introduction of Yao as a medium of instruction in primary schools; and
• the Yao speakers’ attitudes to the national language, Chichewa. The survey
also wanted to find out if Chichewa has made headway since it was made
the national language, as a lingua franca for different ethnic groups or was
ever used between members of the same ethnic group.
To test these questions, data were collected from 862 randomly sampled sub-
jects from the Yao-speaking districts already named over a period of three weeks.
The results showed that 93% of the total sample could speak Yao and that Yao
was the mother tongue of 83% of the respondents. Ninety-five per cent of these
respondents could also speak Chichewa and only 5% were monolingual in Yao.
Most of the respondents (66%) used Yao more frequently more than Chichewa
(3%) and other languages (4%). Sixty-two per cent of the respondents were in fa-
vour of Yao becoming a language of instruction in Yao-speaking areas and the
Yao in general had a strong and positive attitude towards their own language.
However, the results also showed that the least educated were the ones who
were in favour of Yao in schools, unlike the educated who favoured English
(Kishindo et al., 1997: 13).
The de facto position of Chichewa as a lingua franca in Malawi is seen in the fol-
lowing figures. Respondents (94%) reported that they liked speaking Chichewa.
Fifty per cent of the total population interviewed, in response to the question:
‘Which language they would prefer as a language of instruction in schools?’,
gave a bilingual answer. Fifty per cent chose Chichewa followed by Yao (47%)
and English (11%). Yao was selected for the radio by 59% of the respondents, fol-
lowed by Chichewa (41%). Overall, Yao was the language the respondents
134 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

wanted for reading (54%), radio (41%) and health extension work. In all these ar-
eas, Chichewa was the next most favoured language. Age grading, however,
showed a different pattern. That is, the younger generation (5–20 years old = 49%
and 21–35 year olds = 19%) preferred to speak Chichewa, unlike the older gener-
ation of 46+ (17%) who liked to speak Yao.

The Tumbuka
Surveys done on Tumbuka in urban areas and within its region revealed high
use of the language and its maintenance. The survey I carried out on 400 respon-
dents in Rumphi and Karonga Districts in 1991 revealed that Tumbuka was
highly used both as a home language and an interethnic language. Another
Tumbuka survey was carried out on 1732 respondents in 1997 by the Centre for
Language Studies.47 Data was collected through interactive interviews in all five
districts in the Northern Region of Malawi: Rumphi, Mzimba, Nkhata Bay,
Karonga and Chitipa. The authors observed a high competence in Tumbuka. The
report indicates that about 76% of the respondents who took a vocabulary and
comprehension test of Tumbuka showed clear understanding of Tumbuka. The
vocabulary test showed a pass rate of 96%. Interviews with teachers showed a
high approval rating and acceptance (from 59% to 72% in all districts) of
Tumbuka as both a subject and medium of communication. This showed that
teachers in the northern region are prepared to teach in Tumbuka and that
Tumbuka is a de facto regional lingua franca.
Tunbuka was the language most frequently spoken at school in both Karonga
(51%) Rumphi (100%) and Mzimba (94%). In Chitipa, Lambya (41%), Sukwa
(29%) and Bandia (29%)48 were commonly spoken. In Nkhata Bay, Tonga (92%)
was prevalent. Chichewa was the dominant language for radio broadcasts and
newspaper articles in Nkhata Bay, Chitipa and Karonga, unlike Rumphi where
Tumbuka use was the same as Chichewa (50%). This further indicates the
regionality of Tumbuka and Chichewa as a national lingua franca. Recognising
the power of English, most respondents opted for English in Parliament followed
by Chichewa then Tumbuka. Most of the pupils interviewed (59%) wanted to
learn in English followed by Chichewa. Their desires seem to reinforce the two
long-standing subjects and mediums of communication, and suggest that they
have become more established school languages than Tumbuka, which was mar-
ginalised for nearly 30 years. The results also showed favourable liking for
Chichewa in radio, newspapers, church and hospitals especially in Nkhata-Bay
and to some extent in Karonga. Tumbuka was favoured for radio, newspapers,
church and hospitals in Rumphi, Karonga and Mzimba (Centre for Language
Studies, 1998).49

Observations
The distribution of speakers according to age groups serves as a reliable indi-
cator of the chances for the preservation of a language. The data in all the surveys
showed that the level of competence in the native language was lower among the
younger generation and all the sociolinguistic surveys give that uniform picture.
The complete absence of native speakers among children, or among people be-
low 30–40 seen in Lomwe reflect the lower use of Lomwe and Yao especially in
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 135

the urban areas. However, when considering these figures one should also ac-
count for conservative patterns of behaviour and that when people grow older
they sometimes learn the language. Also to be taken into account is the preserva-
tion of languages such as Yao and Lomwe in the rural areas. Despite its ban in
1968 Tumbuka is still thriving in both rural and urban areas.
The results of these surveys point to three important issues:
(1) Malawi has two lingua franca zones: Chichewa in the centre and southern
region, and Tumbuka in the northern region.
(2) Of the two lingua francas, Chichewa is the de facto national lingua franca in
Malawi and Tumbuka is the de facto northern regional lingua franca by vir-
tue of being the language that is best understood by the majority of people in
the region.
(3) The elevation of Chichewa and the teaching of English and Chichewa only
in schools have had a major impact on coexisting languages such as Lomwe
and Yao to some extent, which are in decline. Vernaculars continue to fulfil
intraethnic communication.
These results have further implications for language planning in Malawi.
What Malawian planners need to do is to ascertain the role of minority languages
especially in the health sector, agricultural extension and community develop-
ment.

Future prospects
This monograph has raised a number of issues that Malawi needs to address
for language planning purposes:
(1) In Malawi, conscious and deliberate language planning in response to
sociopolitical and economic problems has been ad hoc and has not been pre-
ceded by any research into the linguistic situation. If the move towards
pluralism is to be effective, surveys and linguistic analyses need to be done
to determine and establish standard varieties of the languages involved.
(2) Historically, Malawi has planned for trilingualism by deliberately neglect-
ing second language education in schools in indigenous languages other
than Chichewa. Malawi has also practised linguistic imperialism by pro-
moting English, associated with social and economic mobility at the
expense of Chichewa and other Malawian languages; and by using
Chichewa as a stepping stone to the ultimate goal of acquiring English. If
Malawian planners intend to vernacularise the education system then there
is need to tie vernacular education to job opportunities, which is not done at
present. Cases of language shift testify to the active and deliberate denigra-
tion and repression of some Malawian languages during the colonial and
Banda eras.
Language planning in a multilingual and multicultural country such as Ma-
lawi is a complex process that needs serious consideration rather than ad hoc or
reactive measures. As an emergent underdeveloped country, Malawi needs to
address national concerns, pedagogical concerns and social or human rights con-
cerns. Within the Zasintha philosophy the latter and the former issues are
136 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

fulfilled, but the various logistical programmes and pedagogical issues have not
been fulfilled. While a pluralistic alternative has many appealing features, it also
brings its own pluralistic dilemmas. Bullivant (1981: ix) argues that even in the
most enlightened and tolerant societies, pluralistic options can potentially func-
tion as ideal methods of controlling knowledge/power, while appearing
through symbolic political languages to be acting solely from the best of motives
in the interests of ethnic groups themselves. The government’s commitment to
multilingualism is commendable but is prohibitively costly.
The current recognition of six languages on the radio, the introduction of other
vernaculars in schools and the protection of minority languages is a commend-
able idea, but it raises a number of questions that remain to be answered.
Malawian planners have to realise that status planning decisions will have to be
reflected in corpus planning decisions. The implementation of specific language
policies will be problematic politically, economically and educationally. Where
should the line be drawn? If equity is the criterion, then all languages should be
treated equally, an undertaking that the government cannot afford. Would the
president refuse the Ngoni if they agitate for it to be broadcast on the radio? The
emerging picture from the survey of literature on language planning in Malawi,
newspaper debates and the various surveys this monograph has reviewed
shows that nationally, the selection of Chichewa as national language and Eng-
lish as the official language is not in question.
Vernacularisation touches at the core of Malawian authentication of its multi-
culturalism and multilingualism. It was evident at the launch of the Malawian
National Long Term Perspective Studies (Malawi Vision 2020) workshop in No-
vember 1997, that Malawians do not like their cultures nor their produce,
favouring external products. The authentication of Malawian languages and
their ascendancy to fulfil that role or that status demands that Malawians accept
that what they have is as good as what they can import, including languages. At-
tached to vernacularisation should be the economic benefits for the use of
Malawian languages, breaking the monopoly of English as the catalyst for socio-
economic development. However, Malawi also needs to tackle global issues and
English will still be needed as a global language.
The roles of both the national language and the official language programmes
need to be clearly delineated, with lexical and orthographic development being
attached to status planning. The popularity of English among both the educated
and uneducated as the language to learn shows that English has a positive profile
in Malawi. However, if access to scientific and technological information is em-
bodied in English, as is the case now, then one can only hope that the government
will check English’s role as a stratifying tool or linguistic boundary, to make it
more accessible to everyone through free primary education.50
Pedagogically, the use of vernaculars in early primary school is both educa-
tionally sound and pragmatic. The role of vernaculars as stepping stones allows
the children to adjust to the school system and helps them to understand con-
cepts they would have found otherwise difficult to understand in English (see
also Chauma et al., 1997). So, should the Ministry then post people according to
their district of origin? This would raise political eyebrows as it did in the Banda
era and would also go against teachers’ aspirations and motivation. The Ministry
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 137

of Education needs to produce materials, train teachers in these languages and


constantly review the progress of the plan.
The government needs to support linguistic research in the various languages
in Malawi and establish lingua franca zones of mediums of communication. Lin-
guists should also be involved in the standardisation, production of orthography
and lexical expansion of these languages to meet the communicative needs of the
communities. A number of Chancellor College intellectuals51 have called for ver-
nacularisation of the school system, a policy that has been adopted in a number of
countries both in post colonial Africa and world wide. Although UNESCO and
other research studies have endorsed the merits of such a policy, it is unlikely to
prove popular in the current Malawian setting, given the popularity of English
and its current status. However, the authentication of Malawian languages has
its own place. Debates in Parliament would be better done in Chichewa than
English. The laws should be translated into the various vernaculars for ordinary
people to understand52 and Malawi could benefit from learning the Samoan
model (Baldauf, 1990). One cannot but agree with Djité (1990: 98) that:
It’s hard to believe that there can be or that one can possibly argue for a true
and lasting development under such a policy when so many people do not
know their constitutional and legal rights, cannot understand the develop-
ment goals of their governments, and actively participate in them.
The current dominance of English in administration and legislature means
that nearly 90% of Malawians are excluded from decisions that affect them. It is
also doubtful, given the calibre of our Malawian Parliamentarians, that they are
able to understand or follow the bills that they pass in Parliament.53

Conclusion
This monograph has attempted to trace and contextualise the historical, social
and political ecology of Malawian language policy formulation and implementa-
tion from the colonial period to the present situation.54 In an attempt to present
the history of language planning in Malawi I have proceeded to present more
than an overview of the history. The processes, conflicts and the different lobby-
ists behind language planning in Malawi are focused upon. Further, the
complexity of the issues in language planning and the reactive and ad hoc way
that has perversely characterised language planning is shown. During the colo-
nial period consultation and lobbying for languages shaped the language policy.
However, the post-colonial period is marked by spontaneous planning without
consultation and decisions are connected to the socioeconomic and political en-
vironment in which they were made. Hopefully the future development of
language policy in Malawi will be systematic and directives will be based on real
research, not on vested interest.

Acknowledgments
Some of the material in Parts I and II of the monograph was covered in my PhD
thesis submitted to La Trobe University, Australia. I would like to thank Pascal
Kishindo for valuable comments on the earlier draft of this paper and for provid-
ing me with valuable sources on language issues during the Referendum Period
138 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

(1992–93) in Malawi. Thanks also to Isabel Phiri for providing salient articles. I
am grateful to Moira Chimombo and Dennis Kayambazinthu, in that order, for
suggestions and editorial help.

Correspondence
Any correspondence should be directed to Dr Edrinnie Kayambazinthu, De-
partment of English, Chancellor College, University of Malawi, P.O. Box 280,
Zomba, Malawi (ekayambazinthu@unima.wn.apc.org).

Notes
1. The figure was given at the Malawi population day (11 July 1998) organised by Minis-
try of Health in conjunction with the NSO. The national census was held in 1998, the
first census in Malawi since the 1966 census to include a question on home languages.
The census however, was not expected to find out about ethnic composition for one to
determine language maintenance or shift in the country.
2. Bailey (1995: 34–35) has an interesting discussion of whether one should use the ver-
nacular language prefix in English for Bantu languages. He recommends the omission
of the prefix.
3. I am using Guthrie’s (1967) classification of Bantu languages.
4. During the colonial period up to 1968, Chichewa was known as Nyanja. In all the in-
formation on languages where Nyanja appears as a language, it should be read as
Chichewa. This is distinct from Nyanja as a dialect of Chichewa. In Zambia, the lan-
guage is still known as Nyanja.
5. Personal correspondence with Monica Masonga, a Zambian.
6. Vail (1972: 150) on the basis of Tumbuka cultural differences, states that the Tumbuka
came from three different areas. Those in the south derived from a mixture of
matrilineal peoples of Chewa origin. The northern zone was peopled either by groups
who immigrated from the patrilineal system in southern Tanzania and northeastern
Zambia or by those who immigrated from matrilineal areas to the west at a relatively
later date and adopted a patrilineal system of descent and inheritance.
7. Guthrie (1967) does not classify some of these languages.
8. According to Kishindo (Personal Communication, 1998), there are two Bibles in the
two ‘dialects’ and the textual comparisons leaves one in no doubt that they are the
same language.
9. Personal communication with Dr Matembo Mzunda, a Lambya speaker and lecturer
at Chancellor College, 1991.
10. Personal communication with Peter Lino, a native speaker of Sena. Also, even though
I am a fluent Chichewa speaker, I cannot understand Sena news items on the radio.
11. Personal communication with Mazganga Lino, a Ngoni.
12. Nguru has become a derogatory name for the Lomwe. The use of this term is now
banned in Malawi.
13. The British were not necessarily the first Europeans to make contacts with Malawians
since prior to the British the Portuguese had already been trading with the Malawians
but did not take full control of the country.
14. This discussion is based mainly on the 1966 census data because to date, it is the only
comprehensive language survey done on Malawian languages. The 1987 census col-
lected data on literacy in the official language (English) and the national language
(Chichewa) but excluded all other languages.
15. Vail and White (1989: 180) state that the figure was exaggerated. ‘President Banda was
able to lump together the various dialect groups of the southern region — Chipeta,
Nyanja and Mang’anja, even Lomwe to produce a national population that was …
more than 50 percent Chewa. Banda’s deep concern for a paper majority for the
so-called Chewa was demonstrated when he ordered the University of Malawi to no
longer use the services of the University of London’s distinguished linguist, Prof.
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 139

Wilfred Whiteley, after he had observed in a report prepared for the University of Ma-
lawi that the number of Chewa speakers was clearly exaggerated in official estimates’.
16. In 1964 when the country gained independence about 359,841 (approximately 10.5%
of the total population (N = 3,275,181) pupils were enrolled in primary school. By 1996
the enrolment rate had grown to 2,887,107 pupils (24.3%) due to free primary educa-
tion (Basic Educational Statistics, 1996).
17. Personal communication with the principal education methods adviser for French sit-
ting in for the language adviser. Ministry of Education and Culture, 16 January 1998.
18. MASAF is a microlending programme for socioeconomic development of rural com-
munities in Malawi. Privatisation refers to programmes announcing which
companies are being privatised and when people can buy shares.
19. Dr W.M. Turner of LMS states that historically, the experience of the missionaries was
that for the first 25 years of its work in Nyasaland, Chinyanja was insisted on as the
medium of instruction in schools … It was because it was obvious that the policy was
failing educationally to reach the mass of the people in the north (my emphasis) that the
mission council decided to use the local vernacular and pass them on to English. Since
that decision was taken, the advance made in education has been both rapid and con-
tinuous, and the education given in the Livingstonia Mission has won a high
reputation not only in Nyasaland but in the adjoining territories. (Turner to Chief Sec-
retary, Zomba, 29 July 1933). The discussion on colonial discourses and language
policies is based on my archival research, especially File Nos.: S1/1008/19,
S1/449/32, S1/235/32, S1/510/30 at the National Archives of Malawi in January 1992
and the University of Malawi Library, Chancellor College, Zomba.
20. White fortune seekers who acquired huge pieces of land for growing coffee and tea in
the Shire Highlands in the late nineteenth century.
21. For example, Laws translated Mark’s Gospel in western Nyanja dialect and in 1866
completed his version of the New Testament in the same dialect. At the Blantyre Mis-
sion David Scott brought out Matthew and Mark in 1892, the Gospels in 1893 and
certain Epistles in 1894 in the Mang’anja dialect (Doke, 1961b: 122). Bishop Mackenzie
of the UMCA at Likoma Island translated Mark in 1891 and Archdeacon Johnston the
Psalms in 1893 in eastern Nyanja or the Likoma dialect. The New Testament was com-
pleted in 1898 and the whole Bible in 1912 by Archdeacon Johnston and Miss K.H.
Nixon Smith. This version is still used by this mission (Doke, 1961b: 122).
22. Price (1940: 132) and Heine (1970: 62) note that the move towards union Nyanja did
not gain a foothold because the contrast between the two dialects had already deep-
ened far too much and speakers of each dialect felt that each other’s dialect was
represented beyond its merit.
23. Local mission presses included the Livingstonia Mission Press (Presbyterian), Likuni
Press (Catholic), Montfort Press (Catholic), Malamulo Publishing House (Seventh
Day Adventist) Hertherwick Press (Presbyterian) publishing mainly in Nyanja and
Yao (Pachai, 1971: 55) and the Government Printer. All these helped in the distribution
of books to agencies and schools.
24. Vail (1981: 126) states that in 1893 there were 10 schools with 630 pupils, and by 1901,
there were 55 schools with an average attendance of 2800 pupils.
25. When the colonialists were deciding on a lingua franca for Malawi, the other two alter-
natives, apart from Nyanja, were English and Kiswahili. From the Church of Scotland,
James Alexander argued that ‘personally, I would not favour Kiswahili, not merely
because it would mean uprooting and replacing the vast output of Chinyanja litera-
ture put out by the government and various missions, but also because of its
association with Mohammedanism (Islam)’. Letter from Church of Scotland Mission,
Blantyre, Nyasaland, 12 September 1932. To the Director of Education, A.T. Lacey
from James F. Alexander.
26. James Alexander of the BMS wrote to the Director of Education T.M. Lancey that ‘in
our mission Yao was at first the language always used and of course remains the
mother tongue of a vast number of natives in these parts but at the beginning of this
century the official policy of the mission was to supersede Yao with Chinyanja … The
contention has been advanced by those responsible for the working of village schools
140 Language Planning and Policy in Africa
in our district that were Yao to be the medium of instruction, the women and girls
would come in far greater number to school. A contention that cannot be gainsaid but
which economically is impossible’ (James Alexander to T. Lacey (Director of Educa-
tion) 12 September 1932.
27. Language shift towards Nyanja in the Shire Highlands dates back to early settlement
without the intervention of the colonial government or missionaries due to the fact
that the Yao were a minority among the majority Nyanja (see the 1921 population cen-
sus report and Tew, 1950). My urban data collected in 1992 from 450 respondents
comprising Chewa, Yao, Lomwe and Tumbuka speakers in Blantyre, Lilongwe and
Mzuzu showed that only 3% of the respondents learnt Yao as a second language and
6% learnt it as a third language compared to Chichewa’s 49% and 30% respectively.
28. By 1904, 64% of the pupils receiving education in Malawi did so in Livingstonia’s
schools, whilst all those obtaining post primary training attended the Overtoun Insti-
tution (Alpers, 1972: 215).
29. By 1944, the name changed to the Nyasaland African Congress and in 1960 to the Ma-
lawi Congress Party (MCP).
30. For example, Sanderson’s and Birthrey’s An Introduction to Chinyanja was written pri-
marily for the increasing number of settlers in Nyasaland both official and unofficial,
requiring a working knowledge of Nyanja, whilst Thomson’s Military Nyanja was
written to provide a skeleton grammar and vocabulary for those engaged in learning
the language for military use, a memory fresher for those who have done so and to
serve as a handbook of mainly military terms for those who learn the language in civil
life.
31. It should be noted that Nyanja has a speech community in eastern Zambia.
32. On problems of standardisation of Nyanja see Young (1949), Mtenje (1980) and
Kishindo (1990). By Chinyanja was meant the Nyanja of southern region of Malawi
and central region and it did not include Lake shore Nyanja (Lacey to Chief Secretary,
A memoranda 17 April 1936).
33. Banda’s uncle, Chief Mwase of Kasungu, in collaboration with the colonial govern-
ment also acted as an informant to the colonial linguists in London when the
government was trying to elevate Chichewa as a national language and selecting the
dialect to be standardised.
34. Most educated Malawians find it very difficult to express academic and technical is-
sues in Chichewa or vernacular languages (see also Gonzalez, 1990, on bilingual
education in the Philippines). This was evident at the National Long Term Perspective
Study Conference (Malawi Vision 2020 Conference) in 1997 when the vice president
asked the resource persons to present their findings in both Chichewa and English for
the sake of the uneducated chiefs. While the presenters were very comfortable in Eng-
lish, they struggled to express the ideas in Chichewa or Tumbuka to the amazement of
the participants.
35. For a thorough discussion on this era and Banda’s iron fist rule characterised by lack of
freedom and lack of dissenting views, see Vail and White, 1989; Chirwa, 1998; Phiri,
1988; Chimombo, 1998 and Kishindo, 1998.
36. My personal communication with one MBC worker revealed that they got the direc-
tive two days before the three languages went on air. As such they were caught
unawares and were unprepared for the task. That this was a political ploy for the gov-
ernment to gain votes in a particular by-election is clear. This decision also affected the
time slot for Tumbuka which used to be aired at prime time, 7.10 pm to 9 pm to the an-
noyance of the Tumbuka listeners. The Tumbuka were quick to accuse the
government of tribalism and politicking. See for example, Chakachaka, L. ‘Why mis-
time Tumbuka’. Letters, The Star, 20 November 1996, and Manda, M. ‘Welcome Yao,
Lomwe, but’ Letters to the Editor, Malawi News, 7–13 December 1996. See also
Kishindo (1998).
37. This type of work has not yet been effected. The Centre has so far conducted the
Tumbuka survey (sponsored by the German Technical Corporation) and produced a
draft dictionary of Chichewa, revised Chichewa orthography rules, Malilime: Mala-
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 141

wian Journal of Linguistics, teaching manuals for teaching Tumbuka and Chichewa to
non-native speakers.
38. It is well documented in Malawi that the general elections were done along regional
lines (see Chirwa, 1998; Kishindo, 1998 among others). The regionalistic and ethnic
tendency clearly showed when Tom Chakufwa Chihana, a Tumbuka from the north
and candidate for the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) won over 85% of the votes
from the region against his 8% from the centre and 7% from the south. Dr Banda, a
Chewa from the central region and an MCP candidate got 70% of the votes in his re-
gion against 16% from the south and 9% from the north. Elson Bakili Muluzi, a Yao
from the southern region won 75% of the votes in the southern region against 23% in
the centre and 7% in the north (Kishindo 1998: 265).
39. The secretary for education explained in a press release in The Nation newspaper of 25
June 1996: 13 that ‘The fact has however remained that although other languages were
banned as mediums of instruction in Standard 1–4, many teachers teaching in the re-
mote rural primary schools, have used and are still using the commonly spoken
languages in their schools as mediums of instruction in Standards 1 to 4 making learn-
ing more meaningful to pupils. The teachers, however, make sure that School
Inspectors do not find them doing so, otherwise they quickly switch over to Chichewa
at the sight of the School Inspectors. The new policy is trying to grant teachers the free-
dom to use languages commonly spoken in the area where schools are situated. Yet
teachers will be posted according to the need of that particular district or region that is
regardless of whether one knows the language or that area or not’.
40. Kishindo (1995: 56) footnotes that in 1994 people in Chitipa were calling for the aboli-
tion of literacy classes in Chichewa. They wanted to learn in Tumbuka. ‘Recently,
literacy instructors in Chitipa have asked the department of community services to
teach adults in Chitumbuka which they claim they understand better than Chichewa’.
‘Instructors push for Chitumbuka’, The Nation, 3 October 1994. In another situation,
adult learners wanted literacy classes to include English!
41. Pascal Kishindo, lecturer and Head of African Languages and Linguistics Depart-
ment, says he initiated this movement with the aim of forming clubs that could discuss
orthography issues and creative writing in the various languages. However, the initial
idea was hijacked and the association turned into a political forum for frustrated Yao
politicians. When he pulled out, the association also died.
42. According to Dr Soko, an Associate Professor of French and a resource person to the
Association, Malawi Ngoni is closer to South African Xhosa than South African Zulu.
He says that when a praise poet from Mzimba (Malawi Ngoni) presented his epic
poem at a conference, the Zulu delegates understood only half of what he was saying
and a Xhosa delegate understood everything. Dr Soko confirms this from other Mala-
wian Ngonis living in South Africa near the Xhosa who also confirm the close mutual
intelligibility between Xhosa and Malawian Ngoni. Therefore Malawi Ngoni is closer
to original Nguni than Zulu (see also Mtenje & Soko, 1998). Probably the Malawian
Ngonis need to study Malawian Ngoni rather than using Zulu texts. The early mis-
sionaries also mistakenly assumed that Ngoni equals Zulu.
43. The whole movement was initiated by Mr Thole, a senior museum curator at Mzuzu
Museum by virtue of being Ngoni, his job and interest in the language and its culture
(personal communication with Mr A.W. Thole, Chairperson, Abenguni Revival Asso-
ciation).
44. My survey, unlike Matiki’s, took a comparative approach and studied the language
use of four major linguistic groups in Malawi: the Chewa, the Lomwe, the Yao, and the
Tumbuka in that order. This should be borne in mind when interpreting the data.
45. The origin and use of this word is still contentious. Some authors such as Tew (1950)
referring to it as originating from a hill near where the Lomwe came from and some
Lomwe claiming it as a dialectical variation of Lomwe (Kishindo, personal communi-
cation, 1997).
46. ‘The Anguru are naturally a wild and low-caste race whose ignorance makes them at
once savage and timid. The immigrant Anguru rarely or never form communities of
their own when settling in British territory but prefer to attach themselves to promi-
142 Language Planning and Policy in Africa
nent Yao or Anyanja chiefs in return for whose protection they usually perform a
certain amount of menial labour. The status of these Anguru strangers in a Yao or
Anyanja village is somewhat peculiar. They are often described by other natives and
indeed describe themselves as “akapolo” (slaves), a misleading term … although their
racial inferiority causes them to be held in some measure of contempt and relegates
them naturally to an inferior position as compared with more intelligent tribes’
(Murray, 1910: 107–108).
47. The results of this survey should be understood from the point of view that given the
population in the northern region and the sample obtained, on which the results are
based, is far from representative. Given the nature of the project that was undertaken a
higher sample would have yielded more significant and elucidating results than is
given. The survey interviewed 1105 primary school pupils, 194 primary school teach-
ers, and 433 parents/guardians. The sample was skewed towards pupils.
48. A newspaper reporter who visited Chitipa recently says that he was surprised to see
that most people in the district could hardly converse in Chichewa despite having
been born and brought up in the country. There were also very few people who dis-
cussed issues in Tumbuka. Although there are several dialects in Chitipa (he
exaggeratedly cites 20) people are able to understand each other, that is, they do not
need a lingua franca because the various languages are mutually intelligible. The mu-
tual intelligibility is questionable but probably, Chitipa being a small district, most
people have maintained their languages but at the same time they have learnt each
other’s language to the extent that they can understand each other. His argument is
however flawed in that he assumes that being born and bred in Malawi means one au-
tomatically learns Chichewa. At the same time his article raises the important
question of how far spread are Chichewa and Tumbuka and Chitipa in the remote vil-
lages of Malawi (Ntonya, 1998).
49. The resistance to Tumbuka by the Tonga and the Ngonde is historical. Refer to the co-
lonial debates which also show the two groups resisting Tumbuka and favouring
Chichewa in their areas. The resistance stems from the rivalry of the two ethnic groups
with the Tumbuka. The Ngonde hated the Tumbuka because the latter collaborated
with the Arab slave traders (Mlozi) during the slave trade when Mlozi plundered the
Ngonde villages. For the Tonga, according to Wiseman Chirwa (personal communi-
cation, 1998), Tumbuka is associated with the Ngoni who also subjugated the Tonga
through their raids. Later on though, the Ngoni provided ready labour to the Tonga.
As such the Tonga do not hold the Ngoni in high esteem.
50. The president’s speeches which used to be monolingual in Chichewa, have of late
tended to be bilingual or containing codeswitching between English and Chichewa
(Kishindo, 1998, personal communication), probably as a way of signalling his multi-
ple identity of being a Malawian (Chichewa) and educated (English).
51. See Kamwendo, 1994; Kulemeka, 1995; Chauma et al. 1997. As Kishindo (Personal
communication, 1998) rightly points out, Malawian intellectuals harbour contradic-
tions at the personal level. Most intellectuals will send their children to exclusive
schools where English is the main language and speaking a vernacular is an offence. It
seems Malawian intellectuals pay lip service to vernacularisation and have no confi-
dence in the government school system. The intellectuals also realise that English is a
prestigious language they cannot disregard.
52. One of the daily papers reported a meeting where shareholders were angry with the
way their constitution was written. The legalese was beyond them and they called for
simple language that they could all understand and participate in discussion. These
were not village or uneducated people but educated Malawians. What more with the
uneducated?
53. The author runs a communication skills course for the Malawian Parliamentarians
under the sponsorship of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in con-
junction with Malawi Parliament. The debates in the newspapers also indicate that
most MPs do not know why they are in Parliament and their participation leaves a lot
to be desired.
The Language Planning Situation in Malawi 143

54. For more details see Kishindo (1990, 1992), Vail (1981), Vail and White (1989),
Kayambazinthu (1995).
55. Tables 1 is based on the 1966 census data.
56. The new recommendation from the syllabus committee gives equal number of hours
for English and local languages, i.e. five hours each, to give more time to Chichewa
and other Malawian languages (Professor Moira Chimombo, personal communica-
tion, 1998).
57. The improvement in 1996–1997 may be due to changes in the evaluation of testing.
Students are writing multiple question tests than essay type (Moira Chimombo, per-
sonal communication, 1998).

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The Language Situation in Mozambique1
Armando Jorge Lopes
Modern Languages Department, Faculty of Arts, PO Box 257, Eduardo
Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique

This paper addresses the language situation in post-independent Mozambique from


both a language-planning and a language-policy perspective. It begins with a presenta-
tion of an up-to-date language profile of the country, as well as a discussion of its high
linguistic diversity. This is followed by an investigation of the language spread dy-
namics in education, literacy and media. Then, the paper argues that language- plan-
ning activities, which are ultimately derived from the nature of the Mozambican
society and the consequent language needs, should lead to a maintenance-oriented pro-
motion type of language policy in the polity. The final section attempts an evaluation of
the prospects for an improved cohabitation between the Bantu languages, Portuguese
and English in multilingual Mozambique.

Introduction
The aim of this paper is to provide a preliminary survey of the language
planning situation in Mozambique. This attempt explores the highly topical
issue of language planning in the particular context of the lingua franca sta-
tus of Portuguese in Mozambique, and the political and educational
tensions between this and the commitment to multilingualism by segments
of society and research institutions. The paper draws on experiences from a
range of language institutions, educational bodies, individual researchers,
organisations and ministries involved in language planning and language
policy activities.
To date, no general book on the language planning situation in Mozambique
has been published. This is not surprising in a country that became independent
only 23 years ago and since then has had to face enormous challenges with a
grave shortage of qualified human resources. Such a context does not mean,
however, that nobody has been thinking about language planning issues. In fact,
researchers have written papers and participated in several national and interna-
tional scientific gatherings in this general field.
Because I have been thinking about and working on the issues for a long
time, and probably dreaming about them too, I accepted the invitation to
write for the series with great pleasure, and at the same time with the under-
standing that this was an ideal opportunity to draw up a first compilation on
the matter. However, the whole undertaking came to be more complex than I
had originally anticipated. Available information was widely dispersed and
unsystematic, and insufficient exchange of ideas in published form between re-
searchers has somewhat limited my elaborations on a few of the points
instantiated in the questions developed by the series editors. As a result, the
paper is a synopsis in some places, although I have been fairly comprehensive
in several others. It should also be seen as an invitation to compare and a chal-
lenge to query.
I have presented several topics, which are developed in this paper, at several
places in recent years: the Maputo LASU Conference (1991) on the role of linguis-

150
The Language Situation in Mozambique 151

tics in the promotion of African languages, the UCLA Symposium on Portuguese


Traditions (1993), the 1st World Congress of African Linguistics (1994) in Swazi-
land, UEM’s Modern Languages Department Seminar on language policy
(1994), the Conference on educational employment of African languages and the
role of languages of wider communication jointly organised by the INDE and
Stockholm University (1994), and the Arrabida Conference on Portuguese as a
second language in Africa, held in Portugal in 1998. These meetings have pro-
vided valuable opportunity for discussion and criticism of my work. Those
previously discussed topics have now been elaborated, and fresh data provided.
Also, the manuscript has drawn inspiration and guidance from Kaplan and
Baldauf’s (1997) recent book, Language Planning: From Practice to Theory.
The paper is in four parts. Part I presents the language profile of Mozambique,
supported by 1998 figures disclosed by the National Inquiry on Household Liv-
ing Conditions. Part II takes us to the areas of education and media, where the
dynamics of language spread is discussed. Part III focuses on language planning
and language policy legislation, bilingualism and roles suggested for the Bantu
languages, as well as the major activities carried out by language planning agen-
cies and their impact on planning and policy matters. Lastly, Part IV deals with
language maintenance, with an emphasis placed on the emerging non-native va-
riety of Portuguese. This Part equally attempts to outline the imagined contours
of the probable language situation and trends in the future Mozambique. Tables
1–5 and Figures 1 and 2 provide relevant information for a better understanding
of the language profile and the language spread.

Part I: The Language Profile of Mozambique


Like most African countries, Mozambique is a multilingual and multicultural
country. Apart from Portuguese which is the official language, and the Asian lan-
guages, all the other languages spoken in Mozambique belong to the Bantu
group. These are indigenous languages and constitute the major language stra-
tum, both with regard to number of speakers and in terms of language
distribution over the territory.
According to Guthrie (1967/71), the Bantu languages of Mozambique fall into
four zones and eight major language groupings, namely: 1. Zone G–G40: Swahili;
2. Zone P–P20: Yao and Makonde, and P30: Makua (+Lomwe, Cwabo); 3. Zone
N–N30: Nyanja, and N40: Nsenga-Sena; 4. Zone S–S10: Shona, S50: Tsonga
(Shangaan, Ronga, Tswa), and S60: Copi.2
But such classification further contemplates subzones and additional group-
ings of languages as can be seen in Rzewuski’s (1978) addenda to Guthrie’s
classification, in which main dialects are also presented. However, no one was or
is capable of stating exactly how many Bantu languages and variants are spoken
in the territory, mainly because no large-scale dialectological studies have ever
been conducted in this part of the world. A comprehensive language atlas of Mo-
zambique is still lacking, and this makes the situation open to all sorts of readings
and conflicting interpretations. For instance, Marinis (1981) claims that it is possi-
ble to reduce the number of the Mozambican Bantu languages to basically four
major languages (Makua, Tsonga, Nyanja-Sena and Shona) and four minor ones
(Makonde, Yao, Copi and Gitonga). But Yai (1983) identifies 13 languages, and
152 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

Table 1 Mozambican Bantu languages (total Bantu mother-tongue (L1) speakers:


15,240,068)
Language and variants Number of speakers
Emakhuwa 4,007,010
Emakhuwa 3,754,456
Emetto 249,040
Esaaka 3,048
Echirima 466
Cisena 1,807,319
Cisena 1,546,323
Gorongoza 123,801
Cibalke 90,425
Tonga 36,216
Phodzo 5,835
Mayindu 4,719
Xichangana 1,799,614
Xichangana 1,762,867
Xibila 36,445
Xidzonga 302
Elomwe 1,269,527
Elomwe 1,267,966
Cingulu 1,561
Echuwabo 1,203,494
Echuwabo 644,766
Marendje 558,728
Cishona 1,070,471
Cindau 785,651
Citewe 169,201
Cimanyika 71,547
Citawara 29,260
Cidanda 7,719
Cimashanga 7,051
Cizezuru 42
Xitswa 763,029
Xironga 626,174
Xironga 625,668
Konde 506
Cinyanja 607,671
Cinyanja 240,740
Cicewa 282,340
Maganja 84,591
Cinyungwe 446,567
Cinyungwe 397,906
Cikunda 48,661
Cicopi 405,521
Cicopi 403,472
Cilengue 2,049
The Language Situation in Mozambique 153

Table 1 cont.
Language and variants Number of speakers
Ciyao 374,426
Ciyao 310,496
Jawa 63,930
Shimakonde 371,111
Shimakonde 325,223
Cimakwe 37,422
Shindonde 8,466
Gitonga 319,836
Ekoti 102,393
Kimwani 29,980
Kiswahili 21,070
Kiswahili 14,963
Mgao 6,107
Swazi 7,742
Cisenga 3,584
Zulu 3,529

Source: Inquérito Nacional aos Agregados Familiares sobre Condições de Vida, Resultados
Gerais. Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Maputo, Moçambique, 1998.

Katupha (1984) — more in line with Marinis — refers to eight, albeit not quite the
same language groupings as those indicated by Marinis. On the other hand, for
Ngunga (1987), who challenges his predecessors’ association of Nyanja with
Sena as two dialects of one language, it would be premature to state categorically
any number of languages said to be spoken in the country.
Given the current state of affairs, and until such time as the whole matter has
been clarified and a consensus reached, I have suggested (Lopes, 1997b) that the
1989 Report on the Standardisation of Orthography of Mozambican Languages,
emanating from the first seminar on the field held at the Eduardo Mondlane Uni-
versity (UEM), should constitute the major source of reference. The language
map presented on page eight of the Report identifies 20 Bantu languages, which
are reproduced here in Figure 1. Several sectors of the society took part in the
event, and the Report was elaborated by experts from different institutions, in-
cluding UEM’s NELIMO (Núcleo de Estudo das Línguas Moçambicanas — Unit for
the Study of Mozambican Languages) and INDE (Instituto Nacional do
Desenvolvimento da Educação — National Institute for Education Development).
From March 1996 to April 1997, the National Institute of Statistics carried out a
national inquiry on household living conditions. The Final Results (INE, 1998) in-
clude information on language, especially figures for mother-tongue speakers
per province, sex, age group, and the urban/rural divide. The list of languages is
long, but it is obvious that many of these languages constitute variants of certain
language groups. On the basis of prior language/dialect classifications, and fun-
damentally the 1989 Report, I have attempted to rearrange the presentation of the
National Inquiry Results as shown here in the Tables and Figures. The reported
spelling of each Bantu language follows the spelling adopted by the 1989 Report.
154 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

Figure 1 Percentage of mother-tongue (L1) speakers per Province (major Bantu


languages and Portuguese)
In the second half of 1997, the government conducted the second National
Census (the first was held in 1980), the results of which, it is reported, will be
made public only towards the end of the year 1999. It is reasonable to presume,
however, that the language patterns and figures of the census will not be sub-
stantially different from those revealed by the National Inquiry.
Of the largest language groups (see Table 2), the language Emakhuwa
(4,007,010 speakers) accounts for 24.8% of the country’s total number of
mother-tongue speakers (16,135,403). If Emakhuwa is taken together with
Elomwe, an association often made by different typologists and linguists who
claim considerable mutual intelligibility between the two, then
The Language Situation in Mozambique 155

Table 2 Mozambique’s largest language groups (total population 16,135,403)


Language Number of speakers (L1) Percentage of population
Emakhuwa 4,007,010 24.8
Cisena 1,807,319 11.2
Xichangana 1,799,614 11.2
Elomwe 1,269,527 7.9
Echuwabo 1,203,494 7.5
Cishona 1,070,471 6.6
Xitswa 763,029 4.7
Xironga 626,174 3.9
Cinyanja 607,671 3.8
Portuguese 489,915 3.0
Cinyungwe 446,567 2.8
Cicopi 405,521 2.5
Ciyao 374,426 2.3
Shimakonde 371,111 2.3
Gitonga 319,836 2.0
Ekoti 102,393 0.6
Kimwani 29,980 0.2
Kiswahili 21,070 0.1
Swazi 7,742 0.05
Cisenga 3,584 0.02
Zulu 3,529 0.02
Other languages 405,420 2.5
(Asian included)

Source: Inquérito Nacional aos Agregados Familiares sobre Condições de Vida, Resultados Gerais.
Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Maputo, 1998.

Emakhuwa-Elomwe represent 32.7% of the total population. Next in order of


size are Cisena and Xichangana each with 11.2%.
Given the fact that Mozambique is a country with evidently high linguistic di-
versity, it becomes difficult to analyse the situation in terms of concepts used in
different contexts to classify languages as large-majority and small-minority.
The number of speakers per language and the percentage spread over the total
population require finer analytical grids. In this context, Robinson’s (1993: 52–5)
treatment of linguistic diversity seems to be quite insightful. He defines high lin-
guistic diversity as ‘… a situation where no more than fifty per cent of the
population speak the same language’. And he adds that ‘a ranking of degree of
linguistic diversity should not be based on the absolute number of languages in a
country, but rather on the percentage of the population speaking any single lan-
guage’.
Grimes’ (1992) data on countries of Africa where no single language group ex-
ceeds 50% of the population show that 25 of the total number of African countries
(58) fall into this category. The Ivory Coast and Gabon are the two most linguisti-
cally diverse countries. The former — with 75 languages — where Baoule
156 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

(1,620,100 speakers), the largest language, represents 13% of the country’s total
population (12,070,000); and the latter — with 40 languages — where the largest
language, Fang (169,650), accounts for 16% of the total population (1,069,000).
Ghana (having 73 languages) is the country with the least high linguistic diver-
sity. The largest language, Akan (7,000,000 speakers), represents 46% of Ghana’s
total population (15,310,000). Thus, the comparison across different countries
shows that the country where the largest language represents the smallest pro-
portion of population is considered as the most linguistically diverse.
Mozambique, where Emakhuwa accounts for 24.8% of the total population,
ranks among the 15 most linguistically diverse countries in Africa. This means
that, on a numerical basis, no Mozambican Bantu language can claim majority
language status at a national level. This is not in itself a bad thing. Any situation
where no language group is in a position to exert hegemony over the country as a
whole may well constitute a contributing factor to relative political stability. But,
of course, Emakhuwa constitutes a significant numerical minority nationally, be-
cause no other language comes close to it in size, or is widely spoken in at least
three out of the country’s 11 Provinces (Figure 1).
It should be understood, however, that high linguistic diversity-based analy-
ses are merely attempts to show how prevalent the phenomenon is, and do not
attempt to define minority status. The kernel of the traditional majority–minority
model, as it has been applied to situations of high linguistic diversity, should
probably not be based primarily on numbers, but rather (and perhaps especially)
on social and power relationships. Further, it should also take into account the di-
mension of language spread beyond national borders, as Liphola (1988: 34) is
keen to remind us:
Ciyao and Shimakonde (Chi-Yao and Chi-Mákonde in the original), among
others viewed as ‘minority’ languages, could claim majority language rec-
ognition, if one were to take account of the fact that these languages
‘violate’ geographical borders south of the United Republic of Tanzania.3
Indeed, the notion of ‘minority’ language in a country like Mozambique,
which shares linguistic groupings across six geographic borders and where some
are quite sizeable is controversial to say the least, and adds little to the ‘major-
ity–minority’ language debate, from a language rights viewpoint. The languages
Kiswahili and Shimakonde spread north to the neighbouring state of Tanzania.
Ciyao spreads to the Republic of Malawi and Tanzania. Cinyanja spreads to Ma-
lawi, Tanzania and the Republic of Zambia. Elomwe and Cisena are also home
languages in Malawi. Cishona spreads to the Republic of Zimbabwe.
Xichangana is shared by the Republic of South Africa, where it is known as
Shangaan (or also Tsonga). The same is true of Zulu. As for Swazi, it is shared by
the Kingdom of Swaziland, where it is termed siSwati.
On the political and legal fronts, Mozambique is an exoglossic state, because
Portuguese rather than an indigenous language has been declared the country’s
official language (see Article 5 of the 1990 revised version of the Constitution of
the Republic). Portuguese is the only medium of government-controlled na-
tional communication in the areas of administration and education, and has also
been referred to as the symbol of national unity. According to the National In-
The Language Situation in Mozambique 157

quiry, Portuguese mother-tongue speakers account for 3% of the total


population, and constitute a substantial percentage of the number of speakers in
Maputo City, the country’s capital, which enjoys provincial status (see Table 2
and Figure 1). Over 90% of Portuguese first language (L1) speakers are urban,
whereas Bantu L1 speakers are mainly rural, and nearly half of the country’s
mother-tongue speakers are grouped around the age bands 5–19 years (Table 3).
Unfortunately, the Inquiry has not included Portuguese second language (L2)
data (nor Bantu L2, for that matter), but projections based on the 1980 census,
which included Portuguese L2 figures, point to a current estimation of 40% of the
total population who can speak and understand the official language. Of course,
not all of these speakers make the same effective and efficient use of the lan-
guage. As for the legal terms ‘de jure national language’ and ‘de facto national
language’, it must now be clear that they cannot be applicable in the language sit-
uation of Mozambique. The term national language, however, has often been
used as a synonym for Bantu language, but the term is hardly more than a desig-
nation without any legal implications.
As for the term religious language, it is not common to hear Mozambicans refer-
ring to any language in this way. Even in the case of Arabic, which is mainly used
liturgically, people tend to refer to it as a ‘language used for religious purposes’.
But, in fact, most Bantu languages, which are not as much confined to religion as
Arabic is, are equally used spiritually. Mozambique is a secular state, as is deter-
mined by Clause 1 of Article 9 in the 1990 Constitution of the Republic. But
Clause 3 also stipulates that the state values the practices by religious denomina-
tions aimed at promoting a climate of understanding and social tolerance as well
as strengthening national unity. The languages Kiswahili, Kimwani and Ekoti
(fusion between Kiswahili and Emakhuwa) are associated with the spread of
Arabic, which occurred during the period of Islamic expansion from the eighth
century onwards. Al-Quraan (the Koran) is taught and also memorised in many
schools and neighbourhood locations in the northern region of the country, espe-
cially along the coast, where the population is essentially Muslim. But Al-Quraan
is equally taught in the central and southern parts of the country, where there are
schools and mosques. The largest Islamic school, located in Maputo, belongs to
the Comunidade Maometana, a designation given by the former Portuguese colo-
nial authorities.
Portuguese is used by most Christian denominations, but several Bantu lan-
guages are also used in the sermons. There is a fairly high number of Catholic and
Protestant churches and missionary schools countrywide. Many people read
and study the Bible, even where no schools are as yet available. For example,
Shrum and Shrum (1998), in a sociolinguistic survey of western Zambezia, report
that despite the non-existence of biblical schools or seminaries in western
Zambezia, a great many people study the Bible either in Portuguese or Cinyanja
through distance learning theological education (Educação Teológica por
Extensão). They also report that in Zambezia, where the Bible and hymn-books
are available in Portuguese, Cinyanja, Elomwe and Echuwabo, church services
are conducted in these languages and, in some instances, primarily in Portu-
guese with translation into the Bantu language spoken locally.4
158 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

Table 3 Number and percentage of rural/urban mother-tongue speakers


Language Total no. of Rural % Urban %
speakers No. of No. of
speakers speakers
Emakhuwa 4,007,010 3,246,859 81.0 760,151 19.0
Cisena 1,807,319 1,602,145 88.6 205,174 11.4
Xichangana 1,799,614 1,269,118 70.5 530,496 29.5
Elomwe 1,269,527 1,242,972 97.9 26,555 2.1
Echuwabo 1,203,494 1,081,599 89.9 121,895 10.1
Cishona 1,070,471 810,400 75.7 260,071 24.3
Xitswa 763,029 625,451 82.0 137,578 18.0
Xironga 626,174 220,584 35.2 405,590 64.8
Cinyanja 607,671 588,783 96.9 18,888 3.1
Portuguese 489,915 44,797 9.1 445,118 90.9
Cinyungwe 446,567 301,307 67.5 145,260 32.5
Cicopi 405,521 281,727 69.5 123,794 30.5
Ciyao 374,426 282,171 75.4 92,255 24.6
Shimakonde 371,111 324,291 87.4 46,820 12.6
Gitonga 319,836 153,575 48.0 166,261 52.0
Ekoti 102,393 102,181 99.8 212 0.2
Kimwani 29,980 29,156 97.3 824 2.7
Kiswahili 21,070 17,933 85.1 3,137 14.9
Swazi 7,742 7,260 93.8 482 6.2
Cisenga 3,584 3,432 95.8 152 4.2
Zulu 3,529 1,999 56.6 1,530 43.4
Other languages 405,420 372,867 92.0 32,553 8.0

Mother-tongue speakers by sex


Male 7,849,267 48.6%
Female 8,286,136 51.4%

Mother-tongue speakers by age group


0–4 yrs 1,515,793 9.4%
5–9 2,761,473 17.1%
10–14 2,499,827 15.5%
15–19 1,790,431 11.1%
20–24 1,421,292 8.8%
25–29 1,190,382 7.4%
30–34 988,500 6.1%
35–39 879,757 5.5%
40–49 1,254,222 7.8%
50–64 1,356,382 8.4%
65+ 477,344 2.9%

Source: Inquérito Nacional aos Agregados Familiares sobre Condições de Vida, Resultados Gerais.
Instituto Nacional de Estatística, Maputo,Moçambique, 1998.
The Language Situation in Mozambique 159

As for literacy, Portuguese has enjoyed primacy over other languages. Even
during the period (1964–74) of the armed struggle for national liberation and In-
dependence (conquered in 1975), the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo)
used Portuguese in adult literacy activities. Recently, the educational authorities
have experimentally introduced Bantu languages in adult literacy campaigns as
well as in primary schooling. (A pilot project began in the Provinces of Tete and
Gaza in 1992 and terminated in 1997.)
Mozambique’s communication with the outside world is basically carried out
by means of two languages, Portuguese and English. Through Portuguese, the
country communicates mainly with the other four Portuguese-speaking African
countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe), and
with Portugal and Brazil. An approximate population of 200 million speakers
shares this language. With most of the world, the Mozambicans make use of Eng-
lish, which is here considered the first foreign language. English is a lingua franca
in each of the states bordering Mozambique and a common language for
inter-communication among them. Both Portuguese and English are the two of-
ficial languages of the Southern African Development Community (SADC
Treaty, 1992) which integrates 15 countries, but, in practice, English has func-
tioned as the major working language. French, which used to be the primary
foreign language in the colonial educational system, is now enjoying a comeback
at the pre-university level and could, in the future, become Mozambique’s sec-
ond most important foreign language.

Part II: Language Spread


Language spread through education
Education is one of the most important means for spreading language. The
languages taught through the national educational system (SNE) are Portu-
guese, English and French.
Portuguese is the exclusive medium of instruction from first grade onwards,
as well as a subject in primary and secondary education, thus providing a total of
12 years of education. Public primary education, which is free and compulsory,
comprises a lower primary level (EP1) from Grade 1 to Grade 5, and a higher pri-
mary level (EP2) consisting of Grades 6 and 7. Secondary education (ESG) is
taught in two cycles: a first cycle (ESG1) of three years (Grades 8 to 10), and a sec-
ond cycle (ESG2) of two years (Grades 11 and 12). These 12 years of education
constitute the basis for higher education (See Figure 2 for a diagram of the Na-
tional Educational System).
The school calendar year consists of 36 teaching weeks. This period corre-
sponds to a total of 6120 teaching hours for the primary level (EP1+EP2), and
3240 hours for secondary education, first cycle (ESG1). The second cycle of sec-
ondary education (ESG2) totals 1512 hours for Group A, 1728 hours for Group B
and 1656 hours for Group C (See Table 4 for study plans for both primary and sec-
ondary education).
The total time-load for Portuguese, as a subject, in the primary level
(EP1+EP2) is 2268 hours, which corresponds to 37% of the total teaching hours in
the study plan for this level. The time-loads allocated to Portuguese in the sec-
160

Figure 2 National Educational System (SNF)


Language Policy and Planning in Africa
The Language Situation in Mozambique 161

Table 4 Study plan (and weekly hours) for primary education* (Grades 1–7)
Subjects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Portuguese 12 11 10 10 9 6 5
Mathematics 6 6 6 6 6 5 5
Natural Sciences 2 2 3
Biology 3 4
Geography 2 3 3
History 2 2 3 3
Aesthetic & 2 3 3 3 3 4 4
Working Education
Physical Education 2 2 2 2 2 2 3
Total 22 22 23 25 27 26 27

Subjects 8 9 10 11 12
(Groups for 11 and 12)
Portuguese 5 5 5 4 4
English 3 3 3 5/3 5/35h/wGroupAbelow
Mathematics 5 5 5 5 5
Biology 3 3 3 4 4
Physics 3 3 3 4 4
History 2 2 2 4 4
Geography 2 2 2 4 4
Chemistry 3 3 3 4 4
Drawing 2 2 2 3 3
Physical Education 2 2 2 2 2
French 4 4 for Group A only
Total 30 30 30 combinations under A, B, C below

Group General subjects University courses** Specific subject


A Portuguese, English Linguistics, Portuguese
French, History Law, History, French
Geography Diplomacy
English English
Geography Biology
Psychology, Pedagogy
Economics Mathematics
B Portuguese, English Geology Geography
Mathematics Agronomy, Medicine
Chemistry, Physics Veterinary Science Biology
Biology Biology, Chemistry/Biol.
Physical Education
C Portuguese, English Engineering, Architecture No specific subject
Mathematics/Physics Physics and Chemical Sciences in Group C
Drawing, Chemistry Mathematics, Physics
Physics, Mathematics

* For 1–2 shift schools


** Courses to which access is available.Source: Instrução Ministerial No. 1/97, Ministério da Educação.
162 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

ondary level are as follows: 540 hours in ESG1 (17% of the total load in the study
plan), 288 hours in ESG2 for Group A (19%), and 288 hours (17%) for both Group B
and Group C.
English is taught at secondary level (both ESG1 and ESG2), totalling five years
of instruction. It is also a compulsory subject (English for Academic Purposes) in
the first two years (total load: 256 hours) of most courses administered by the De-
partment of English of the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), the major
higher education institution in the country.
The total time-load for English is as follows: 324 hours in ESG1, which repre-
sents 10% of the total load in the study plan for this level, 360 hours in ESG2 for
Group A (24%), and 216 hours (12%) for both Group B and Group C.
French is taught in ESG2, Group A only, with a total teaching load of 288
hours, which corresponds to 19% in the study plan. French is also an optional
subject (either French or English) in the Social Sciences course at the UEM, and
may eventually be reintroduced at the Faculty of Arts in the near future.
With regard to the Bantu languages, these are taught only at the UEM:
Emakhuwa and Xichangana in linguistics (four semesters) and history (one se-
mester) degree courses. Experimentally, the National Institute for Education
Development (INDE) has been carrying out a bilingual project since 1993, involv-
ing three primary schools in Tete (with the language Cinyanja) and two primary
schools in Gaza (with Xichangana). The adopted ‘gradual transition to L2’ model
uses the Bantu language as medium of instruction in the initial years of primary
schooling, as a stage towards a later introduction of Portuguese-only classes.
Mozambique is a country with a young population. School age Mozambicans
(5–24 years) represent more than 50% of the country’s total population. Unfortu-
nately, the national educational system is not yet capable of absorbing all those
who ought to be attending primary education (Grades 1–7), defined by the state
as compulsory. It should be noted, however, that the government has made con-
siderable efforts in rehabilitating and expanding educational infrastructures and
in training staff with a view to responding to pressing needs and challenges in
the educational sector. The numbers of school children and youths attending
public schools in 1997 were as follows (Directorate of Planning, 1997):
2,180,334 in EP1 (Grades 1–5);
199,126 in EP2 (Grades 6–7);
58,048 in ESG1 (Grades 8–10); and
7037 in ESG2 (Grades 11–12).
This represents a real pyramid, and also one in which most EP1 children are
rural, most EP2 adolescents are semi-rural, studying mainly in seats of districts,
most ESG1 youths attend school in provincial capitals and major provincial dis-
tricts, and finally, ESG2 students who can do their schooling only in provincial
capitals (and not even in all yet).
In terms of language exposure, there are thus about 2.5 million pupils who are
now using Portuguese as a medium of instruction, as well as doing this language
as a subject. Of this total, about 65,000 are also learning English, and some 5500
learning French. These figures stand for the main public stream (General Educa-
The Language Situation in Mozambique 163

tion), but there are some additional 140,000 students who attend night classes,
technical and professional schools, adult education programmes, and also attend
private education (authorised by a government decree in 1990). There are now
some 50,000 pupils in primary and secondary private schools but ‘numerically,
the pupils attending private education amount to only 2% of the number who are
studying in the public sector’ (Directorate of Planning, MINED, 1996: 57). As for
higher education, there are some 8000 students attending this level, of which
two-thirds are at the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), a public institution
created in 1962 under the name of ‘Estudos Gerais’ and later designated Univer-
sity of Lourenço Marques until 1976, when it received its current name. In
addition to UEM, there are two other public higher education institutions — the
Pedagogical University, UP (created in 1986) and the Higher Institute of Interna-
tional Relations, ISRI (1986) — and three private institutions, namely the Higher
Polytechnic University Institute, ISPU (1996), the Catholic University of Mozam-
bique, UCM (1997) and the Higher Institute for Science and Technology of
Mozambique, ISCTEM (1997). They are all based in Maputo, except for UCM
which is located in Beira. The UP has established branches in the cities of Beira
and Nampula, and ISPU in the town of Quelimane. A seventh higher education
institution, which is to be set up in the town of Angoche in Nampula Province,
will be called Mussa Bin Bique University. It has been announced that this future
institution will primarily operate as a cultural centre for the teaching of Arabic.
Following the changes in overall national policies and the end in 1992 of the
16-year war which devastated the country, including the destruction of 50% of
primary schools in the rural areas and several teacher training centres, the gov-
ernment, with the support of the international community, has embarked on
specific rehabilitation and restructuring programmes. National education policy
advocates an expansion of access to all levels, with a special focus on primary ed-
ucation, as well as the improvement in the quality and relevance of the education
offered. Simultaneously expanding the system and improving the quality of ed-
ucation poses a dilemma, and that is why the government has strongly
encouraged various sectors in society to participate in the process. But problems
related to coverage, effectiveness and relevance are immense. According to the
Ministry of Education (MINED), the average pupil–teacher ratio in primary edu-
cation is 50:1, drop-out and repetition rates in the order of 20%. The quality of
education is not only prejudiced by overcrowded classrooms, but also by insuffi-
cient quantity of school books and teaching materials, and, especially, by the
teachers’ poor living conditions and, at times, their inadequate professional
training. The quality of education is, above all, a function of the quality of the
teacher, since s/he ‘creates the learning environment and mediates between pu-
pils and contents’ (MINED, 1994: 15). Fortunately, teacher training and in-service
training are being taken seriously by several teacher training centres and the
Teachers’ Upgrading Institute (IAP), as well as the Pedagogical University
which is particularly responsible for pre-service training of teachers for second-
ary education.
According to MINED sources (personal communication), parents are not call-
ing the use of Portuguese as a medium of instruction into question. Furthermore,
the drive towards the acquisition of higher-level skills in Portuguese can be testi-
164 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

fied by the vast numbers of readers who attend the Portuguese Cultural Centre,
as well as by the attendance figures recorded in Portuguese Literature History
courses held periodically (Lopes, 1995).
The psychological and pedagogical arguments advanced for an hypothetical
scenario of mother-tongue (i.e. Bantu) instruction in Mozambique are not clearly
understood by parents, even by middle-class adults (personal communica-
tion/MINED authorities). Since Portuguese is the official language, most parents
tend to see it as the means to ensure their children’s future, to acquire a profes-
sion and to climb socially, as well as a means to link them up with Mozambicans
who speak a different mother tongue. Other views elicited from parents are that
through Portuguese their children can gain good grounding in Science and
Mathematics. This, of course, shows that if the government were to be interested
in introducing a more rational language-in-education policy, it would have to
prioritise programmes leading to consciousness raising and improvement of at-
titudes towards indigenous languages among parents and pupils. As Lopes has
suggested:
The educational authorities must succeed in explaining to parents, teachers
and children the implications of teaching and learning through a certain
medium of instruction (mother-tongue, language of wider communica-
tion, or both),and succeed in convincing them of the pedagogical and
cultural advantages associated with promotion of mother-tongue educa-
tion, and with promotion of individual and societal bilingualism. (1997a:
25)
Results of language awareness programmes (as shown by Braz, 1995) and of
bilingual experiments can indeed be positive, as the assessment of views of par-
ents whose children have just completed the first level of primary education
(Grades 1–5) following a bilingual project reveals ‘the parents are in favour of bi-
lingual education, and want it for their schooling-age children’5 (INDE, 1997: 4). I
shall deal with aspects of this experimental project and its recent evaluation by
INDE in Part III, under language policy implementation in a context of experi-
mentation.
Now, if parents’ views with regard to Portuguese can be understood as being
pragmatic, given the current state of affairs in terms of the existing official lan-
guage policy, their views on the importance of English, on the other hand, are
candidly favourable. For example, according to MINED sources (personal com-
munication), many parents have voiced their interest in seeing English
introduced at a much earlier stage in the educational system. At the same time,
parents tend to send their children to specialised schools (mostly private) with
intent to strengthen the skills and knowledge of English acquired in the second-
ary schools. Willingness in learning and developing the English language is also
manifested by the enormous demand (youths and adults) for tuition with the In-
stitute of Languages (IOL), a public institution created in 1979 in Maputo, and
now with branches in the towns of Inhambane, Beira and Nampula. ‘On average,
more than 3000 students enrol for English Language classes at the IOL’ (Nahara,
1995: 29). The IOL offers a wide variety of services and is ‘the biggest single em-
ployer in the ELT business’ (Nahara, 1995: 30).
The Language Situation in Mozambique 165

Despite counting on more than 30 full-time ELT teachers, further support


(which mainly comes not only but particularly through ODA) is needed in terms
of human resources, especially native speakers for advanced courses. ‘The re-
sults in FCE (Cambridge) exams were not satisfactory — although most students
passed, nobody got higher than C. We think qualified native speakers would
help improve the standards’ (Nahara, 1995: 32).
Feelings and perceptions with regard to English on the part of students and
civil servants and workers in general are extremely positive. Competency in Eng-
lish is a prerequisite for better jobs locally, and an advantage for communication
and interchange with the Southern African region and the world at large. Stu-
dents are also sensitive to the fact that this language is a crucial tool for science
and technology in a context where about two-thirds of the existing literature in
some higher education libraries is in English.
The presence of numerous resident foreign nationals in Mozambique has
equally contributed to increasing demands on language provision as well as for
foreign language-based education. English is the medium of instruction in sev-
eral primary and secondary schools, the major ones being MINED’s Maputo
International School and the American International School. Portuguese, French,
Italian and Swedish schools, amongst others, have also been operating in the
country.

Language spread through the media


Portuguese is widely used in the media, and almost exclusively in the print
media. However, history shows that English and Bantu languages were also
used in the past in the print media, especially at the turn of the present century.
According to Rocha (1996), the first newspaper in Mozambique was printed in
both Portuguese and English in Beira, the second major city, in the year 1893. It
was a weekly journal entitled Correio da Beira/The Beira Post. Five years later, The
Lourenço Marques Advertiser appeared, this time only in English and printed in
Barberton, South Africa. The first daily newspaper was The Delagoa Gazette of
Shipping and Commercial Intelligence, printed in both English and Portuguese in
Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in 1903. This publication was followed by The
Lourenço Marques Guardian (1905), a bi-weekly printed in Lourenço Marques in
English and Portuguese, and by The Delagoa Bay Gazette (1905), a monthly publi-
cation printed in Pretoria, South Africa, originally in English, but later in both
English and Portuguese. O Africano (1911) was the first weekly published in both
Portuguese and Xironga (a Bantu language of Mozambique). This publication
was followed by O Brado Africano (1918) and by Dambu de África (1921), both also
in Portuguese and Xironga. These newspapers were printed in Lourenço Mar-
ques. With few exceptions, the subsequent years as well as the period after
Independence (1975) have seen the print media developing essentially in the Por-
tuguese language. Today’s Notícias (founded in 1926) and Diário de Moçambique
(1950) — the two oldest newspapers — are produced by the biggest (in structure)
publishers in the country, the former in the capital Maputo, the latter in Beira, the
second largest city.
These and other previously state-owned publications now operate autono-
mously, the source of their funding being newspaper sales and advertising. Since
166 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

the 1990 Constitution under which freedom of the press is guaranteed, and more
particularly since the 1991 Press Law, the media scenario in the country has
changed considerably. ‘The Government in accordance with the liberalization of
media control and ownership, relinquished full control of the previously State
owned newspapers’ (Palmer, 1996: 5). And also as a result of the Press Law, a
number of private newspapers, with special reference to A4 size publications
distributed daily by fax, have emerged and circulate mainly in Maputo. Notícias,
the only broadsheet newspaper, and the tabloid-format weeklies like Domingo,
Savana, Desafio and Campeao enjoy national circulation, primarily in urban areas.
Notícias and Domingo, in particular, are said to be ‘pro-governmental’ in their edi-
torial view, whereas Savana, Demos, Fim de Semana and the fax publications are
referred to as ‘independent’. (Table 5 summarises details on the print media.) The
press, which is essentially an urban phenomenon, makes almost exclusive use of
the Portuguese language. The sole publications in English are the monthly Mo-
zambique File produced by the National News Agency (AIM), and the privately
owned bi-weekly Mozambique INVIEW.

Table 5 Main news publications


Name Type Founded Frequency Circulation Editorial line
Notícias Newspaper 1926 Daily 35,000 Pro-govt.
Diário de Moçambique Newspaper 1950 Daily 10,000 Independent
Tempo Magazine 1970 Weekly 7,000 Pro-govt.
Mozambique File Magazine 1976 Monthly * Pro-govt.
Domingo Newspaper 1982 Weekly 25,000 Pro-govt.
Campo Newspaper 1984 Bi-weekly 5,000 Independent
Desafio Newspaper 1987 Weekly 10,000 Pro-govt.
Mediafax News by fax 1992 Daily ** Independent
Savana Newspaper 1994 Weekly 20,000 Independent
Mozambique in View Magazine 1994 Bi-weekly 20,000 Independent
Imparcial News by fax 1994 Daily ** Independent
Demos Newspaper 1994 Weekly 10,000 Independent
Campeão Newspaper 1996 Weekly 10,000 Independent
Correio da Manhã News by fax 1997 Daily ** Independent
Metical News by fax 1997 Daily ** Independent
Diãrio de Negócios News by fax 1997 Daily ** Independent
Fim de Semana Newspaper 1997 Weekly 15,000 Independent
Correio Semanal Newspaper 1998 Weekly 8,000 Independent

* By subscription;
** By subscription. The number of copies distributed by fax varies between 300 and 500, but total
circulation figures, which include multiple photocopying, are in the order of a few thousand.

In 1979 an additional urban phenomenon to that of the press occurred on the


scene of local communication: the emergence of television. The first broadcasts
by RTE (Rádio e Televisão Experimental) were planned for only five weeks, but
were resumed in 1981 by the then renamed TVE (Televisão Experimental). TVE
remained experimental until 1994, the year when TVE became TVM. The na-
tional television, Televisão de Moçambique (TVM), broadcasts in three major
The Language Situation in Mozambique 167

cities, and plans to introduce satellite transmissions in the near future will make
virtually any corner in the country capable of receiving the signal. In 1995 the ‘…
populational (signal) coverage was estimated to be around two million people’
(de Maia, 1995: 116).
TVM programmes are in Portuguese, with the exception of Portuguese subti-
tled foreign films and series, usually in English. Mozambican artists singing in
Bantu languages are also allocated some time in this public television station.
Viewers in the capital city Maputo can also tune to RTK (Rádio Televisão Klint), a
private Portuguese language station. But, unlike TVM, this Mozambican station
also broadcasts a few films (mostly in English) undubbed and without Portu-
guese subtitles. Worthy of note is RTK’s initial experimentation with major
newscasts in both Portuguese and a Bantu language. Shortly, RTK will also oper-
ate in Quelimane, while a third Maputo-based TV station (Televisão Miramar) is
due to start broadcasting in the near future. The estimated number of television
receivers in the country is 80,000.
Radio is the most important and effective mass medium in the country. Radio
broadcasting includes coverage of areas that are not reached by other media. The
major station, Rádio Moçambique (RM) founded in 1933, is public. In fact, RM
continues to be the largest and most important social communication institution
in the country. RM broadcasts nationally in Portuguese, and locally in Portu-
guese and in Bantu languages. There is roughly one radio per 25 inhabitants.
RM is undoubtedly the national institution that has contributed most to the
development and dissemination of the various Bantu languages. The Macomia
National Conference (Frelimo, 1975) and the 1st National Information Seminar
(MINFO, 1977) had emphatically defined the study and dissemination of ‘na-
tional’ languages as crucial, as well as the role assigned to RM in using and
promoting them. RM coverage include 12 Bantu languages in addition to Portu-
guese, but the Provincial broadcasting stations’ current situation regarding
language choice, trained staff, equipment and working conditions requires re-
structuring and expansion (Sitoe et al., 1995). Working in collaboration with the
Institute of Social Communication (ICS), these RM Provincial branches have in
the past proved to be equally useful in propagating pedagogical programmes
prepared by the Ministry of Education. ICS and RM were also pioneers of the
country’s first community radio experiment carried out in Xai-Xai in 1983 (de
Maia, 1995). ICS has recently been authorised by the Council of Ministers to ex-
plore several community radios, namely those located at Ulónguè, Maputo Zona
Verde, Manhiça, Moamba, Mocuba and Mutarara.
In addition to its national service in Portuguese, RM operates a Maputo city ra-
dio station (Rádio Cidade) as well as a Radio Mozambique external service in
English. There is also talk of an eventual comeback of a rehashed LM Radio,
which, in the colonial period, used to serve commercial needs of audiences in
Maputo and South Africa — an important source of income for RM. With large
economic and social projects now emerging between Mozambique and South
Africa, as is the case with the Maputo Development Corridor linking the regions
of Maputo and Witbank, the media, and radio in particular, could equally be-
come an important cross-border vehicle of information and leisure. RM should
168 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

not lose sight of Mozambique’s position and role within the English-language re-
gion of southern Africa (Ronning, 1997).
In the aftermath of the 1990 Constitution (Article 74), a number of independ-
ent radio stations have emerged. As RM no longer holds the monopoly of radio
broadcasting, several other entities, both private and cooperative, have regis-
tered with the authorities and are operating (a couple still await authorisation),
namely Rádio Miramar (Maputo, Beira and Nampula), RTK (Maputo and
Quelimane), Rádio Projecção (Maputo), Rádio-Sim (Maputo), Coopimagem
Rádio (Maputo), Rádio Capital (Maputo), Rádio Terra Verde (Maputo), Rádio
Progresso (Maxixe), Rádio Maria (Massinga), Rádio Pax (Beira), Rádio Encontro
(Nampula), Nova Rádio Paz (Quelimane) and Rádio São Francisco de Assis
(Nangololo).

Part III: Language Policy and Planning


The tenets of Mozambique’s official language policy are expressed in Article 5
of the 1990 revised version of the Constitution of the Republic (República de
Moçambique, 1990) in the following way:6
(1) In the Republic of Mozambique, the Portuguese language shall be the offi-
cial language.
(2) The State shall value the national languages and promote their develop-
ment and their growing usage as vehicular languages and in the education
of citizens.
This was the first time ever that the official language issue was dealt with in
the country’s Constitution (fundamental law). But it is true that practice and oc-
casional pronouncements by the authorities had already made Portuguese
function as the country’s official language since Independence in 1975. As a mat-
ter of fact, the absence of constitutional statements in the first 15 years of
Independence simply meant the continuation of the official policy inherited from
the colonial regime. But it also meant a continuation of the practice pursued by
Frelimo (Mozambique Liberation Front) during the 10-year liberation struggle
for Independence. Portuguese was then chosen to unite nationalist freedom
fighters with different language backgrounds — as expressed by Frelimo at a
seminar on the theme ‘Influence of colonialism on the artist, his way of life and
his public in developing countries’ held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in July 1971:
There is no majority language in our country. Choosing one of the
Mozambican languages as a national language would have been an arbi-
trary decision which could have had serious consequences … Thus, we
were forced to use Portuguese as medium of instruction and as means of
communication among ourselves.7
After Independence, the option for Portuguese was reiterated by two govern-
ment authorities (the Education Minister and the UEM Rector) who addressed
the 1st National Seminar on ‘The Teaching of Portuguese’, held in 1979, in the fol-
lowing terms:
The Language Situation in Mozambique 169

… The need to fight the oppressor called for an intransigent struggle


against tribalism and regionalism. It was this necessity for unity that dic-
tated to us that the only common language — the language which had been
used to oppress —should assume a new dimension.8 (Machel, 1979: 6)
And,
… The decision to opt for Portuguese as the official language of the People’s
Republic of Mozambique was a well considered and carefully examined
political decision, aimed at achieving one objective — the preservation of
national unity and the integrity of the territory. The history of appropria-
tion of the Portuguese language as a factor of unity and leveller of
differences dates back to the foundation of Frelimo in 1962.9 (Ganhão, 1979:
2)
The emphasis at the 1st National Seminar on the Teaching of Portuguese was
naturally placed on this language. But, obviously, the meeting could have not
down played the relevance and role of the African languages — mother tongues
for the vast majority of Mozambicans — in the context of Portuguese teaching
and learning. The Minister recalled how the different mother tongues had re-
sisted and survived throughout time, stressed the potential contribution of these
languages to the enrichment of Portuguese, and called for the adoption of an L2
methodology in the teaching of the official language (Machel, 1979: 10). In fact,
such concern with the Mozambican languages echoed sentiments already aired
four years before at the Macomia meeting in 1975. Discussions here had focused
on the need for a greater integration between the radio and the press in national
development and, in this context, the need for a greater awareness regarding the
role that national languages could play in the media, in harmony with the Portu-
guese language (Frelimo, 1975c: 44).
New African nations have in the recent past been confronted with a common
difficult problem — that of reconciling claims of efficiency and claims of authen-
ticity (Fishman, 1968). In discussing the language question in sub-Saharan
Africa, Bamgbose (1991: 20) reiterates Fishman’s viewpoint in the following
terms:
Claims of authenticity correspond to the quest for nationalism, while the
claims of efficiency correspond to nationism. In terms of language choice,
nationalism, which involves sociocultural integration and authenticity,
calls for the adoption of an indigenous language, while nationism, which is
concerned with political integration and efficiency, calls for any language
that can perform these functions. It would not matter at all if the language is
not indigenous. In fact, the chances are that it will be a language already
used in higher education and technology.
Quite expectedly, given post-Independence complexities faced by new na-
tions, experience has shown that the scales have tilted towards emphasis on the
claims of efficiency and nationism. In fact, an almost exclusive emphasis, as
Mazula (1995: 214), though using a different terminology (modernity-tradition)
to address the same problem, is keen to say:
170 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

Instead of rationally facing the problem of the multiplicity of languages


spoken in their territories, in the general context of the Modernity-Tradi-
tion challenge, African countries have not hesitated to adopt the languages
of their former colonisers.10
Nevertheless, in Mozambique, the debate attempting to balance the conflict-
ing claims of efficiency/nationism (via Portuguese) and
authenticity/nationalism (via national languages) gained momentum in 1983, a
year which, in this regard, was eventful in two ways:
(1) the holding of Frelimo’s IV Congress; and
(2) the circulation through the Office of the Secretary of State for Culture of a
draft paper entitled ‘Contribution towards the definition of a language pol-
icy in the People’s Republic of Mozambique’.
As for the former, the section on ‘Culture’ in the 1983 Report of Frelimo’s Cen-
tral Committee to the IV Congress highlighted the Party’s view on the national
languages.
The decision taken at the Central Committee’s 11th Session on the study of
Mozambican languages and on the establishment of a specialised body
constitutes a far-reaching cultural measure. This decision deepens the de-
bate on culture and opens up important prospects for social
communication, education and professional training.11 (Frelimo Party,
1983: 61)
But despite the prospects, the creation of the above-mentioned specialised body
is still awaited to this day.
The draft paper from the Secretary of State suggested the establishment of a
language policy that should aim at optimal bilingualism. Portuguese would en-
joy the status of official language, language of national unity and language of
communication among all Mozambicans. Mozambican languages would be cho-
sen, by means of research, as national languages. The paper equally called for the
study, codification and development of Mozambican languages for their use in
administration, social communication, and literacy and perhaps in the first years
of formal instruction (Honwana, 1983: 19–20).
These documents, together with several other contributions, including
Katupha’s (1988) benchmarks for the definition of an ‘appropriate language pol-
icy’, undoubtedly created the climate for the organisation by NELIMO of the 1st
Seminar on the Standardisation of Orthography of Mozambican Languages.
This event, held at the Eduardo Mondlane University in 1988 (Report published
in 1989), impacted positively on society and might have influenced a particular
official occurrence two years later. The 1990 revised form of the Constitution of
the Republic saw, for the first time, the entrenchment of two clauses on language,
whose contents appears at the beginning of the present section.
From a linguistic human rights perspective, Clause 1 alone is an example of as-
similation-oriented prohibition. It makes no mention of other languages besides
Portuguese, but would implicitly prohibit their use in functions that are per-
formed through an official language. It would force indigenous African
language speakers to use Portuguese for all official purposes instead of their own
The Language Situation in Mozambique 171

languages or instead of a shared usage between these and Portuguese. Clause 2


alone is an example of maintenance-oriented permission. However, Clauses 1 and 2
taken together amount to assimilation-oriented toleration in that there is a situation
where the indigenous Mozambican languages are not forbidden, and their use is
indeed permitted and supported, though not in official situations. In brief, this
provision is still far from a maintenance-oriented promotion type of language pol-
icy. The scale used here — ranging from prohibition and toleration, which are
assimilation-oriented, to permission and promotion, which are maintenance-ori-
ented — is basically similar to a grid developed by Skutnabb-Kangas and
Phillipson (1989: 12, 18) which attempts to chart some key dimensions of lan-
guage rights in selected countries and covenants. Provision for both official
language status and educational language-related rights in legal covenants and
other declarations of human rights constitute the two most important dimen-
sions.
In the aftermath of the 1990 Constitution, the most salient language-related of-
ficial pronouncements are to be found in the draft document ‘Proposal of a
Cultural Policy for Mozambique’ (MINCULTJ, 1993a) discussed by the National
Conference on Culture, an event organised in Maputo in 1993 by the Ministry of
Culture and Youth (considerations by Lopes, 1997b). While the adopted Confer-
ence General Recommendations (MINCULTJ, 1993b), particularly those on
theme 4.j) entitled ‘Mozambican languages’ are too general and basically little
more than rephrasings of the principles already stipulated in the Constitution,
the ‘Proposal’ document is more specific in policy guidelines. The Conference
highlighted the need for a cultural policy by consensus and the valorisation of
ethnic, linguistic and geographic diversity as prerequisites to achieve national
unity — fundamental considerations which, echo, in one way or another,
Mondlane’s (1967: 79) longstanding viewpoint:
The positive elements in our cultural life, such as our forms of linguistic ex-
pression, our music and typical dances, the regional peculiarities of being
born, growing up, loving and dying, will continue after Independence so
that they may blossom and embellish the life of our Nation. There is no an-
tagonism between the realities of the existing various ethnic groups and
National Unity.12
The Cultural Policy Proposal document, in its Section 5.5. entitled ‘Languages
of Communication’, recommends the use of Mozambican languages in public
administrative offices, and their compulsory introduction in formal, technical,
professional and informal education as languages for transmitting knowledge or
as languages functioning as optional subjects. Portuguese was reaffirmed as the
country’s official language. Despite these welcomed statements — which never-
theless fall short of a maintenance-oriented promotion type of policy — in more
specific statements, one is, however, confronted with an explicit language rights
enforcement through a discrimination prescription, in that
(1) in order to be appointed for headship positions at the level of a Province,
civil servants should have competence in a Mozambican language and
knowledge of a local language; and
172 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

(2) government and society should strive towards making the majority of
Mozambicans adopt Portuguese as a second language.
As for (1), and leaving aside terminological incongruities (after all, aren’t local
languages also Mozambican?), I cannot, obviously, agree with promotion of an
individual’s multilingualism (Portuguese, ‘Mozambican language’ and ‘local
language’) through the proposed line of action, the described purpose of which is
‘to create incentives to reward the knowledge and use of Mozambican lan-
guages’. In fact, it does look more like a ‘carrot and stick’ type of policy. You can
only aspire to eventually becoming a head in public administration in a Province
(i.e. a reward or the ‘carrots’) if you know three languages; but should all these
multilingual skills not be present in yourself, all you are then likely to get is
‘stick’, i.e. you cannot be appointed for headship, even if you are bilingual and
meet professional criteria for eligibility.
As for (2), and though the intention underlying the formulation might have
been sound, in the sense of aiming for the widest possible spread of the country’s
official language, it seems to be unfair, restrictive and unpredictable to hint that
the majority of Mozambicans ought to adopt Portuguese as a second language.
While it is certainly true that Portuguese is not a first language for the majority of
Mozambicans who can speak it, this condition might not necessarily be the abso-
lute and sole outcome with regard to the future generation of children and
youths acquiring (and learning) two languages in parallel — the so-called first
language acquisition bilingualism. Each child will acquire her own social iden-
tity and will, within this framework, develop her personal identity. This process
might depend on different variables, including parental influence, age, habitat
(rural/urban), tutoring quality and, perhaps most importantly, the child’s learn-
ing spontaneity drive. Last, but by no means least, the criteria for ethnic and
glossic definitions, from a human rights viewpoint, should not just be validated
by others, by the state or government. The individual should equally have the
right to self-identification. That is why a necessary balance must be struck be-
tween exo-definitions and endo-definitions, and emphatically so when
authorities attempt to address far-reaching national issues.
The recommendations of the National Conference on Culture formed the ba-
sis of the government’s Culture Programme for 1995–1999 (Conselho de
Ministros. República de Moçambique, 1995). The government shall apply a lan-
guage policy which ascribes Portuguese with the role of official language and
language of national unity, and it also commits itself to codify and standardise
the national languages and to proceed with ongoing studies with a view to intro-
ducing them in formal education, in addition to other functions.
This very context has recently led to the approval in the official gazette by the
Council of Ministers of Mozambique’s ‘Cultural Policy and its Implementational
Strategy’ (Conselho de Ministros. República de Moçambique, 1997). With regard
to the subject of national languages (Section 3.2.6.), the content is, in general, sim-
ilar to that presented in the Cultural Policy Proposal document, alluded to and
discussed above. However, the approved cultural policy is less prescriptive than
the previously debated proposal of 1993. The policy calls for an intimate collabo-
ration between institutions and the relevant departments involved in language
planning, and defines the following prospective actions:
The Language Situation in Mozambique 173

… social valorisation of languages; support to the existing (or to be estab-


lished) Mozambican languages study centres; codification and
standardisation of the orthography of Mozambican languages; and selec-
tion of the languages which in each province or region should be
introduced in the National Education System, as well as in political, social
and economic activity.13
This section on national languages further stipulates that incentives shall be at-
tributed to projects for production of dictionaries, grammars, handbooks, and
literary and scientific works in national languages. And the section ends by en-
couraging the development and expansion of the teaching of the official
language, Portuguese.
Equally in the present decade, the discussion by different circles on the utilisa-
tion of national languages in literacy and education, as well as on the question of
language officiality has gained a new impetus. In this regard, three conferences
of note were organised locally and in a neighbouring country. One was held in
Maputo in 1991 on the theme ‘The role of linguistics in the promotion and effec-
tive use of national languages’, and was organised jointly by the Eduardo
Mondlane University and the Linguistics Association for SADC Universities
(LASU). This 3rd LASU Conference was attended by Mozambican experts and
authorities and demonstrated a wide spectrum of professional opinion from uni-
versities in the 10 (at the time) regional states integrating the Southern African
Development Community (SADC). The second event, in which 150 academic
presentations were delivered by delegates from 53 different countries, was the
1st World Congress of African Linguistics which took place in Kwaluseni, Swazi-
land in 1994, and which was jointly organised by the University of the
Witwatersrand and the University of Swaziland. The third international confer-
ence, held in Maputo in 1994, focused on the theme ‘Educational employment of
African languages and the role of languages of wider communication’. It was or-
ganised by the National Institute for Education Development (INDE) in
cooperation with the Centre for Research on Bilingualism of Stockholm Univer-
sity.
On the other hand, and in addition to the impact caused by meetings such as
the above on local academic circles, the contributions by Machungo and Ngunga
(1991) on the role of language in the teaching–learning process, and by
Hyltenstam and Stroud (1993) in the form of a report and recommendations from
an evaluation of teaching materials for lower primary education in Mozambique
were equally useful in reiterating INDE’s key role in dealing with these matters
over the years. The series of projects and materials developed by teams of lin-
guists and methodologists from both the UEM and INDE in the past decade and
in the early 1990s have surely paved the way for INDE’s decision to launch and
monitor a mother tongue instruction pilot project, known as PEBIMO, for two
primary schools (children’s mother tongue: Xichangana) in the Province of Gaza
and three primary schools (mother tongue: Cinyanja) in the Province of Tete. The
experiment covered the period 1993–1997 and involved Grades 1–5, the lower
primary level in the National Educational System (SNE). ‘The gradual transition
to L2’ was the adopted bilingual model. The medium of instruction in Grades 1–3
was the mother tongue, and the medium in Grades 4–5 was Portuguese. In addi-
174 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

tion, Portuguese, as a subject, was introduced in the last quarter of Grade 2, and
the respective mother tongues continued to be taught as subjects in Grades 4–5.
According to Matavele and Machaul (1998: 5), the project produced 23 primer
titles in mother tongues and 10 titles in Portuguese, 13 other titles (seven in
mother tongues) as supplementary readers, and translated handbooks (11 titles
for Mathematics and one for Natural Science). In November 1997, INDE organ-
ised an ample debate to assess the results of the experiment. The report of the
meeting includes a good account by Zaida Cabral on the political, psycho-peda-
gogic, socioeconomic, sociolinguistic and cultural motivations justifying the
bilingual project, a description of major achievements and difficulties experi-
enced during the five-year period and, finally, a presentation of possible
solutions for the detected problems. Here, only two aspects of the assessment —
one positive, the other less positive — shall be focused upon.
The global efficacy of the project was 3.5 times higher than the efficacy re-
corded for the normal lower primary mainstream in the national system (SNE).14
The Report (1997: 4) states the following:
… the results are very encouraging: the rate of success is good, there is a
great deal of interaction between teachers and pupils, and the level of con-
tent learning by pupils is better. Besides, parents are in favour of bilingual
education and want it for their schooling-age children.15
However, only moderate satisfaction with the project is in order, because the
conditions under which the project was implemented were quite different from
those in SNE’s normal schools. It should not be forgotten that this PEBIMO pro-
ject enjoyed a special sponsorship by the UNDP and the World Bank. But it is true
that the Report also addresses a few thorny issues, one of which has to do with
the adopted model, in particular the transition from the L1 to the L2 medium of
instruction:
One of the difficulties with the adoption of this model relates to the fact that
it has not provided enough oral competence in the L2 so as to permit a grad-
ual and well succeeded transition to the L2.16 (p. 4)
And the Report concludes the section on this problem in this way:
The ‘ideal’ model, depicted in the last Figure on Annex C-3, … reveals the
teaching, from the beginning, of the second language, the gradual transi-
tion from L1 to L2, and the maintenance of L1 as a subject … INDE has
suggested this model as the best for future adoption.17 (p. 5)
Of course, I can only be but pleased to see that my earlier criticism in connec-
tion with such problems proved to have been constructive.
A delay of a few years in the use of Portuguese as a medium of instruction
may result in subtracted competence in this language in later grades, and
may prove to be hard to make up, especially in the case of L1 Bantu-speak-
ing children … The ‘initial bilingualism model’ stands a better chance in
reducing the risks of future Portuguese incompetence eventually incurred
by the ‘gradual transition model’. (Lopes, 1997a: 28)
The Language Situation in Mozambique 175

In the ‘initial bilingualism model’, the change-over to the L2 occurs after a pe-
riod in which Portuguese, together with Bantu, has already been used as
co-medium of instruction. Indeed, a major advantage of the ‘initial bilingualism
model’ over the ‘gradual transition model’ is that it reduces risks of under
achievement in the proficiency of Portuguese in later grades, because this lan-
guage is equally used as a medium of instruction, from the beginning of primary
education. (Lopes, 1997a: 31)
But at the present stage of the project development, I feel that I would like to
contribute three new elements for consideration with regard to the model:
(1) That programming of Portuguese co-medium of instruction in Grade 1
should aim at no less than one-third of the total allocated time for use of and
exposure to both Bantu and Portuguese together (i.e. at least, one-third for
Portuguese and two-thirds for Bantu as co-media of instruction).
(2) That the use of Portuguese as a co-medium in subjects such as Physical Edu-
cation and Aesthetic Education — and however important as they may be
—should not be solely restricted to these subjects.
(3) That, as need arises for the project to be also extended to schools where class-
mates are predominantly L1 Portuguese-speaking, programming time for
Portuguese as a co-medium in Grade 1 should be two-thirds, and Bantu
one-third. Of course, when arrived at the point of the changeover to Portu-
guese-only classes (Grade 5?), both L1 Bantu-speaking and L1
Portuguese-speaking children should reveal identical competence in their
command of Portuguese. This feature of a potentially widened model, obvi-
ously, calls for an appropriate model design and implementation, including
careful planning of activities.
The roots of the rationale underlying my ‘initial bilingualism’ proposition are
to be found in Machel (1979: 13) when she stated:
We know what our objective is: to introduce the child and the adult into a
necessary bilingualism, in which the language of unity and the mother
tongue may develop side by side.18
In fact, and despite the prevailing strong emphasis on Portuguese at the time,
the openness that some authorities evidenced around the bilingualism question
in the 1970s was influential in regard to activities which were then and later de-
veloped by educational structures such as the ‘Comissão de Elaboração de
Textos’ (CET) — operating as early as 1976 and as a precursor of INDE, founded
in 1980.19 But the first truly large undertaking, which attempted to investigate a
particular form of bilingualism in Mozambican schools, was the G. Meijer-led
1982 INDE project on ‘Bilingualism, cognitive development and pre-school ex-
perience of Mozambican children’. Baldo’s (1987) study on how children’s L1
discourse patterns ought to be taken account of in classroom activities for the
learning of L2 oral skills was one of the several research examples that branched
out of the original project. Today’s INDE, which is possibly the major national
language planning research institution and definitely the key educational
think-tank, owes a great deal to those early post-Independence efforts men-
tioned above.
176 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

On the adult literacy planning front, and in the course of the liberation strug-
gle, Frelimo used adult literacy as an effective means to mobilise the people in the
liberated zones. The 1975 Mocuba National Plenary document (Frelimo, 1975b),
produced during the transitional government period before Independence, re-
fers to an illiteracy rate of about 90%. On the other hand, the 1975 Ribaué
document on literacy (Frelimo, 1975a), whilst reflecting the objectives, tone and
practice of the liberation movement in the previous decade, also indicated the
new challenges awaiting post-Independence Mozambique: literacy understood
as a means to liberate the creative initiative of the Mozambican people, as well as
a means through which the popular masses are to achieve their complete Inde-
pendence and initiate national reconstruction. Portuguese had been the medium
used, and such practice was to be emphasised by the late President Machel who,
at the launching of the National Literacy Campaign in 1978, delivered the follow-
ing words:
The spread of the Portuguese language is an important medium among all
Mozambicans, an important vehicle for the exchange of experiences at the
national level, a factor consolidating national consciousness and the pros-
pects for a common future. In the course of the war, some people asked:
‘Why are we continuing with Portuguese?’ Some will say that this National
Literacy Campaign aims at valuing Portuguese. In which language would
you like us to launch this Literacy Campaign? In Makwa or Makonde, in
Nyanja, Shangaan, Ronga, Bitonga, Ndau, or in Chuabo?20 (p. 7)
Portuguese-medium literacy planning prevailed until the end of the 1980s,
and the results were felt to be mixed. Positive in some instances, but unsatisfac-
tory in several others. It is hard to give a balanced assessment of the whole project
because most activities were deeply affected by the war. However, it is also quite
likely that the exclusive use of Portuguese in several literacy campaigns might
have been a major source of a series of failures. In this context, Veloso (1994) has
reported that adult literacy activities through the medium of Portuguese had
hardly been efficient, especially among peasant women, and that, as a result, the
Ministry of Education and UNICEF had jointly decided to embark on a
mother-tongue type of programme, subsequently followed by L2 Portuguese
teaching input. The ‘Women’s Bilingual Education Project’, as the new attempt
became known, took off in 1990 and focused on languages such as Cisena,
Xichangana and Cindau.
The project, which produced over 20 manual titles and several other materials,
seems to have developed reasonably well. Mother tongue literacy experiences
are a welcome and adequate cultural and cognitive development, and may prove
to be more useful to those intervening in the socioeconomic and political facts of
daily life, particularly to Mozambicans in the countryside, who constitute the
majority of the country’s population. It may still be argued, however, that the ra-
tionale underlying the various literacy programmes is substantially improved
literacy skills in Portuguese, i.e. literacy used as a means rather than an end in it-
self, as Lopes (1992: 23–4) puts it:
It is thought that by acquiring literacy skills in the mother tongue in the first
place, their transfer to the official language will be smoother and, hope-
The Language Situation in Mozambique 177

fully, bring about accelerated literacy in this second language. In fact, it is


on this premise that the so-called ‘bilingual literacy’ projects and
programmes are founded.
The country’s present illiteracy rate is estimated at 60%. But in addition to
those efforts that would normally be needed to make more people literate, Mo-
zambique is also confronted with the after-effects of a very prolonged war, ended
in 1992. Since the signing of the Peace Accord, the country has managed in the
past six years to repatriate and reintegrate into their homes over one million refu-
gees from neighbouring countries. Out of these, thousands of adolescents and
adults who were, at one time, functionally literate in Portuguese have now be-
come post-literate, i.e. they have lost the ability they once had to read and/or
write. On the other hand, thousands of returned children, born in refugee camps
in neighbouring states, find themselves in a preliterate condition, i.e. they cannot
read and/or write because they were never taught these skills. They are now too
old to be reintegrated in the pre-primary and the lower primary educational
mainstream. In brief, there are mammoth challenges awaiting intervention by
society and the government, in particular by the Ministry of Education.
Further, a future compilation of literacy demographics should reflect the
country’s global situation not just in relation to Portuguese, or even to English in
the case of the Mozambicans who underwent a status change as refugees, but
equally in connection with the Bantu languages. Experience in formerly colo-
nised situations has shown that literacy in less privileged languages hardly ever
counts. In the case of Mozambique, there are individuals who can communicate
orally in two languages (e.g. Ekoti and Portuguese), but are only literate in their
first language. And some of them are no more than functionally illiterate in their
second language (Portuguese), since — to use Kaplan and Palmer’s (1991) in-
sights in this regard — their ability to read and write in this language operates at
a level below the normative range for the individual’s particular culture. Individ-
uals who achieved initial literacy through a Bantu language or Arabic, though
they may remain illiterate or functionally illiterate in Portuguese, should also be
counted at the time of compiling new literacy demographics.
The ‘Women’s Bilingual Education Project’ was experimental. What the fu-
ture holds as to whether planners should continue or not with bilingual type of
literacy programmes remains an open question. The absence of an official state-
ment on the explicit use of languages other than Portuguese has not hindered
their utilisation in literacy — a kind of ‘unplanned’ language policy, the effects of
which should also merit special attention by planners working in language pol-
icy and planning issues, as well as in language-in-education planning activities
(Baldauf, 1994).
While it is true that language corpus planning activities have been developing
to a considerable extent, the same cannot be said of language status planning
matters relating to decisions on the role of a given language in a country and, not
least important, the roles of several languages in a multilingual country like Mo-
zambique. There have been good examples of the former, such as vocabulary
expansion and orthography work undertaken by both NELIMO and INDE, as
well as production of language material such as manuals, primers and supple-
mentary readers. But as for the latter, the experiments carried out in the domains
178 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

of formal education and literacy have simply remained as pilot projects. The
main problem is that status decisions are primarily political matters, and authori-
ties, in general, tend not to move or, at best, to move at a glacial pace when faced
with issues like the maintenance, expansion or restriction in the range of uses of a
language for particular functions. Disenchantment with this state of affairs was
eloquently manifested by both Filmão (1992) in his draft paper, presented to a
Coordinating Council at the Ministry of Culture, and Honwana (1994) in his arti-
cle published in Jornal de Letras.
The crux of the matter in language status planning in developing and multilin-
gual nations lies in official recognition. In spite of the great value attached to the
bilingual experiments, languages will only truly be recognised, promoted and
have fundamental rights, if they can enjoy official status. This position was de-
fended by Lopes in his address to the World Congress in Kwaluseni in 1994
(published in 1997b), by Firmino and Machungo (1994) in their draft paper,
which introduced the nuance of regional official status for the Bantu languages,
and also by Firmino (1997) who has equally suggested a primary statutory posi-
tion for Portuguese.
Today, I still maintain the same view held in 1994, especially manifested
through a proposal for an improved type of language policy constitutionally.
Such a proposal for the case of Mozambique is based on the following premises:
(1) Language is basic to identity.
(2) Fulfilment of basic human needs for development includes the rights of citi-
zens to identify with, and properly learn and use their own mother tongue.
(3) The citizens’ right to use mother tongues in official situations and, conse-
quently, all languages spoken natively by Mozambicans should enjoy
official status.
(4) The right to adequate learning and use of a language of wider communica-
tion as a link and unity language at the national level, and as a means of
communication with world nations and communities using that language.
(5) The increasing need to intensify learning and use of foreign languages for
the major purpose of responding to regional and international challenges in
communication, cooperation, science and technology.
As for the country’s internal language functions:
(1) Portuguese should retain its statutory function as a link and unity language
at the national level.
(2) Bantu languages should gradually be used co-officially (with Portuguese)
in, at least, the following domains: initial literacy, lower and upper primary
education (Grades 1–5 and 6–7), adult literacy, culture, public administra-
tion, justice (emphatically in court rooms), Parliament, rural development
and agriculture, health care, child nutrition, family planning, small scale in-
dustry, mass media, and religion.
(3) The Mozambicans’ native Asian languages, which must equally enjoy offi-
cial language status, should function in prioritised domains.
The following points are suggested as formal and constituent provisions that
would contribute to improve current Mozambican language policy — a proposi-
The Language Situation in Mozambique 179

tion that would be closer, surely, to a more maintenance-oriented type of


promotion policy:
(1) The official languages of the Republic of Mozambique shall be Cicopi,
Cinyanja, Cinyungwe, Cisena, Cisenga, Cishona, Ciyao, Echuwabo, Ekoti,
Elomwe, Emakhuwa, Gitonga, Gujarati, Kimwani, Kiswahili, Memane,
Portuguese, Shimakonde, Swazi, Urdu, Xichangana, Xironga, Xitswa and
Zulu.
(2) The state shall promote Portuguese as the language of unity and lingua
franca at the national level.
(3) The state shall introduce mother tongue education for initial literacy, as well
as appropriate and feasible models of bilingual medium of instruction.
(4) The state shall increasingly encourage the study of foreign languages.
(5) Portuguese will be used for record purposes or for other special use, and the
other official languages should be developed in order to be equally available
for such purposes.
(6) A Mozambican Language Board to promote respect for and the study and
development of all the official languages will be established. The Board will
also promote respect for and the study and development of Arabic and
other languages used for religious purposes.
The Bantu languages suggested in the proposed point (1) of the above list are
the languages presented in the ‘Seminar Report on the Standardisation of the Or-
thography of Mozambican Languages’, 1989 edition by NELIMO/UEM-INDE.
The Language Map (p. 8) and the reported analysis identify 20 Bantu languages,
despite some indecision on the establishment of some ‘reference variants’. Obvi-
ously, as research progresses towards greater refinement of language and
dialectal contours, the list of languages in clause 1 would have to be adjusted ac-
cordingly. Some functions in connection to those languages that have not as yet
gained official recognition are still restrictive in the present proposal, given the
current and the eventual medium- to long-term socioeconomic reality of the
country.
With regard to the foreign languages, and for geographical, political, eco-
nomic and practical reasons, English should be introduced in the National
Education System at an earlier stage. I would like to suggest its introduction in
the first year (Grade 6) of the upper primary level (EP2). As for the arguments by
certain circles in society that a multilingual type of official language policy might
prove to be expensive to implement, divisive, and premature on the grounds that
Bantu languages are not sufficiently developed, it is possible to counter-argue by
highlighting the following:
(1) Use of a given Bantu language in official situations by a certain group of citi-
zens is surely considered equally economic for that group speaking it.
(2) The political claim that national unity demands a one-language official pol-
icy is a myth. Much in the same way as ecology shows that biological
survival is essentially made possible through a variety of forms, why should
it be believed that an officially stated multilingual policy could make the
country more vulnerable and more easily destructible.
180 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

(3) Kiswahili in Tanzania or Afrikaans in South Africa were not particularly de-
veloped languages when they gained official language status in their
respective countries. In fact, it can be argued that their status, acquired in the
past, indeed accelerated their development and promotion. On the other
hand, Krio in Sierra Leone, like Kiswahili in Tanzania, was originally a tiny
language, but promotion efforts have turned this language into a large and
developed lingua franca.
Certainly, the test of any new future proposal put forward lies with the ability
of politicians and policy makers to achieve the very difficult task of striking the
best possible balance between goals of efficiency/nationism and those of authen-
ticity/nationalism. Or as Webb (1994: 259) puts it with regard to a certain past
proposal in South Africa, it is important to recognise ‘… the extremely difficult
task of balancing the need for effective government with the sociocultural and
psycholinguistic needs of the country’s citizens’. The new South African policy
of 11 official languages and the ongoing implementational attempts surely con-
stitute a fresh reference point. And in the educational sphere, the work by the
Catalan bilingualism planners (e.g. Miguel Strubell) showing how they promote
Catalan, as well as Gaudart’s (1992) account and discussion of bilingual educa-
tion in Malaysia could prove to be insightful to Mozambican applied linguists,
particularly language planners in national institutions.
Some of the most active language planning agencies operating in the polity are
the Eduardo Mondlane University, especially through NELIMO, the Ministry of
Education through INDE, and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport through
ARPAC (Arquivos do Património Cultural). Equally active are Rádio
Moçambique, several religious denominations — which increasingly translate,
edit and publish liturgical texts in different Bantu languages, Summer Institute
of Linguistics/Sociedade Internacional de Linguística-programa de
Moçambique (SIL), Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the North-South Austrian Insti-
tute and various Mozambican non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Some
of these and other Foundations and Associations produce or support production
of materials for civic education and electoral purposes, and pursue adult educa-
tion goals. There are equally several cultural organisations, interest groups and
religious denominations which have been involved in aspects of the language
planning process, mainly for Portuguese, Xironga, Xichangana and Cisena.
Since INDE has already been discussed at some length, the main work under-
taken by the other major planning agencies will now be considered.
Under E. Rzewuski’s initiative, and in association with M. Katupha as its
co-founding member, NELIMO was set up within the Faculty of Arts of the Edu-
ardo Mondlane University in 1978. At the outset, NELIMO first undertook to
draw up a bibliography on the Bantu languages of Mozambique as well glossa-
ries of scientific and technical terms in some of those languages for the Ministry
of Information, especially the Social Communication Office. Later, it set up a re-
search project on the description of Bantu languages with a view to teaching
them in free courses and in a linguistics degree programme at the Modern Lan-
guages Department of the Faculty of Arts. In this respect, leitores (teaching
assistants) underwent special training, while a series of works were gradually
being produced for the first experimental courses, namely the Cadernos Tsonga,
The Language Situation in Mozambique 181

the handbook Byi Xile and the Cadernos Emakhuwa. The project on language de-
scription also contemplated lexical work that was later to be used in the
compilation of a Kiswahili-Portuguese dictionary and a Xichangana-Portuguese
dictionary produced by Sitoe (1996). A major task awaiting further future devel-
opments is a detailed dialectological survey, and the subsequent elaboration of
more sophisticated language maps and an atlas. Lack of human, material and fi-
nancial resources hindered the development of a few projected activities in the
past. The future of NELIMO is promising in, at least, human terms, since it can
count now on a group of specialised Mozambican linguists, recently returned
from their doctoral training abroad. Finally, it must be reiterated how instrumen-
tal NELIMO’s work has been with regard to the 1988 event on the
standardisation of the orthography of several Bantu languages, the articulation
with INDE and the National Directorate of Adult Education, and the collabora-
tion with Radio Mozambique.
In addition to INDE and NELIMO, the Archives of Cultural Heritage/ARPAC
is a language planning agency equally worthy of mention. Linguistics and eth-
no-linguistics are two of this institution’s major areas of interest and research.
The Organic Statutes of ARPAC, approved in 1993 by the Council of Ministers’
Decree 26/93, define national languages and linguistic studies, amongst others,
as constituent parts of ARPAC’s area of speciality (Conselho de Ministros, 1993).
The dossier-ARPAC on national languages published in 1992 constitutes a useful
compilation of writings on language that appeared in the press over the period
1975–92. ARPAC was one of the major organisers of the country’s First National
Conference on Culture held in 1993. It maintains close working links with both
INDE and NELIMO as well as with regional institutions. Its recent partnership
involvement with the South African-based Southern African Migration Project
(SAMP) is an example of the latter. SAMP recently commissioned a report as part
of a programme to understand the extent to which language rights have been ap-
plied to non-South Africans in the new South Africa, and in particular how they
have been observed by various state departments and officials. Reitzes and
Crawhall’s clear-sighted report entitled Silenced by Nation-Building: African Immi-
grants & Language Policy in the New South Africa published in 1998 will stimulate
debate and pave the way to the carrying out of similar research in other Southern
African countries, Mozambique included. Given ARPAC’s recent involvement
with SAMP, ARPAC is bound to initiate in the near future pioneering research in
an area of critical importance to Mozambique.
Radio Mozambique also undertakes language planning activities in close col-
laboration with several agencies, in particular with NELIMO. It is a major
propagator of both Portuguese and the Bantu languages. RM’s recent language
planning activities include the 1996 assessment of concepts and language used in
radio broadcasts, the groundwork for the 3rd Seminar on Mozambican Lan-
guages Broadcasting held in 1996 and the 1997 publication of a Glossary of
Political–Social Concepts in 17 Bantu languages and variants. The Austrian Insti-
tute for North–South Cooperation contributed actively to this kind of research
work and the joint publication of the glossary. And for RM’s future development,
the consultancy work on ‘Mozambican Languages in RM’ commissioned to
UEM’s Modern Languages Department (report by Sitoe et al., 1995) surely con-
182 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

tains relevant recommendations for the restructuring and expansion of RM’s


language planning activities.
SIL, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, also known as Wycliffe Bible Transla-
tors, has been operating in Mozambique since 1986. SIL has worked with the
Eduardo Mondlane University, INDE, some Provincial Education Directorates,
local churches and PROGRESSO, a Mozambican NGO. Teams of linguists are
now working in several provinces, particularly in the central and northern re-
gions of the country. SIL work in promoting literacy in other parts of the world
(e.g. in Melanesia) has won educational awards from UNESCO. But the organi-
sation has not been exempt from criticism either, as Mühlhäusler (1996) describes
in Chapter 6, ‘Mission languages and language policies’. However, and despite
his contention and arguments, Mühlhäusler takes note of remarks made by Pike
(SIL’s President) in a newspaper article and adopts a more moderate stance:
I am prepared to give SIL the benefit of the doubt and accept that most of its
members are generally concerned with what they regard as bettering the
lot of those they work with … (p. 167)
A Report by SIL (1997) on its activities in Mozambique over the period 1995–97
describes how active the organisation has been in providing literacy materials, in
carrying out translation work, and in the development of orthographies for lan-
guages. Work has been done in connection with the languages Kimwani,
Shimakonde, Emakhuwa, Ekoti and Cisena. A few linguistic and sociolinguistic
surveys undertaken in the Provinces of Manica, Tete and Nampula have also fo-
cused on several language variants. In the process of work, several Mozambicans
have equally received specialised training (the LIMASHI Project in the Province
of Cabo Delgado is, in this context, a good example). It is possible to hold a posi-
tive view of SIL’s activities in the country, and as long as the organisation proves
to be capable of strengthening its links with the local population and authorities,
it is bound to impact positively on their lives and contribute extensively to the
goals pursued by national institutions, in particular those by NELIMO. Ulti-
mately, it is the Mozambicans who must determine and specify their own
strategy. And I think the same ought to apply to any external language promo-
tion efforts, i.e. the agencies that do not operate in the polity.
The major influences affecting language policy and planning in the country
are essentially exerted by SADC member states regionally, and by Portugal (and
Brazil, in some ways) internationally.
Language planning activities in South Africa are likely to influence positively
Mozambique’s future status planning and corpus planning efforts, especially in
respect to the Bantu languages. English, as a lingua franca between the six na-
tions with which Mozambique shares its borders, is increasingly used by
educated Mozambicans in their regional (and, of course, international) dealings.
Obviously, it was not just the neighbouring language factor, but rather political
events that have contributed to Mozambique’s taking its place as a Common-
wealth member at the 1997 Commonwealth Heads of State and Government
Summit in Scotland, moving into full membership from its 1987 status as ob-
server.
The Language Situation in Mozambique 183

The strong ‘exceptional’ case for admitting Mozambique to the Common-


wealth was defined from the fact that Mozambique’s suffering had
occurred largely as a result of its support for democracy and human dignity
in neighbouring Commonwealth states, i.e. Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Mozambique and the Commonwealth succeeded in assisting to facilitate
change in those countries. (SARDC, 1997: 2)
In fact, Mozambique applied for membership and was accepted as a Com-
monwealth member in 1995. This event, which created some concern in Portugal
and dismay among French interests, might have contributed as a major impulse
towards the ‘accelerated’ formation in 1996 of CPLP, the Portuguese-speaking
Countries Community (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa). Also, the
growing French influence over Guiné-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony,
should not be minimised in this context.
CPLP is formed by Portugal, Brazil and a grouping of the five African states
known as PALOP countries (Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa). A ma-
jor Summit meeting between the Seven, well before their integration into CPLP,
was held in 1989 in São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil. Their primary objective was to
formalise the creation of the International Institute of the Portuguese Language
(Instituto Internacional de Língua Portuguesa, IILP). Da Silva and Gunnewiek’s
(1992) account of antecedent efforts by Portugal and Brazil to spread Portuguese
through agencies such as ICALP (Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa) and
CEBs (Centros de Estudos Brasileiros) is quite interesting. A draft version of the
IILP Statutes has now been circulated for discussion among CPLP members,
while the Camões Institute of Portugal has been active elaborating terms of refer-
ence for projects aimed at promoting Portuguese in international bodies such as
the Organisation of African Unity (headquarters in Ethiopia) and the Southern
African Development Community (headquarters in Botswana). It is likely that
some good will emerge out of all these actions, if the African voice is respected
and taken into account. The Maputo-based Bibliographic Fund of the Portuguese
Language (Fundo Bibliográfico de Língua Portuguesa) could surely be, in this re-
gard, a major cooperating structure for the dealings of Portugal and Brazil with
the African continent. But above all, the degree of success of Portuguese promo-
tion efforts in the so-called PALOP nations will be poor if the African realities are
not really taken into account. As a suitable conclusion to the present section, it
seems suitable to recall President Chissano’s (1989) words delivered in a joint
press conference, which marked the end of the São Luís do Maranhão Summit
meeting in Brazil: ‘We ought to consider the other languages and we ought also
to develop them concurrently as we develop Portuguese’.21
The establishment of the International Institute of the Portuguese Language in
the near future will prove to be instrumental in maximising the Portu-
guese-speaking nations’ joint efforts regarding language matters. But, the
success of such structure will depend on the kind of approach adopted to investi-
gate and study the worldwide varieties of Portuguese. Any tendency to mandate
how the Portuguese language should be ‘properly’ spoken (a prescriptive ap-
proach) will certainly constitute a recipe for friction or even disaster.
184 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

Part IV: Language Maintenance and Prospects


From time immemorial, and from generation to generation, the Bantu lan-
guages of Mozambique have been a major vehicle for the transmission of the
facts of life and of legends, the ancient knowledge of nature, and the arts and
crafts. These languages are the repository of the past, and through them the peo-
ple have kept their cultural identity alive. In the more recent past, these
languages have learned to adjust to the challenges posed by modern society, and
have attempted to cohabit with the language brought in by the Portuguese. The
colonial situation made this cohabitation extremely difficult, resulting in Portu-
guese hegemony to the depreciation and disadvantage of the Bantu languages.
Today, when compared to the inherited and reinforced prestigious status en-
joyed by the Portuguese language in Mozambique, we see that that the status of
Bantu languages and the present efforts to develop and promote them in society
still have a long way to go. It is a fact, though, that the post-Independence years,
unlike the years of colonial control, have witnessed several attempts by authori-
ties and language planning agencies to redress this imbalance. But, true language
maintenance ultimately lies with official status recognition of the Bantu lan-
guages and the concurrent implementation of shelter programmes. The present
maintenance-oriented permission reflected by Article 5.2 of the Constitution is
necessary, but not sufficient for powerless Bantu languages to be maintained and
developed. What they need is maintenance-oriented promotion, which necessar-
ily implicates the allocation of economic resources to support these languages.
The existing pronouncements tend to be vague, and the economic prerequisites
for promoting the Bantu languages have been deficient. The argument that a bi-
lingual (Bantu/Portuguese) Mozambican can use the official language
(Portuguese) in official situations is flawed for the following reasons: If lan-
guages cannot be used in official situations, they will not be adequately learned
and developed; and if they are not properly learned, how can people fully and
consciously identify with languages which are poorly known, and in some in-
stances (still a tiny minority) not known at all? To afford the Bantu languages
official rights is, in my opinion, the proper way to revitalise and explicitly pro-
mote them within a maintenance-oriented framework. Efforts to treat every
language equally and give each equal respect would augur well for the future of
the country. Any attempt in this direction is not wishful thinking but, naturally,
the final decision as to what language is used for what functions in society is a po-
litical decision. The duty of humble linguists and language planners is to do the
spadework that may lead to improved, rational and systematic language pol-
icy-making decisions.
In Mozambique there is no language that one can say is shared by all
Mozambicans, but by virtue of a set of historical accidents of history Portuguese
has managed to stand out as an indispensable factor in the creation and develop-
ment of the new nation. Like it or not, Portuguese is the language of social and
economic mobility and the key for job opportunities and professional promotion.
It is a fact of life. D’souza’s (1996) comment on the ‘supreme’ role of English in In-
dia — despite the fact that Indian languages enjoy official rights which Bantu
languages in Mozambique do not have — could, by analogy, be also appropri-
The Language Situation in Mozambique 185

ately applied in connection to the power enjoyed by the Portuguese language in


Mozambique:
… regardless of policy or plan, people will acquire English. The so-called
‘hegemony’ of English stems from no sinister aspect of the language itself,
but from the simple fact that humans like butter on both sides of their bread
— and if possible a little jam as well! (p. 259)
But while it is true that Portuguese is spoken by increasingly greater numbers
of Mozambicans today than it was at Independence, the language is not shared to
the same degree by those who can speak it, nor is it always an obvious choice
when people from the same Bantu language backgrounds get together. Several
circumstances may dictate which language will dominate in a given encounter,
and often the result is code-switching and code-mixing in which one of the codes
used is Portuguese. Also, the meaning of new words is not always perceived and
processed in the same manner, as Matusse (1997: 546) vividly points out:
… a great number of words came into common use after independence.
This led to yet another interesting sociolinguistic change: using extensive
or bombastic terminology was no longer the prerogative of a privileged
few. However, not everyone is linguistically competent enough to discern
the nuances of some of the new terms coming into use. A popular joke has it
that a certain gentleman arriving late at home asked his wife ‘to mobilise
the fish, channel it into the frying pan and organise it on the table.
Certainly, lexicons of usage and dictionaries are urgently needed. No works of
reference of such types have ever been produced in the country or abroad. Re-
search in this direction22 would make a strong case for regarding Portuguese as a
language with multiple cultural identities and traditions, and would surely con-
stitute a useful contribution to both the lexicographic world and the developing
field of non-native language varieties. Initial research emphasis could be placed
on loan words, collocations, idiom, register and style.
Given history and the country’s language profile, and with no desire to belittle
any language, it is obvious that the spread and consolidation of Portuguese as a
national means of communication among all citizens, as well as a language of na-
tional unity should be the natural outcome. Mozambique needs to be united and
to build a national identity, and both the Bantu languages and Portuguese are
key participants in this process.
Portuguese is no longer a foreign language and has been evolving as a natural-
ised variety to serve the needs of Mozambicans. The processes of naturalisation
and indigenisation have resulted in the language acquiring new features adapt-
ing it to the local realities, including the journalistic and literary registers of use.
Of course, the process of evolution of this emerging non-native variety of Portu-
guese is of a rather complex nature, as one might expect.
The alterations to the Portuguese language reveal a logic that goes well be-
yond the linguistic domain, and translate a different world view and
lifestyle. The Mozambicans are in the process of transcending their role as
simply users of the Portuguese language and assuming a status in which
they are co-producers of this means of expression.23 (Couto, 1986)
186 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

Several Mozambican novelists and short-story writers have put Mozambique


firmly on the map of Portuguese-writing literature. Similarly to what has hap-
pened to English in India or English in Ghana, the Portuguese language in
Mozambique has been gradually taking on
the rhythms and harmonics of the languages with which it is in contact and
thus has acquired a resonance all its own. These new cadences are as much
a part of the nativising process as are borrowing, code-mixing, etc.
(D’souza, 1996: 256)
Portuguese in Mozambique has been modified in several aspects: in pronunci-
ation, in areas of grammar and discourse, and perhaps most vividly in lexis,
where a certain volume of new words has been introduced and other words are
used differently. Indeed, two major developments have been taking place in
Mozambican Portuguese (MP) lexis, as Gonçalves (1996: 61) is keen to point out:
On the one hand, new words have been created as a result of borrowings
(from the speakers’ Bantu mother tongues, or from others like English), or
on account of lexical productivity (acting on a borrowing basis or on a Euro-
pean Portuguese basis). On the other hand, there is the usage of words that
belong to the European Portuguese lexis, but which have been ascribed
new semantic values and/or different syntactic properties.24
Several attempts have been made to record and analyse MP formal realisa-
tions, primarily in syntax and lexis. The roots of early research activities that
involved linguists working at the UEM and INDE can be traced to the first years
after Independence in 1975. The results of early projects on error analysis were
published at a later stage (Diniz, 1987; Gonçalves, 1986; Machungo, 1987). Also
worthy of mention are a few linguistics dissertations (e.g. Dias, 1990; Maciel,
1992; Sitoe, 1997) which have attempted to analyse both syntactic and lexical MP
realisations, the latter in the footprints of Lopes’ lexical contribution (1979) for
Longman.25
A major problem with the emerging Portuguese non-native variety is that
Mozambican learners have to have a norm to which to conform. Over two mil-
lion children are now learning Portuguese in primary schools countrywide.
Which model can they refer to in the interest of their future communication both
domestic and international? There has been considerable controversy among lin-
guists over the issue of norm and standards. Some, like Kachru (1985), argue that
the traditional notions no longer apply to non-native language situations. Oth-
ers, like Quirk (1984), feel that it should be a matter for consideration whether the
problem is rather one of seeking stability in the face of uncertain grasp and im-
perfectly internalised rules, than one of varietal development through a
naturally creative social dynamic. In this regard, it seems to me that as long as a
baseline is retained for national and international communication, the diversity
and creativeness of the emerging MP ought to be nourished. With respect to the
purpose of systematicity, James (1998: 43–4) suggests that the model, which is nec-
essary to demarcate institutionalised from random usage, would have to be
based on Error Analysis (EA). ‘If the local variety is to be nurtured or at the very
least respected, it will have to be monitored, and that is what EA is there to do’.
The Language Situation in Mozambique 187

Lopes (1998b) has suggested elsewhere that the norm broadcast by RM (Radio
Mozambique) could well constitute such a baseline. RM is one of the most re-
spected and prestigious mass media in the country, and its signal reaches most
parts of the territory. The Mozambican Portuguese variety broadcast by RM is
appropriately fit to function as a Standard of Mozambican Portuguese, both na-
tionally and transnationally, and would most likely meet with widespread
agreement among Mozambicans.
Obviously, there would have to be descriptions of the selected ‘standard’ form
for purposes of a more systematic learning of the language (da Silva, 1993). In the
first years after Independence, European Portuguese was said to be the model
that learners would have to aim at in education. But in the course of the following
years, practice showed that such an idealistic goal was not achievable, and even
no longer desired because it lacked the marks of an emerging national identity.
This situation has not as yet been seriously addressed, and as a result school chil-
dren learn a norm for which the educational system is unable to plan. Language
planners and educationalists, in general, ought to consider this matter seriously
and urgently, and more so in view of the millions of children who are now at-
tending school. Also, the long-term effects of the currently laissez-faire policy on
norm and standards may impact negatively on the future status and role of Por-
tuguese as a lingua franca and as a language of national unity. The words of
Craveirinha (1993), Mozambique’s greatest poet in Portuguese, seem to carry
part of such implication:
The major problem resides in the primary school, where ground is being
lost day after day … If nothing is done, we may lose this linguistic presence
within the space of a generation.26 (p. 7)
For various reasons — in addition to didactic, political and financial ones —
the national and international press has voiced concern over the future of the
Portuguese language in Mozambique, including the possibility of Portuguese
being overtaken by English. The matter has equally merited some attention in re-
search (e.g. Miguel, 1994). Three major reasons have been invoked in order to
justify the hypothesis of an eventual substitution of English for Portuguese: (1)
Mozambique’s recent membership in the Commonwealth; (2) Mozambique’s
sharing of borders with English-speaking countries; and (3) English is a powerful
tool for worldwide communication.
The historical and cultural influence of English-speaking peoples in the region
is visible in the country, and so are the marks of their language on both Portu-
guese and the Bantu languages. The language argument may indeed be used to
refute claims that the English language has had no tradition in Mozambique
(Lopes, 1998a; Magaia, 1997).
Mozambique’s accession to Commonwealth membership should enable both
Mozambique and the southern African region to build a future of regional eco-
nomic cooperation and integration. It is a fact that Mozambique is completely
surrounded by Commonwealth countries, and it is also true that Mozambique’s
application for membership was strongly supported by Mozambique’s neigh-
bours. These factors stem from no sinister philosophy of the Commonwealth nor
any evil aspect of the English language itself, but from the simple fact that the
188 Language Policy and Planning in Africa

Commonwealth Organisation, as a whole, and Mozambique’s neighbours, in


particular, believe that such membership will enhance and advance regional de-
velopment. Of course, such optimism is not shared by every one:
At present, we are surrounded by English-speaking countries from North
to South. It is to their advantage that their language should spread in Mo-
zambique, and that we should remain dependent on them. They need our
ports, and I hope that we do not find ourselves in a position of having to
give ground.27 (Craveirinha, 1993: 7)
As for the argument for using English instead of Portuguese on the grounds
that Mozambique would communicate more efficiently through English with
neighbouring states and the world, it is at least a matter for debate. I think that the
English as an International Language argument is, in fact, more an argument for
teaching the language rather than an argument for its use as a means of commu-
nication in Mozambique. It is true that English is the lingua franca of the
Southern Africa Development Community region and that, as the most interna-
tional language of commerce, technology and academic exchange, English is of
vital importance to the development of Mozambique. And it is also apparent that
the acquisition and effective deployment of higher-level skills are increasingly
dependent on competency in English. But while it is a fact that the Mozambican
authorities and managerial elites are keen to develop their English skills, the
elites represent only a tiny minority — though a powerful one — who are and
will be involved in regional, continental and overseas communication.
Mozambican elite groups — such as politicians, people in foreign trade, diplo-
mats, academics and artists — who really need English to communicate
internationally should learn it (and learn it well!) in special courses offered by
universities and language institutes. Also, given the importance of English in the
educational system, it would be worthwhile pursuing the lines of research (in-
cluding that on contrastive rhetoric) initiated by some investigators of English in
Mozambique (e.g. Lopes, 1985; 1987; Manuel, 1994).
Kaplan (personal communication), has argued that certain factors can exert
great influence in multilingual Mozambique, in particular the question of regis-
ters. It appears that the influence of any language on any other language depends
importantly on the registers it occupies. If an external language captures a key
register (e.g. home language, religious language), the internal language is in
jeopardy. And so long as key registers are retained in Portuguese and/or the
Bantu languages of Mozambique, it is unlikely that English can have any signifi-
cant impact. At the same time, to the extent that key registers are captured by
English, then Portuguese and/or Bantu languages can be in jeopardy. The regis-
ter of religious ritual in Mozambique has been partially captured by Bantu
languages vis-à-vis Portuguese. The registers of business in the formal market are
gradually being captured by English vis-à-vis Portuguese, whilst in the informal
market the registers of business have been captured by Bantu languages vis-à-vis
Portuguese. But the key registers of administration, formal instruction and the
media have exclusively been retained in Portuguese. So long as these registers
are retained in Portuguese, or eventually shared in Portuguese and Bantu in the
The Language Situation in Mozambique 189

future, it is difficult to imagine how English could take the place of Portuguese in
Mozambique.
Furthermore, two hundred million speakers around the world have turned
Portuguese into a pluricentric and dynamic language, thus creating pressures
that apply in all directions in the considerably extensive ecological system of Por-
tuguese. The Portuguese language in Mozambique is necessarily part (and not
an isolate part) of a complex ecological system, which extends through the Portu-
guese-speaking states of Africa and reaches into the Portuguese-speaking states
and communities in Europe, America and Asia. Surely, the influence of English
in Mozambique will increasingly be greater but, the interests of the elite, particu-
larly the business elite, in promoting English for their interaction with the
outside world will always be balanced by their continuing attachment to Portu-
guese as a language of national unity, and the Bantu languages as symbols of
ethnolinguistic identity and ties.

Correspondence
Any correspondence should be directed to Professor Armando Jorge Lopes,
Modern Languages Department, Faculty of Arts, PO Box 257, Eduardo
Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique (ling@ajlopes.uem.mz).

Notes
1. I wish to express my gratitude to Professors Robert B. Kaplan and Richard B. Baldauf,
Jr, the series editors, who kindly invited me to collaborate on their impressive lan-
guage planning project. I trust the reader will find this introductory study useful.
Thanks also to the following friends, former students, colleagues and authorities who
have assisted me throughout the 15-month period of research: Anwar Latif, Arlindo
Folige, Aurélio Simango, Delfina Mugabe, Julieta Langa, Samima Patel, Teresa Alfaro,
Vasco Nhussi, Directorate of Planning at the Ministry of Education (Director Virgílio
Juvane), National Institute for Education Development (Director Miguel Buendia and
staff) and National Institute of Statistics (Vice-President Manuel Gaspar). And, obvi-
ously, I am particularly indebted to Alda Costa and Jeremy Grest who gave the draft
manuscript a close and very educated reading. I, of course, accept full responsibility
for the translation of citations in the text, and for any errors that may occur in this vol-
ume.
2. Guthrie (1967/71) established language zones, as well as language groups within lan-
guage zones, for the purpose of grouping and classifying languages sharing common
phonetic and grammatical features. Fifteen zones, each identified by a letter of the Al-
phabet (A to S) were defined and each group of languages was assigned a number (e.g.
G40 stands for the Kiswahili Group which includes the languages Kiswahili and
Kimwani). The Zones in Mozambique have been defined by the letters G, N, P, and S.
Bantu languages can be found from the Cameroon mountains in West Africa down to
the River Tana in East Africa. Zone A languages are located in the northwestern region
of the continent. The term Bantu usually refers to typological and genetic relation-
ships and means men, peoples, persons. The Bantu family has been classified as being
among the major language families of the world. The term was first used by Bleek
(1862–69) who used a noun class system as a key distinguishing feature of a Bantu lan-
guage. All non-Bantu languages of South Africa, e.g. Khoisan, lack that specific
feature.
3. Chi-Yao e Chi-Mákonde, entre outras tidas como línguas ‘minoritárias’, poderiam
reclamar o seu reconhecimento de línguas maioritáras se se tomasse em contra o facto
de que essas línguas ‘violam’ as fronteiras geográficas a Sul da República Unida da
Tanzania.
190 Language Policy and Planning in Africa
4. The translations of the Christian Bible used in Western Zambezia originated in Ma-
lawi. The Bible was translated mainly by Catholic Missionaries from English into
Cinyanja. In the major Milange district, the Cinyanja Bible as well as sets of catechism
books in Cinyanja are widely used. Furthermore, Protestant leaders in Zambezia
would also like to have their own Cinyanja version of the Bible. Cinyanja is a language
with a long literary and educational history. In Malawi, it is possible that more books
have been published in Cinyanja than in English. Over two-thirds of Malawians can
understand and speak Cinyanja, Malawi’s major language — also known or referred
to as Cichewa.
5. Os pais estão a favor do ensino bilingue e querem-no para seus filhos em idade escolar.
6. (1) Na República de Moçambique, a língua portuguesa é a língua oficial. (2) O Estado
valoriza as línguas nacionais e promove o seu desenvolvimento e utilização crescente
como línguas veiculares e na educação dos cidadãos.
7. Não existe língua de maioria no nosso País. Escolher uma das línguas moçambicanas
como língua nacional seria uma opção arbitrária que poderia ter sérias consequências
… Fomos por isso forçados a utilizar o Português como a nossa língua de ensino e para
comunicação entre nós.
8. A necessidade de combatermos o opressor exigia um combate intransigente contra o
tribalismo e o regionalismo. Foi esta necessidade de unidade que nos impôs que a
única língua comum-a que servira para oprimir-assumisse uma nova dimensão.
9. A decisão de se optar pela língua portuguesa, como língua oficial na República Popu-
lar de Moçambique, foi uma decisão política meditada e ponderada visando atingir
um objectivo — a preservação da unidade nacional e a integridade do território. A
história da apropriação da língua portuguesa, como factor de unidade, nivelador das
diferenças, veio desde a criação da Frelimo em 1962.
10. Em vez de enfrentar racionalmente o problema da multiplicidade das línguas faladas
nos seus territórios, no âmbito geral do desafio da Modernidade-Tradição, os países
africanos não hesitaram em adoptar as línguas de antigos colonizadores.
11. A decisão da 11a. Sessão do Comité Central sobre o estudo das línguas moçambicanas
e sobre a criação de um órgão especializado constitui uma medida de grande alcance
cultural. Esta decisão aprofunda o debate sobre a cultura e abre perspectivas
importantes à comunicação social, à educação, à formação profissional.
12. Os elementos positivos da nossa vida cultural, tais como as nossas formas de
expressão linguística, as nossas músicas e danças típicas, as peculiaridades regionais
de nascer, crescer, amar e morrer, continuarão depois da Independência para florir e
embelezar a vida da nossa Nação. No há antagonismo entre as realidades da
existência de vários grupos étnicos e a Unidade Nacional.
13. A valorização social das línguas, o apoio aos centros de estudo das línguas
moçambicanas existentes ou a estabelecer; a codificação e padronização da ortografia
das línguas moçambicanas; e a selecção das línguas que, em cada província ou região,
deverão ser introduzidas no Sistema Nacional de Educação, assim como na actividade
política, social e económica.
14. In the SNE, out of a sample of 1000 pupils in first grade, only 63 graduated from first
level primary eduaction five years later (i.e. 6.3%). In terms of the PEBIMO Project, 38
out of 170 pupils in first grade managed to complete the five-year cycle of primary in-
struction (i.e. 22%), and without repeating any grade.
15. Os resultados são muito animadores: o aproveitamento é bom, há muita interacção
entre professores e alunos, os alunos apreendem melhor os conteúdos. Por outro lado,
os pais estão a favor do ensino bilingue, e querem-no para seus filhos em idade escolar.
16. Uma das dificuldades da adopção deste modelo relaciona-se com o facto de não ter
providenciado um desenvolvimento oral suficiente na L2 para permitir uma transição
gradual e bem sucedida para a L2.
17. O modelo ‘ideal’, representado na última figura no anexo C-3, … descreve o ensino da
língua segunda desde o início, a transição gradual da L1 para a L2 e a manutenção da
L1 como disciplina … Este modelo foi proposto pelo INDE como o melhor a ser
adoptado no futuro.
The Language Situation in Mozambique 191

18. O nosso objectivo sabemos qual é: introduzir a criança e o adulto num bilinguismo
necessário, em que a língua de unidade e a língua materna se desenvolvam lado a
lado.
19. I count myself among the fortunate ones who were privileged to contribute modestly
to the dramatic changes in education that occurred immediately after Independence.
20. A generalização da língua portuguesa é um meio importante entre todos os
moçambicanos, veículo importante de troca de experiência a nível nacional, factor da
consolidação da consciência nacional e da perspectiva do futuro comum. Alguns
perguntaram durante a guerra: ‘Para quê continuarmos com a língua portuguesa?’
Alguns vão dizer que a Campanha Nacional de Alfabetização é para valorização da
língua portuguesa. Em que língua é que vocês gostariam que nós desencadeássemos a
Campanha de Alfabetização? Em Macua ou em Maconde, Nyanja, em Changana,
Ronga, Bitonga, Ndau, em Chuabo?
21. Temos que considerar as outras línguas e temos que desenvolvê-las também ao
mesmo tempo que desenvolvemos o Português.
22. It is proposed that there be:
(1) compilation of a Lexicon of Mozambican-Portuguese Usage designed to be used
for reference purposes; and
(2) elaboration of a Concise Multilingual Portuguese–Bantu–English and Eng-
lish–Bantu–Portuguese Pocket Dictionary (with MP variants) designed as a pocket
companion for the student, the teacher and the reader, in general.
The goals of the proposed research would be to describe certain features of Portu-
guese usage which are uniquely characteristic of the Portuguese of Mozambican
speakers (lexicon), as well as to record in dictionary format both the non-common core
and the common core parts (especially the most frequent usages) of Mozambican-Por-
tuguese. The aims of the Lexicon of Usage would be to provide general readers,
teachers and students with a work of reference on Mozambican-Portuguese (MP), and
to develop their awareness of differences between MP and European Portuguese
(contrastive dimension). The aim of the Concise Multilingual Pocket Dictionary
would be to provide both Mozambican and English-speaking readers with a system-
atic list of the most frequent words in Portuguese (MP variants included) as used in
Mozambique. The proposed research is qualitative and corpus-based and shall pri-
marily make use of library resources, in particular the literature on non-native
language variety, lexicology and lexicography. The Lexicon should contain innova-
tions recorded among MP speakers’ writing and speech, including descriptions of
some infrequent items, especially if they exemplify a certain trend or pattern. The pro-
posed Lexicon should only consist of those MP items whose form and/or function are
different from European Portuguese (EP) items. That is to say, the non-common core
part of MP. A rough estimate of this part is 300–400 items, and the scope of the work
would be both microlinguistic (syntax, semantics and lexis) and macrolinguistic (dis-
course, rhetoric and idiom). The Concise Multilingual Pocket Dictionary would be
designed as a pocket companion for the student, the teacher and the general reader.
The dictionary would consist of one list of the most frequent Portuguese words in Mo-
zambique — both the common core and the non-common core parts of MP — one list
of the corresponding Bantu language items, and one list of English items compiled
into a handy volume, providing each of the lists with equal recognition. My estimate
for the original list is 5000 items. The items would be dealt with in Portuguese, Bantu
and English in such a way as to require no specialised knowledge of the grammars of
the languages involved in order to be able to use the dictionary. The format would be
straightforward and easy to understand, with directive words given in brackets, to in-
dicate the particular shade of meaning associated with the particular headword. The
selected content areas of the dictionary would specifically include such themes as for-
mal and informal economy, primary health care, family planning, gender, literacy,
education, culture, democracy, and topics in connection with water, housing and
communications.
23. As alterações da língua portuguesa têm uma lógica que ultrapassa o domínio
linguístico e que traduzem uma outra apreensão do mundo e da vida. Os
192 Language Policy and Planning in Africa
moçambicanos estão a superar a condição de simples utentes da língua portuguesa
para ascenderem ao estatuto de co-produtores desse meio de expressão.
24. Por um lado está a criação de novas palavras, resultantes de empréstimos (às LB/L1’s
dos falantes, ou outras como o Inglês) ou devidas à produtividade lexical (actuando
sobre bases-empréstimo ou sobre bases do PE). Por outro lado, está o uso de palavras
já pertencentes ao léxico do PE, às quais são atribuídos novos valores semânticos e/ou
diferentes propriedades sintácticas.
25. Lopes’ research was carried out during the period 1978–9. His 1979 contribution (pub-
lished in 1980) was sent for inclusion in a bilingual dictionary, following a request by
the Longman English Language Teaching Division Publisher to assist in adding some
Mozambican-Portuguese variations, where they existed, to a bilingual dictionary that
was then being compiled. The dictionary — intended principally for the speaker of
Portuguese not the speaker of English — was primarily aimed at the Brazilian market.
The original text was an English–English dictionary at an intermediate level — that is
for learners with between three and five years of learning English — to which Portu-
guese glosses had been added. Where the Portuguese word differs in Brazilian (BP),
European (EP) and Mozambican Portuguese (MP) this has been indicated. The dictio-
nary consists of 10,000 English headwords with English definitions and examples
followed by a translation of the headword in the meaning being defined in BP, EP and
MP.
26. O grande problema está na escola primária, onde se está a perder terreno todos os dias
… Se nada for feito, podemos perder esta presença linguística no espaço de uma
geração.
27. Neste momento estamos cercados desde o Norte até ao Sul por países de língua
inglesa. Convém-lhes que a sua língua avance em Moçambique e que nós fiquemos
numa posição dependente. Eles precisam dos nossos portos, e espero que não
fiquemos em posição de ter que ceder.

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The Language Planning Situation in South
Africa
Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu
University of Natal, Durban, South Africa

This monograph examines the language planning situation in South Africa, where
language has been instrumental in the country’s transition from colonialism to apart-
heid to democracy. In particular, it addresses, diachronically and synchronically, the
issues of language spread and use, language policy and planning, and language main-
tenance and shift. The monograph is divided into four parts. The first part presents
the language profile of South Africa to provide the background against which the
aforementioned issues will be discussed. The second part discusses language spread
and use, with a focus on language-in-education and the media. The third section
looks at language policy and planning, with a focus on South Africa’s new language
policy and on attempts currently being made to implement it. It shows that there is a
mismatch between the language policy and language practices, with the former
promoting additive multilingualism, and the latter showing a trend towards
unilingualism in English in virtually all the higher domains of language use. The
implications of this trend for the current language policy and for language mainte-
nance and shift are discussed in the final part, with special reference to the country’s
official languages.

As its name suggests, the Republic of South Africa is located at the southernmost
tip of the African continent. The country covers a total area of 1,219,080 km2
(470,689 sq. miles) – slightly smaller than Alaska, Peru, and Niger; slightly larger
than Colombia or the Province of Ontario, Canada. It shares borders with six
African countries: Namibia in the north-west; Botswana in the north; Zimbabwe,
Mozambique and Swaziland in the north-east; and Lesotho in the east. To the
south, South Africa is surrounded by two oceans, the Indian Ocean in the
south-east, and the Atlantic Ocean in the south-west.
South Africa is known to the rest of the world mostly for its now defunct,
divide-and-rule apartheid system, on the basis of which South Africa was
ruled from 1948 to 1994 and whose legacy is likely to haunt the country for
years to come. The ideology of rule, ‘apartheid’ or ‘separateness’, was
directed at ensuring that Baasskap, which the Dictionary of South African
English on Historical Principles (Penny et al. 1996: 36) defines as ‘domination,
especially by whites, of other groups’, remained in the hands of an Afrikaner
elite controlled by the secret society known as broederbond ‘sworn brother-
hood’. The latter’s mission was to protect and develop white economic, social
and cultural interests while dividing and ruling the majority African people,
the Coloureds, and the people of Asian descent (Indians and Chinese) (Prah,
1995). The architects of the apartheid system believed strongly that ‘cultural
attainments were racially determined and races were inherently unequal’
(Omer-Cooper, 1999: 974). To them, skin colour formed what Prah (1995: 36)
calls the physiognomic index for social stratification. Each racial group had to
have its own territorial area within which to develop its unique cultural
personality.1 This notion led to the partition of South Africa into what came be
known as tribal, mostly language-based, homelands for the African popula-
197

The Language Planning Situation in South Africa


198 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

tion on the one hand; and separate, skin-colour-based areas for the Coloureds,
the Indians and the Whites (including the Chinese who were considered
honorary Whites), on the other. In regard to the homelands there was, for
instance, a Zulu tribal homeland for isiZulu speakers; a Ndebele homeland
for isiNdebele speakers; a Xhosa homeland for isiXhosa speakers; and a
Venda homeland for Tshivenda speakers. With this fractionalisation of the
African population into the tribal homelands, or ‘nations’ as the architects of
apartheid called them, the notion of ‘an African majority’ officially became a
fiction (Alexander, 1989; Prah, 1995). The homelands were reintegrated into
South Africa when apartheid died and a new South Africa was born in 1994.
The new South Africa comprises nine provinces: i.e. the North West province,
the Northern province, the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, the Northern
Cape, the Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, and Kwa-Zulu Natal (Figure 1).
According to the 1996 census figures, South Africa has an estimated multira-
cial population of 40,583,573 made up of Africans2 (76.7%); Whites (10.9%);
Coloureds (people of mixed race: 8.9%); Asians (2.%) and unspecified/other
(0.9%) (The People of South Africa Population Census 1996, 1998: 9). The 1996 census
does not make any projection about the population’s future growth. However,
according to the 1991 census figures, South Africa’s population is expected to
grow to 49.5 million people by 2005, and to 53.4 million by 2010 (Sadie, 1993). In
making these projections the 1991 census did not take into account the AIDS
pandemic, which is ravaging South Africa and so has serious implications for the
country’s population growth. According to press reports, in South Africa about
one in nine people is HIV-positive (Mail & Guardian, 27 July to 2 August 2001, p.
34); every day an estimated 1600 people are infected with the AIDS virus (Daily
News, 7 September 2001, p. 10) and about 150 children are born HIV-positive. All
these people add to the number of those who are already infected with the
disease. Currently it is estimated that there are four million people living with
AIDS in South Africa and these people account for a sizeable slice of the country’s
sexually active population. Therefore, contrary to the 1991 census projection, by
2010 AIDS-related deaths are expected to cut the population forecasts to 47
instead of the 53.4 million projected under a no-AIDS scenario (Sunday Times, 29
July 2001).
One of the characteristic features of South Africa is its linguistic diversity, a
fact that previous governments, and the apartheid Government in particular,
utilised to justify and legitimise their divide-and-rule policies, such as the
creation of ethnic homelands for the Blacks. This monograph addresses issues
relating to this diversity, with a focus on language spread and use, language
policy and planning, and language maintenance and shift and prospects espe-
cially for the country’s official languages. The discussion of these issues
draws in part on my previous work on language planning issues in South
Africa (Kamwangamalu, 1995, 1996, 1997b, 1998a,b, 2000a, b, 2001a, b) and on
the feedback on the papers presented on these issues at various professional
conferences.3

The Language Profile of South Africa


The population of South Africa is not only multiracial but it is also multilin-
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 199

Figure 1 Map of South Africa, showing the post-apartheid provinces

gual. It is estimated that about 25 languages are spoken within South Africa’s
borders. Of these languages, 11 have been accorded official status, including
English and Afrikaans – formerly the only two official languages of the state –
and nine African languages,4 Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda,
Xitsonga, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu, all of them newcomers to the new
South Africa’s official languages map (see Table 1). These were chosen because
the majority of South Africans, probably more than 98%, use one of these
languages as their home language or first language (Department of Education,
South Africa’s New Language Policy: The Facts, 1994: 4). Demographically, isiZulu
(23%) and isiXhosa (18%) are the most commonly spoken first home languages in
200 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 1 The official languages of South Africa


Language Number of speakers Percentage Geographical areas of concentration
Afrikaans 5,811,547 14.3 W. & N. Cape, Gauteng
English 3,457,467 8.5 KZ-Natal, WC, Gauteng
IsiNdebele 586,961 1.4 Gauteng, Mpumalanga
IsiXhosa 7,196,118 17.7 Eastern Cape
IsiZulu 9,200,144 22.7 KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng
Sepedi 3,695,846 9.2 Gauteng, N. Province
Sesotho 3,104,197 7.7 Free State, Gauteng
Siswati 1,013,193 2.5 Mpumalanga, Gauteng
Setswana 3,301,774 8.1 North West, Gauteng
Tshivenda 876,409 2.2 Northern Province
Xitsonga 1,756,105 4.3 Gauteng, N. Province
Other 583,813 1.4 Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal
Total 40,583,573 100

Source: The People of South Africa Population Census 1996, 1998: 12–3.

South Africa. The 1996 census reveals that Afrikaans (14.4%) and English (9%),
while widely spoken in all provinces, are less frequently used as first home
languages than some of the indigenous languages (The People of South Africa
Population Census 1996, 1998: 14).
The estimated 25 languages spoken in South Africa fall into three major
groups: European languages, African languages, and Asian languages. In the
discussion that follows each of these language groups will be described. Also, I
shall discuss briefly the pidgin languages that have emerged as a result of
contacts among the language groups under consideration, namely: Fanagalo,
Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho.

The European languages


The European languages spoken in South Africa include two of the country’s
11 official languages, namely English and Afrikaans, and six immigrant
languages: Dutch (7.89%), French (4.26%), German (27.05%), Greek (11.28%),
Italian (11.15%) and Portuguese (38.36%), the de jure national language in neigh-
bouring Mozambique (see Table 2) (Lopes, 1998). As already observed, English
and Afrikaans are widely spoken throughout the country. The immigrant
languages, however, are mostly concentrated in some of the country’s larger
cities, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban. They function
mainly as a medium of in-group communication within their respective commu-
nities. Some communities, e.g. the German communities in KwaZulu-Natal, or
the Portuguese communities in Gauteng and Cape Town, have a well-developed
network aimed at maintaining their languages (South Africa Year Book, 1998).
These networks comprise private schools offering these languages as subjects
and/or as a medium of learning; as well as after-school activities, cultural activi-
ties and church services conducted exclusively in these languages. Speakers of
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 201

Table 2 The European immigrant languages in South Africa


Languages Number of speakers Percentage
Portuguese 57,080 (38.36%)
German 40,240 (27.05%)
Greek 16,780 (11.28%)
Italian 16,600 (11.16%)
Dutch 11,740 (7.89%)
French 6,340 (4.26%)
Total number of speakers 148,780 (100.%)

Source: Language Atlas of South Africa (Grobler et al. 1990: 17).

immigrant languages, particularly the older generations, are generally bilingual


in their respective languages and English. Table 2 presents the estimated number
of speakers of the immigrant languages.

English
English came to South Africa via the British occupation of the Cape of Good
Hope, now Cape Town, in 1795, to the detriment of Holland, to control the strate-
gic Cape sea-route between Europe and Asia (Lass, 1995). In 1802 the British
returned the Cape to Holland, which had occupied it from 1652 until the British
invasion in 1795. But during the Napoleonic wars (1805–1815) the British occu-
pied the Cape again and embarked at once upon the creation of a colony that was
British in character as well as in name (Warwick, 1980: 12). This they did by,
among other things, intensifying the policy of Anglicisation they had introduced
earlier to the Cape during their first occupation of the territory. The policy of
Anglicisation ‘sought to replace Dutch by English in all spheres of public life’
(Davenport, 1991: 40). All official posts were reserved for the English speaking.
As Reitz (1900: 10) points out, ‘the Boers5 were excluded from the juries because
their knowledge of English was too faulty, and their causes and actions had to be
determined by Englishmen with whom they had nothing in common’. By 1814,
English was firmly established as the official language of the colony (Lanham,
1978). Dutch, and later its offspring, Afrikaans, were suppressed by the British
Government for ideological reasons. In education, for instance, Dutch children
had to be taught in English rather than in their first language, Dutch. In this
regard, Malherbe (1925: 414) notes that

The struggle for the recognition of the Dutch language and of the principle
of mother-tongue instruction has had a very long history in South African
education .... From the times of the founding of the English school of Lord
Charles Somerset (1822), of the establishment of Government Schools
(1839), of the 1865 grants-in-aid Regulations, the Dutch-speaking child was
at a disadvantage in the school with regard to his mother-tongue.

The Governor of the Cape, Lord Charles Somerset, conceived it as their honest
duty to anglicise the colonists as soon as possible because
202 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

they were only a little over thirty thousand in number, and it seemed
absurd that such a small body of people should be permitted to perpetuate
ideas and customs that were not English in a country that had become part
of the British Empire. Already Sir John Cradock had issued a notice that no
one who did not understand the English language would be appointed to
any post in the Civil Service. (Malherbe 1925: 57)

In furthering this aim to Anglicise the colonists, in 1822 Lord Somerset issued
a proclamation requiring the use of English for all official documents from 1825,
and for all proceedings in courts of law from 1828. Also, as Warwick (1980: 351)
notes, state-funded schools were required to use English as the medium of
instruction, teachers were expected to use their best efforts to promote Afrikaner
acceptance of British rule, and imperial history formed a large part of the curricu-
lum. The policy of Anglicisation struck at the heart of Afrikanerdom. The
Afrikaners resented this policy for they saw it as a threat to their language,
culture and identity. To counter this policy, they set up private schools where
Dutch or Afrikaans (as it was called from 1925) was the medium of instruction.
For the Afrikaners, as Hexham (1981: 132) puts it, maintaining their language,
Afrikaans, was essential to preserve their national identity. To them, the future
depended upon which language and culture would triumph in South Africa.
Also, it was felt in some sections of the Afrikaans-speaking white community
that Afrikaans was a gift from God to its white speakers, a view which van
Rensburg (1999: 86) says ‘is abundantly clear in Afrikaans dictionaries’; and that
God had not allowed them (the Afrikaners) to become Anglicised (Watermeyer,
1996). Afrikaner resistance against Anglicisation is, among other factors,6 said to
have contributed to the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902, which the British won (see
e.g. Moodie, 1975). British heavy-handedness in South Africa is said to have
strengthened Afrikaner resistance (Skinner, 1998: 239). It is noted further that
contemporary Afrikaner oppression of other ethnic groups often simply mirrors
earlier British treatment of Afrikaners. The policy of Anglicisation lasted, in
theory, until 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed, giving English
and Dutch7 equal status as the co-official languages of the Union. In practice,
however, the British never accepted parity between Dutch and English, espe-
cially in education. The British Government policy, for both political and
economic reasons, had laid down that English was a prerequisite for state aid in
education (Hartshorne 1995: 310). Also, according to a British official, quoted in
Headlam (1931: 514), ‘the principle of the equality of the two languages [Dutch
and English] had consistently been rejected by us [the British] from the first’.
Thus, it is not surprising that the Afrikaners complained that their language,
Dutch, did not receive the recognition guaranteed to it by the law, particularly in
education. Malherbe (1925) remarks that, in 1915, the Education Language
Commission was appointed to inquire into the working of the language Ordi-
nance of 1912 (by which Dutch and English were made the official languages of
the Union). The Commission found that ‘the law was not carried into effect, and
that the Dutch-speaking child was the sufferer’ (Malherbe, 1925: 415). This situa-
tion changed only after the Afrikaners came to power in 1948. The status of Afri-
kaans after 1948 will be discussed below.
English has a special status in South Africa both as a native language for some
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 203

(e.g. the younger generation of South African Indians and a segment of the white
population) and as a non-native language for others (e.g. the black population).
According to the 1996 census statistics, English is spoken as home language by
3,457,467 (9%) of the people including 1,711,603 (39%) Whites, 974,654 (94.4%)
Asians, 584,101 (16.4%) Coloureds and 113,132 (0.4%) Africans. It has a wider
distribution than most official languages, but the majority of its speakers are
concentrated in metropolitan and urban areas. Two provinces, Gauteng and
KwaZulu Natal, each have more than a million English speakers; these are
followed by the Western Cape province with more than half a million speakers.
In post-apartheid South Africa, English enjoys far more prestige than any other
official language, including Afrikaans. Its fortunes date back to the heyday of
apartheid, and especially after the Bantu Education Act of 1953 and the ensuing
Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976. These two events, to which I shall return later,
saw English become, in the minds of the majority of South Africa’s population,
the language of struggle against, and liberation from, the apartheid system,
whereas Afrikaans came to be perceived as the language of oppression, because
of its association with apartheid (Barkhuizen & Gough, 1996; Shingler, 1973). In
the new South Africa, English is the medium of instruction at most schools
throughout the country, except at historically Afrikaans-medium schools and
universities, where it competes for space with Afrikaans to accommodate Black
students’ demand for English-medium education. English is widely used in the
print media, on the radio, the television, and the Internet; it is the language of
science and technology, of job opportunities, of interethnic and international
communication and is the language most used for the conduct of the business of
the state. It is seen by many as the language of power, prestige and status, and as
an ‘open sesame’ by means of which one can acquire unlimited vertical social
mobility (Samuels, 1995). In short, English is, as some people put it, ‘a language
that can take you anywhere’ (Virasamy, 1997); and it is, in the words of Pakir
(1998: 104), ‘a language with no sell-by date attached to it’. Despite all its positive
attributes, in South Africa (and in other former British colonies on the African
continent), English has been accused of being a double-edged sword for the
following reasons.
(1) Although it provides access to education and job opportunities, it also acts
as a barrier to such opportunities for those who do not speak it, or whose
English is poor (Branford, 1996: 36).
(2) It is an important key to knowledge, science and technology, but it is
increasingly being seen as the major threat to the maintenance of indigenous
languages (Masemola & Khan, 2000: 11), as a remnant of colonialism and a
cause of cultural alienation (Schmied, 1991: 121), and as a vehicle of values
not always in harmony with local traditions and beliefs. (de Klerk, 1996: 7)
The implications of the multiple functions of English in South Africa (as
described above) for the maintenance and promotion of the indigenous
languages will be considered in the final part of this monograph.

Afrikaans
Afrikaans is spoken as a home language by 5,811,547 (14.4%) people including
2,558,956 (58%) Whites, 2,931,489 (82.1%) Coloureds, 217,606 (0.7%) Africans and
204 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

15,135 (1.5%) Asians (The People of South Africa Population Census 1996, 1998: 12).
The majority of Afrikaans speakers are concentrated in metropolitan areas and
urban centres in the Western, Eastern, and Northern Cape provinces. Pretoria,
the capital city of South Africa, also has a relatively higher density of Afrikaans
speakers (Grobler et al., 1990).
Although, like English, Afrikaans is described here as a European language,
its history is not quite the same as the history of English (Webb & Sure, 2000).
Unlike English, Afrikaans evolved from an ex-colonial language, Dutch, on the
African continent. In this sense, Afrikaans is not a European language in the way
English is. Although its major source is Dutch, Afrikaans is not (and never was)
spoken outside the African continent. As Skinner (1998: 239) observes, culturally
if not philologically, then, it might even be considered an ‘African’ language,
rather as Afrikaners can regard themselves as the ‘white African tribe’. Several
sources associate the presence of Afrikaans in South Africa with the arrival in
Cape Town in 1652 of approximately 180 Dutch settlers headed by Jan van
Riebeeck; they came to erect a re-supply station between Europe (Amsterdam)
and South-east Asia (Batavia) for the ships of the ‘Dutch East India Company’
(Vereenigde Oostindische Companie, VOC) (Maartens, 1998; Ponelis, 1993; Roberge,
1995). According to Grobler et al. (1990: 9), Afrikaans, as it is known today, origi-
nated from various 17th and 18th century Germanic languages that came into
contact on the Cape. Combrink (1978: 70) disputes this view, for its proponents
consider Afrikaans as a spontaneous development from the interaction of
Germanic languages only. Drawing on research into the evolution of various
aspects of Afrikaans, Combrink attributes the origin of Afrikaans to several
sources, among them the Dutch dialects, which constitute more than 90% of the
structure of Afrikaans; and several foreign influences (e.g. Khoi (also spelt as
Khoe) and Southern Bantu languages, French, German, Portuguese, Malay, and
English). Against this background, Combrink argues convincingly that ‘we are
now in a position to declare that Afrikaans was born of a polygamous shotgun
marriage involving several Dutch dialects, albeit under pressure of various
foreign influences’ (1978: 70). Like Combrink (1978), Roberge (1995) and Webb
and Sure (2000) also support the view that Afrikaans has a heterogeneous origin.
In Roberge’s (1995: 68) view, three physically, culturally, religiously and linguis-
tically distinct groups were primarily responsible for the formation of Afrikaans:
these include European settlers (from 1652), the indigenous Khoikhoi (also spelt
as Khoekhoe), and enslaved peoples of African and Asian provenance (from
1658). Similarly, Webb and Sure (2000: 39) point out that, because the Dutch
possessed the necessary regional power in the Cape, their language became the
dominant language and had to be learned by anyone who needed to deal with
them. Out of this, Webb and Sure note, grew Afrikaans, a form of Dutch found
mainly in the mouths of Dutch soldiers, sailors, Khoikhoi herders and labourers,
and the slave community of the Cape.
Afrikaans is characterised by a long history of struggle for its sociopolitical
rights, a history8 which cannot be covered within the scope of this monograph.
Suffice it to say that two developments at the turn of the 19th century have radi-
cally affected the political, economic and social context of the Afrikaans speech
community. These are (1) the shift in the economic base from farming to mining
after the discovery of diamonds (1870) and the hugely productive main gold reef
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 205

on the Witwatersrand (1886); and (2) the Anglo-Boer war of 1899–1902 (Hexham,
1981, Warwick, 1980). As a result of these developments and the Anglo-Boer War
in particular, the ideological battle between English and Afrikaans that had
started in the course of the 19th century intensified, and Afrikaans became the
focus of Afrikaner nationalism and competing ideologies (Ponelis, 1993: 52). For
the British and their English-speaking supporters, economic and political control
was the ultimate prize. For the Boers, their very survival as a distinct people was
at stake, and in the process of fighting the war, a national identity was forged
where previously local attachments had been paramount and a sense of commu-
nity diffuse and ill-defined (Attwell, 1986: 56). Put differently, the war renewed
and strengthened ties of kinship between Cape Afrikaners and their brethren in
the north of the country (Moodie, 1975: 39); it replaced an older fragmented polit-
ical order with a unified state (Ponelis, 1993: 53); it gave the Afrikaners a much
sharper image of themselves as a distinct people (Attwell, 1986: 79); and it
brought British imperialism sharply into focus as the single entity that the Afri-
kaner nationalism sought to mobilise against. The major unifying factor in the
Afrikaners’ struggle against British domination was the Afrikaans language
itself. Before the war, and indeed for some time afterwards, Afrikaans was
regarded as inappropriate for educated discourse (Moodie, 1975: 40). Rather,
Afrikaans was described derogatorily as ‘a kitchen language’ or kombuistaal
(Attwell, 1986; Watermeyer, 1996); as ‘a bastard jargon, ... the present atrocious
vernacular of the Cape’ (Ponelis, 1993: 60), used and suitable for communication
mainly between the Boers and their servants. Ponelis (1993: 60) reports that in a
leading article, published on 19 September 1857, an advocate for Dutch (which
was then the official language of the Cape) describes Afrikaans as follows:
The poverty of expression in this jargon is such, that we defy any man to
express thoughts in it above the merest common-place. People can hardly
be expected to act up to sentiments which the tongue they use fail entirely
to express. There can be no literature with such a language, for poor as it is,
it is hardly a written one.
These enduring sentiments, notes Ponelis, were the focus of the Afrikaner
ethnic movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that would strive to
attach to Afrikaans positive ideological content. The first meeting that laid the
ground for Afrikaans to replace Dutch took place in 1875 and was organised by ‘a
rebel society’ called the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (GRA) (The Fellowship of
True Afrikaners) (Combrink, 1978: 69). This meeting constitutes the foundation
of what came to be known later as the First Afrikaans Language Movement. Its
aims were to promote the interests of Afrikaans (Webb & Kriel, 2000: 21) and to
lay the basis for the political unity among white speakers of Afrikaans (van
Rensburg, 1999: 80). The years following the Anglo-Boer War saw various
sections of the white Afrikaans-speaking community (the clergy, journalists,
academics) rally to the cause of, and argue for, Afrikaans to be elevated to the
status of a language of culture. The rally for Afrikaans came to be known as the
Second Afrikaans Language Movement. This was part of a general defensive
reaction aimed at preserving Afrikaans as well as Afrikaner values and tradi-
tions from destruction by conquering power, Britain (Hexham, 1981: 128). The
case for the elevation of Afrikaans was made more forcefully by a leading Afri-
206 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

kaner academic, Dr Malan, at a meeting of the Language Movement in


Stellenbosch in 1908:
Raise the Afrikaans language to a written language, make it the bearer of
our culture, our history, our national ideals, and you will raise the People to
a feeling of self-respect and to the calling to take a worthier place in world
civilisation . . . A healthy national feeling can only be rooted in ethnic [volks]
art and science, ethnic customs and character, ethnic language and ethnic
religion and, not least, in ethnic literature. (Pienaar, 1964: 169, 175–6)
The Afrikaans Language Movement therefore involved elevating the status of
the language beyond a kombuistaal (i.e. kitchen language), using the intellectual
base of the movement as a method of giving the Boers a sense of their own unique
identity and of rallying them politically (Attwell, 1986: 66). As a result of the
efforts of the Language Movement, in 1909 the Zuid-Afrikaanse Akademie voor
Taal, Letteren en Kuns (The South African Academy for Language, Literature and
the Arts) was established (later to be renamed and restructured as Die
Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns or The South African Academy
for Arts and Science) (van Rensburg, 1999: 80). The Akademie, through its
Language Commission, devised the standardised Afrikaans orthography, the
first edition of which was published in 1917 (Ponelis, 1993: 54). In 1925, Afrikaans
was added to Dutch as an official language. The Language Movement, together
with Afrikaner nationalism, procured official recognition for Afrikaans and, in
this way, contributed to the spread of the language over the whole spectrum of
South African society (Hexham, 1981; Moodie, 1975; Ponelis, 1993). The develop-
ment of Afrikaans took centre stage during the apartheid era (1948–1994). The
apartheid system turned the language into an instrument of social control over
the majority of South Africa’s population, the (black) Africans (see Language
Spread, below). During this period, Afrikaans was invested with almost mystical
status (Skinner, 1998: 240) and enjoyed more privileges than any other language
in the land. It was used extensively in all the higher domains including the
media, government and administration, the army, education, economy, science,
to list but a few. It was a compulsory subject for high school matriculation
throughout the country. Knowledge of Afrikaans was a prerequisite for employ-
ment and proficiency in the language was required for positions in the civil
service, teaching, the media, and in positions dealing with the public, such as that
of receptionist (van Rensburg, 1999: 81).
Today, as a result of the demise of apartheid in 1994, Afrikaans has lost some
of the privileges it had during the apartheid era. For instance, Afrikaans is no
longer required for matriculation at all high schools in the country and is gradu-
ally being replaced by English as the language of the army (de Klerk &
Barkhuizen, 1998). It shares television air time not only with English but also
with nine African languages. Despite these changes, Afrikaans remains both ‘a
prominent transactional language in South Africa’ (Ponelis, 1993: 58) and the
only language that competes for territory against English in most of the higher
domains of language use. In the public sector, for instance, forms, identity cards,
letterheads, public signs and road signs are written in Afrikaans and English,
much as they were in the apartheid era. Similarly, written business transactions
are conducted exclusively in Afrikaans and English; the text on the country’s
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 207

bank notes is written in English and Afrikaans. Afrikaans is no longer used in


passports alongside English as it was in the apartheid era. Rather, the language
has been replaced by French. In spite of this, the transactional use of Afrikaans is
very well established in the workplace as well as in all the higher domains of
language use. In this respect, it is not surprising, as van Rensburg (1999: 90–91)
puts it, that more than any other language in South Africa, Afrikaans has taken
on the functions of a lingua franca. It is noted further that, in many parts of South
Africa, Afrikaans is widely used on factory floors and farms, in construction
work, shops, and other places. These remarks suggest that, despite what some
call ‘the fall of Afrikaans’ (Maartens, 1998: 32) as a result of the demise of apart-
heid, Afrikaans remains a vibrant language.

The Asian languages of South Africa: Indian and Chinese


These languages fall into two major categories: on the one hand there are the
Indian languages, Gujarati (25,120 speakers), Hindi (25,900 speakers), Tamil
(24,720 speakers), Telugu (4000 speakers) and Urdu (13,280 speakers); and on the
other hand the Chinese languages (Hakka and Cantonese) (2700 speakers). The
speakers of Indian languages, estimated to be 93,020 in 1990 (Grobler et al., 1990:
18), are concentrated mainly in the province of KwaZulu Natal, where there is the
largest population of Indian-language speakers outside India – about one
million. The Indians first came to South Africa in 1860 as indentured labourers to
work in sugar plantations in Natal. Initially they used their respective languages
for in-group communication and learned the pidgin Fanagalo for communica-
tion with outsiders. Mesthrie (1996: 80) points out that, when they came to South
Africa some 140 years ago, the vast majority of Indian immigrants (perhaps 98%)
had no knowledge of English. Since then, however, the Indian population in
South Africa has undergone extensive language shift and now uses English for
in-group as well as inter-group communication. In the 1960s and 1970s, English
became the first language of a majority of Indian school children (Mesthrie, 1996:
81). The shift from Indian languages to English was caused by a combination of
factors, among them the instrumental value of English, apartheid discriminatory
language policies (Malherbe, 1925; Shingler, 1973), the attitudes of the Indians
themselves towards education in their own languages (Prabhakaran, 1998), and
what Mesthrie (1996: 81) terms a ‘closed cycle of reinforcement’ in language shift;
that is, ‘in the homes parents learnt English from the youngest children rather
than vice versa’. As a result of this process of language shift, today Indian
languages are mainly used for religious purposes and are taught as subjects espe-
cially at the University of Durban-Westville, which, in the apartheid era, was
designated as an exclusively ‘Indian’ university. Indian languages do not have
any role in public life in the South African society. However, the new Constitu-
tion provides for their protection, as it does for other minority languages. Also, a
number of community-based cultural organisations have been set up to maintain
these languages. Maharaj (1974) identifies a number of organisations,9 which,
according to Prabhakaran (personal communication, January 2001) are currently
active for the Hindi-speaking community. The South African Indian Muslim
community, says Maharaj, also has its own cultural organisations.10 There are
other organisations,11 not listed in Maharaj (1974) but which, according to
Prabhakaran (personal communication) also aim to promote Indian languages
208 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

and cultures in South Africa. The reasons for the ability of Indians and other
South African Asians (e.g. Chinese) to establish such organisations, which
empower them to maintain their languages, are religion and affluence. In terms
of religion, most of these organisations use their respective community
languages (e.g. Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, etc.) to teach religion to the younger gener-
ations. For instance, Natal Tamil Federation teaches Tamil through, among other
media, the study of the Thevaram, that is, Hindu religious texts written in Tamil. I
shall return to the issue of language and religion later. In terms of affluence South
African Asians are, after the Whites and to some extent the Coloureds, arguably
among the most well-off ethnic groups in South Africa. Therefore, they are able
to set up organisations or schools that promote their respective languages. For
instance, Hindi Sikha Sangh teaches Hindi reading and writing skills; Gujarati
Khathiawad Association teaches Gujarati language and culture in Gujarati patasalas
(schools). In spite of all these organizations, as a result of discriminatory
language policies and of contact with economically more viable languages such
as English and Afrikaans, the Indian languages do not seem to have a bright
future in South Africa. Although the older generation of South African Indians
may be conversant in some of the Indian languages and use them as home
languages, the younger generation is largely monolingual in English.
The other segment of the Asian population in South Africa consists of the
Chinese, especially Cantonese speakers, who came to South Africa soon after the
second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) to work in the gold mines (South Africa Year
Book, 1999). It is not known whether, like the South African Indians, the South
African Chinese have undergone complete language shift. However, it would
seem that the older generations are bilingual in English and Chinese, and use the
latter mostly for in-group communication. The majority of South African
Chinese are concentrated in Johannesburg, Witwatersrand and Port Elizabeth. In
accordance with current official language-in-education policy (see Language
Policy and Planning, below), schools in these metropolitan centres that have a
significant number of Chinese children offer Chinese as a subject in the school
curriculum.

The African languages of South Africa


The African languages of South Africa comprise mainly the Bantu languages,
of which four distinct groups can be distinguished: (1) the Nguni languages
(isiXhosa, isiZulu, isiNdebele, and siSwati); (2) the Sotho languages (Sepedi,
Sesotho and Setswana); (3) Venda and (4) Tsonga. As the 1996 census figures
show (see Table 1), the Nguni language group is the largest with about 18 million
speakers, followed by the Sotho group with a little over 10 million speakers, the
Tsonga group with almost 2 million speakers, and the Venda with nearly a
million speakers. (Also, see Lopes’ (1998) discussion of Bantu languages in
Mozambique.) There is a clear relationship between linguistic affinity and the
geographic distribution of these language groups. The Nguni languages are
found mainly in the east and along the coast; the Sotho languages in the west and
on the inland plateau; the Venda group in the north; and the Tsonga group in
Mpumalanga (formerly Eastern Transvaal) (Schuring and van der Merwe, 1990:
73). All four language groups belong to what Doke and Cole (1961) call the
south-eastern zone12 of Bantu languages, which covers a large part of southern
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 209

Africa, including South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and


southern Mozambique.
Like other Bantu languages, the Bantu languages of South Africa are thought
to have originally spread from the West African transitional area of eastern Nige-
ria and Cameroon (Cole, 1937: 309, cited in Schapera & Comaroff [1953] (1991);
Wald, 1987: 285). From this area, Bantu languages were carried eastward and
southward in several waves of migration starting no later than the early centuries
of the first millennium CE. The term ‘Bantu’, which means people, was first coined
in 1856 by W. H. I. Bleek, a German philologist, to refer to a vast ‘family of
languages’, i.e. Bantu languages share certain common features (Guthrie, 1948: 9;
Silverstein, 1968: 112). These include agglutinative morphology (i.e. extensive
use of prefixes and suffixes together with stems in the formation of words), a
concord of the pronouns with the nouns to which they respectively refer, and the
resultant distribution of the nouns into classes or genders. So characteristic are
these features for the large number of languages from roughly the Cameroons to
southern Africa (excluding the Khoisan area in the south-west) that Bantu
languages have often (in part) been genetically defined in terms of these features
(Fivaz, 1981: 4). Although it is used widely in African language studies, the term
‘Bantu’ has been controversial, especially in South Africa, where the apartheid
system used it as a racial epithet and official population designator (Herbert,
1993: ix). Accordingly, attempts have been made, but have not gained academic
currency or acceptance both locally or internationally, to replace the term ‘Bantu’
with ‘Kintu‘ or ‘Sintu‘ (see, for instance, Khumalo, 1984; Mfenyana, 1977) or to
avoid it altogether (Poulos, 1990: 2). Thus, in African language studies, the term
Bantu remains the most generally used term to describe a family of languages
that share the aforementioned features.
The Bantu languages of South Africa were first reduced to writing in the 19th
century, and until 1860 their literatures were confined to translation of scripture
(Lanham, 1978: 16). The first printed text appeared in isiXhosa in 1823; this was
followed by a dictionary in 1826, a grammar in 1834 and a translation of the New
Testament in 1846 (Schuring, 1990: 27). The Bantu languages are primarily used
for everyday oral communication and enjoy limited use in some higher domains,
particularly in the media and education. In education, for instance, the official
Bantu languages are used as a medium of instruction only in the first four years
of primary education at predominantly black schools; after that they are taught
in some schools, often in English, as optional subjects throughout the remainder
of the educational system, including secondary and tertiary education.13 The offi-
cial Bantu languages are also used in the media, especially on the radio and to a
lesser extent on the television and in the print media (see Language Spread,
below).
According to the 1996 census figures, the speakers of Bantu languages, most of
whom reside in rural areas, represent over two-thirds of South Africa’s entire
population. That most of these speakers reside in rural areas should be under-
stood against the background of the then apartheid regime’s notorious ‘pass
laws’, whose main goal was to restrict the movement of black people not only
from the rural areas to the urban areas, but also from one area of urban concentra-
tion to another (Omer-Cooper, 1999: 975). As a result of the demise of apartheid,
increasing numbers of black South Africans have been flocking to urban areas in
210 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

search of employment and better living conditions. Consequently, the urban


population of speakers of Bantu languages is likely to increase in the years ahead.
In the next section, I shall briefly describe the Bantu language groups outlined
previously, with a focus on the Nguni, Sotho, Venda and Tsonga, drawing
mostly on Schuring (1990). But first, it is worth noting that besides these Bantu
language groups, a number of other languages, including Bantu and non-Bantu
languages, are spoken in South Africa. Mention can be made for instance of
Bantu languages such as Shona and ciChewa, spoken by migrant workers from
neighbouring African countries (e.g. Zimbabwe, Malawi); of pidgins such as
Fanagalo, Iscamtho, Tsotsitaal, which are the product of contacts between indig-
enous languages, English, Afrikaans, and the languages spoken by migrant
workers; and of non-Bantu languages such as Khoi-San (also spelt Khoisan or
Khoesan) languages, of which only Nama is spoken in South Africa. Lanham
(1978: 14) remarks that the Khoi-San distinction is a cultural one associated with
salient differences between a socially and economically more complex society of
nomadic cattle keepers (Khoi, meaning ‘humans’ and San, ‘hunter-gatherers’).
The majority of Khoisan, especially Nama speakers, are concentrated in Namibia
and Botswana, but a few can be found in South Africa’s Western Cape Province,
where they are identified as ‘Coloured’ (Lanham, 1978: 15). The new Constitu-
tion of South Africa provides for the protection and development of the Khoisan
languages. Nama is offered as a subject in schools that have a high population of
Nama speakers. Recently the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
launched a radio station in the Northern Cape Province to promote the Khoisan
languages: Nama, Xu and Khwe (Daily News, 12 September 2000).

The Nguni languages


The Nguni language family includes isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiNdebele and
siSwati. Each of these languages has its own history (for details see Schapera,
1937; Schuring, 1990) and all have, in their development, been influenced by the
languages with which they came into contact, among them the Khoisan
languages and later Afrikaans and English. The scope of this monograph does
not lend itself to covering the history of each individual Nguni language. It is
sufficient to note that the ancestors of the Nguni-speaking people migrated from
central Africa and have settled on the east coast of South(ern) Africa since at least
the 16th century (Ownby, 1981). Here, they came into contact with the Khoisan
people, whose languages (most of which are now extinct) have left their mark in
the Nguni languages. In particular, the presence in Nguni of the click sounds is
evidence of the Khoisan influence on the Nguni languages. Linguistically, the
Nguni languages can be divided into two groups: Zunda Nguni and Thekela
Nguni (Schuring, 1990: 25). IsiXhosa, isiZulu and (Southern) isiNdebele belong
to the Zunda group, while siSwati and (Northern) isiNdebele belong to the
Thekela group. The main distinguishing feature between the Zunda Nguni and
the Thekela Nguni is the use, by the former, of /z/ instead of /t/ and vice versa,
as in isiXhosa imizi versus Siswati imiti (villages). Despite this difference, the
Nguni languages are to a large extent mutually intelligible. The majority of South
Africa’s population have one of these languages as a home language.
In Bryan’s (1959: 152) classification of Bantu languages, the Nguni languages,
isiXhosa, isiZulu, siSwati and isiNdebele, are placed in Zone S.41, S.42, S.43 and
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 211

S.44 respectively (also, see Guthrie, 1971). The term ‘Zone’ refers to a group of
languages ‘which have a certain geographical contiguity and which display a
number of common linguistic features as well’ (Guthrie, 1948: 28; for a summary
of these features see Guthrie, 1948: 67–70). Thus, linguistically there is no reason
to treat isiXhosa (S.41) as distinct from isiZulu (S.42), siSwati (S.43) or isiNdebele
(S.44); they could easily be regarded as a cluster of dialects (Guthrie, 1948: 29). As
a matter of fact, it is on these grounds that, about 60 years ago, a proposal was
made and recently revived that the two main language groups, the Nguni
languages and the Sotho languages (discussed below) should each be harmo-
nised internally (Alexander, 1989). That is, a single written variety common to all
the languages within each language group should be developed for use in school
textbooks and to facilitate closer unity between the language communities. The
language communities concerned (i.e. the Nguni and the Sotho) rejected harmo-
nisation on three grounds.
(1) They felt that developing a new language through harmonisation would
result in the loss of their respective native languages and sociocultural iden-
tity (Webb & Sure, 2000).
(2) Speakers of smaller languages within each group (e.g. Swati and Ndebele
for Nguni and Tswana for Sotho) saw harmonisation as a malicious attempt
to undermine their languages and assimilate them into the larger language
communities.
(3) Purists in each language group rejected harmonisation for, in their view, it
would erode the ‘purity’ of their respective languages. Besides, some critics
have characterised ‘harmonisation’ as ‘neo-Bantu linguistic engineering’,
arguing that ‘no sizeable group of people has ever been willing to learn an
artificial language which is not already the language of a speech commu-
nity’ (van den Berghe, 1990: 59).
Others see ‘harmonisation’ as arising from a fear or distrust of multi-
lingualism, thus projecting the latter as a problem rather than a resource (Heugh,
1996: 46).

The Sotho languages


The Sotho languages constitute the second largest Bantu language group in
South Africa. This group consists of three major languages: Sesotho, Sepedi and
Setswana, also known as Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho and Western Sotho,
respectively. Sepedi (i.e. Northern Sotho) is the largest of the three Sotho
languages, with 3.6 million speakers; it is followed by Setswana with 3.3 million
speakers and Sesotho with 3.1 million speakers. All three varieties have devel-
oped from several Middle Sotho dialects. Like the Nguni language group, the
Sotho languages (except, to some degree, Southern Sesotho) are also mutually
intelligible. Setswana and Sesotho have official status in Botswana and Lesotho,
respectively; they are spoken, each in their region, as first language by the major-
ity of these countries’ respective populations. Setswana is a written language of
the Middle Sotho dialects, as are Sepedi and Sesotho. Geographically, the main
areas of concentration of the Sotho languages include, for Sesotho: the Free State,
Transkei, Lesotho; for Sepedi: Mpumalanga, Lebowa (Northern Province),
northern Gauteng; and for Setswana: Northwest Province, Northern Cape,
212 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Mpumalanga, and Botswana (Nyati-Ramahobo, 2000). Linguistically, the Sotho


languages differ from the Nguni languages in that the former have fewer nasal
clusters than the latter (Schuring, 1990). The first printed text in a Sotho language,
a catechism, appeared in 1835 and was written in (Southern) Sesotho (or simply
Setswana according to Breutz (1989: 10), who uses ‘Setswana’ as a cover term for
all the Sotho languages). It was followed by a translation of the New Testament
into Setswana in 1840, and readers in Sepedi in 1870 (Schapera & Cameroff,
[1953] 1991: 11; Schuring, 1990: 29–30).
The Tsonga
The Tsonga language group consists of Ronga and Tshwa, both spoken in
Mozambique, and Xitsonga, spoken in South Africa. The Xitsonga speakers in
South Africa come originally from Mozambique, where Tsonga tribes have lived
since at least the 15th century (Schuring, 1990: 31). The Tsonga are said to be a
very enterprising, innovative and mobile people, travelling and settling long
distances away from their original home. The Xitsonga language itself is said to
be a result of code mixing between Zulu and the original Tsonga dialects. A high
concentration of Xitsonga speakers can be found in Gazankulu (Northern Prov-
ince), Mpumalanga, and Gauteng. Some pockets of Xitsonga speakers are also
found in Zimbabwe. Like the other official indigenous language (e.g. Tshivenda,
isiNdebele, isiZulu, etc.) in South Africa, Xitsonga is used as a medium of learn-
ing in lower primary education, especially in Xitsonga-speaking areas, and as an
optional subject in upper-level education including secondary school and
university. Also, like Tshivenda and other minor official indigenous languages,
Xitsonga is used in radio and television broadcasts, but not to the same extent as
the major official languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, and Sesotho, let alone
English and Afrikaans. Compared to the Nguni and Sotho languages which were
written down much earlier, Xitsonga was put in writing by missionaries only
towards the end of the 19th century.
The Venda
The Venda people migrated from Zimbabwe and settled in the Northern
Province of South Africa at the beginning of the 18th century. Their language,
Tshivenda, spoken by less than a million persons, is related to Shona of Zimba-
bwe and is the smallest of all the official indigenous languages in South Africa.
Tshivenda shares common linguistic features, as already discussed, with the
other official indigenous languages. However, it is not mutually intelligible with
any of these languages. Schuring (1990) describes Tshivenda as a relatively
homogenous language, with little dialectal variation. According to Poulos (1990:
8), the following are the only known dialects of Tshivenda, with the first consid-
ered to be the standard dialect of the language: Tshiphani, Tshiilafuri, Tshironga,
Tshimbedzi, Tshilembethu and Tshitavhatsindi. Like Xitsonga, Tshivenda was
graphised towards the end of the 19th century.
Contact languages: Fanagalo, Tsotsitaal, Iscamtho
The South African linguistic scene includes not only the language groups
described in the previous sections, but also the following pidgin languages:
Fanagalo, Tsotsitaal and Iscamtho. Brown (1995: 312) considers Fanagalo (also
spelt Fanakalo) to be of uncertain genesis; while Cole (1953) describes it as a
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 213

mixture of isiZulu and English initiated by Indian indentured labourers on the


sugar plantations in Natal from approximately 1860. Cole attributes the origin of
Fanagalo to the Indians, because the Zulus referred to Fanagalo as isikhulu (the
language of the ‘coolies’ – a derogative term for Indians). Mesthrie (1992, 1995a)
disputes this view and argues that Fanagalo predates the arrival of Indians in
Natal, describing it as ‘a pidgin language of Southern Africa’ (1995: 142), ‘stable
for over a hundred years, showing the effects of contact between Germanic
languages (Afrikaans and English) and South East Bantu languages (specifically
the Nguni languages – isiZulu and to a lesser extent, isiXhosa)’ (Mesthrie, 1992:
57). The discovery of gold and diamonds in the 1880s led to the proliferation of
mineworkers in Johannesburg and Kimberly respectively. The plethora of
languages spoken by the mineworkers, some from as far afield as Zambia and
Malawi, necessitated a common medium of communication. Fanagalo provided
this medium. It seems that since then Fanagalo has gradually been replaced by
Afrikaans, especially in the mines. The shift from Fanagalo to Afrikaans is said to
have gained momentum after the election of the National Party Government in
1948. Whatever the factors in the development or the arguments over the origins
of Fanagalo, most studies do at least concur that in South Africa Fanagalo is an
urban, out-group language used mainly for communication between white
employer/master and black employee/servant (Calteaux, 1996: 54; Makhudu,
1995: 298; Mesthrie, 1992: 57). In the black communities, Fanagalo is generally
seen as a language of exploitation (Makhudu, 1995: 298), as an insulting language
in which the white employer orders the black employee around (Lynn, 1995: 57),
and as a language which the Africans (especially the educated ones) invariably
associate with racist attitudes (Calteaux, 1996: 55; Ntshangase, 1993: 116).
Despite all these negative attributes, there is ethnographic evidence, discussed in
Adendorff (1995: 188–91) and in Calteaux (1996: 67) that, at times, Blacks use
Fanagalo to express solidarity with one another and to reinforce interpersonal
relationships, or to communicate with one another if no other common medium
is available.
Tsotsitaal, also known as Flaaitaal (i.e. ‘fly language’, from the English verb ‘to
fly’ and the Afrikaans noun taal ‘language’) is mainly an Afrikaans-based pidgin
which emerged early in the 20th century from contacts between a non-standard
dialect of Afrikaans and Nguni languages (especially isiZulu) in the black town-
ships in Johannesburg (e.g. Sophiatown) and Pretoria (e.g. Lady Selborne)
(Ponelis, 1993: 61). Etymologically, the name ‘Tsotsitaal’ consists of the Sotho
morpheme tsotsi (con, thief, city-wise) and the Afrikaans morpheme taal ‘lan-
guage’. Iscamtho is an isiZulu/Sesotho-based pidgin arising from code switching
between English and these two languages. Unlike Fanagalo, both Tsotsitaal and
Iscamtho are in-group languages associated with criminality and commonly
used in the townships for interaction among equals, especially younger urban
black males or ‘townies’ (Ponelis, 1993: 59), to mark urbanism, slickness, progres-
siveness, sophistication, city-wiseness, modernity and in-group solidarity
(Calteaux, 1996: 58, 73–5; Makhudu, 1995: 301; Ntshangase, 1993: 18; 1995: 292,
295). Calteaux (1996: 64–76) provides a sociolinguistic profile of each of the
pidgin languages considered here, including their origins and developments,
linguistic make-up, variations, domains of use, interlocutors, status, and func-
tions in black communities.
214 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Language and religion


South Africa is not only a multilingual and multiracial country, but also it is
religiously plural. Besides the indigenous religions commonly known as African
Independent or Traditional Religions, South Africa is also home for nearly every
religious tradition that constitutes what has often been referred to as ‘world
religions’: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Confucianism, Zionism, Zoroastrianism (Parseeism), etc. There are four major
religions in South Africa. These are, in numerical order, Christianity, African
Traditional Religions, Hinduism and Islam. Table 3 presents the number of

Table 3 Membership of the various religions as a percentage of the total


Religion 1980 census 1991 census
Christian churches 77.0 66.4
Hinduism 1.8 1.3
Islam 1.1 1.1
Judaism 0.4 0.2
Other faiths 0.1 0.1
No religion 2.1 1.2
Nothing/object 3.1 29.7*
Uncertain 14.4*

* The people in these two categories are believed to include many members of the African
traditional religions.

Table 4 Membership of the Christian churches as a percentage of the total


(Kritzinger, 1993)
Churches 1980 census 1991 census
African Independent churches 26.6* 33.5*
Dutch Reformed churches (NGK) 17.9 15.6
Roman Catholic 12.3 11.4
Methodist 11.4 8.8
Anglican 8.4 5.7
Lutheran 4.6 3.8
Presbyterian 3.2 2.2
Apostolic Faith Mission 1.5 2.0
Congregational 2.5 1.9
Dutch Reformed churches (NHK) 1.5 1.3
Baptist 1.3 1.2
Dutch Reformed (GK) 1.0 0.8
Other Apostolic churches 2.5 2.8
Other Pentecostal churches 2.6 2.3
Other churches 2.7 6.9

*These figures include members of the Zion Christian Church, whose following rose from
2.7% of all Christians in 1980 to 7.4% in 1991.
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 215

members of the various religions practised in the country and Table 4 the
membership of the Christian churches. Subsequently, data will be presented
about the languages in which the various religions are practised.
In spite of this religious pluralism, in the apartheid era South Africa was
persistently declared a Christian country, underwritten by a particular Protest-
ant, national understanding of Christianity. The country’s inherent religious
diversity was not officially acknowledged, nor was its linguistic diversity, except
where this was convenient for the purpose of dividing and thus having political
control over the majority of the country’s population, the Blacks. Christianity,
says de Gruchy (1995: 28), developed in South Africa along two distinct paths. In
the first instance, it was the established religion of the European powers, both
Dutch and later British, who colonised the Cape from the mid–17th century
onwards. The second strand in the development of Christianity came as a result
of missions to the indigenous peoples of South Africa, peoples who were thought
not to have any religion at all (see later), and to those who had been brought to the
Cape as slaves from the east. The discussion that follows examines the role of the
church and religion in language promotion in South Africa, with a focus first on
Dutch, Afrikaans and English; and then on the African languages.
Dutch/Afrikaans, English and religion
The first white settlers to arrive at the Cape, the Dutch, were Protestants and
belonged to the Nederlandse Gereformeerde Kerk, or Dutch Reformed Church
(DRC). Their commander, Jan van Riebeeck, a ship’s surgeon by profession,
regarded the establishment and promotion of the Reformed religion as part of his
mandate. Reformed Christianity, which derived from the Swiss Reformation led
by John Calvin in the first half of the 16th century, had already become the estab-
lished religion in Holland by 1579, after that country had won its independence
from Catholic Spain (Chidester, 1996: 29). Against this background Jan van
Riebeeck and the company he headed, the Vereenigde Nederlandsche Ge-Octroy-
eerde Oost-Indische Companie, or the United Netherlands Chartered East India
Company, expressly forbade the practice of Roman Catholicism in the Cape. So,
the Dutch Reformed Church became the established church at the Cape of Good
Hope. Throughout the era of ‘Dutchification’ (see Language Policy and
Planning, below), Dutch was not only the language of administration in the
colony, but it was also the language of the Dutch Reformed Church. It provided
the medium through which church services and activities were conducted. As
will be pointed out in Part III, the status of Dutch changed when the British took
control of the Cape from them first in 1795 and then effectively in 1806; they
banned Dutch especially from administration and education and imposed
English (hence ‘Anglicisation’) throughout the colony. The British authority
used what Sundermeier (1975) calls the myth of the Chosen People to justify Brit-
ish imperialism in the colony. One advocate of this imperialism, Cecil Rhodes,
justified it religiously as follows:
Only one race ... approach God’s ideal type, his own Anglo-Saxon race;
God’s purpose then was to make the Anglo-Saxon race predominant, and
the best way to help on God’s work and fulfil His purpose in the world was
to contribute to the predominance of the Anglo-Saxon race and so bring
nearer the reign of justice, liberty and peace. (Sundermeier, 1975: 25)
216 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

In other words, the mythology of the Chosen People served, among other factors,
as justification for Anglicising the conquered territories. English was the
language not only of administration but also of the Anglican Church. With the
Cape now in British hands, the way was opened for a steady inflow of
English-speaking Christians belonging to various denominations including the
Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Catholic, and Baptist
churches (Prozesky, 1995a: 9). Anxious to promote English and to further reduce
the influence of Dutch, Lord Charles Somerset, governor of the Cape from 1814 to
1826, brought out Scottish Presbyterian ministers to serve in Dutch Reformed
churches and Englishmen to teach in country schools (Moodie, 1975: 5). Despite
these efforts, says Ponelis (1993), Dutch remained the language of the Dutch
Reformed Church, which was then the most powerful Dutch church in the Cape.
After the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), the ideological battle involving English
and Dutch (later Afrikaans) intensified and, as was pointed out above, Afrikaans
became the focus of Afrikaner nationalism. On the religious front, the battle
against Anglicisation was led by the ‘Doppers’, that is, conservative members of
the Dutch Reformed Church who considered themselves Christian Afrikaners
whose whole development came from, and was the fruit of, Christian principles.
Willem Postma, who introduced the term Doppers in his book of the same name
published in 1918, explains that the term comes from the Dutch domper, the
device used to extinguish candles. Like this device, the Doppers earned their
nickname because they fought to extinguish the ‘new light’ of the Enlightenment
(i.e. new ways of life introduced in South Africa by British imperialism through
its agents, e.g. missionaries, soldiers, settlers and officials) which threatened to
destroy Afrikanerdom. Accordingly, the Doppers were with heart and soul
anti-English. For them, the threat of Anglicisation meant destruction of their reli-
gion, culture and language. They shared the view, expressed by Professor W. J.
Viljoen of Stellenbosch, that, as a result of the defeat of the Boers by the British in
the Anglo-Boer War, ‘The Republics (i.e. the Orange Free State and the South
African Republic) have fallen and with them their independence, but our auton-
omy as a South African nation has been retained ... in two things: our Church and
our Language’ (Hexham, 1981: 135). The two republics, now lost to the British
Empire, inspired and became a rallying point for young Afrikaner writers,
constantly challenging them to true patriotism. This is discussed, in religious
terms, by Dunbar Moodie who says that ‘The Republics, like Christ, had come
and yet were to come. Even as Christ’s resurrection was the promised first fruits
of the final resurrection, so the Orange Free State and the South African Republic
were the first-fruits of a republican second coming’ (Moodie, 1975: 14). As far as
‘language and religion’ was concerned, Hexham (1981: 135–6) adds that ‘while
the return of the Republics was awaited, Afrikaans became the Holy Spirit of the
republican movement, the Doppers. It was their comforter; a symbol and seal of
the promised fulfilment’, and the sole instrument they had to ensure the survival
of their nation and religion.
So, the necessity of developing Afrikaans was seen by the Dopper leaders as an
essential part of their struggle to maintain a distinct Afrikaner identity and thus
preserve their own religious community. Put differently, to preserve their identity
as a religious community the Doppers realised how essential it was to preserve the
language, Afrikaans, which set them apart from the English. A Dopper writing in
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 217

the student magazine Fac et spera (Act and Hope) declared, ‘for our nation to
survive our language must survive’ because ‘it is our language which makes our
nation a separate nation’ (Hexham, 1981: 123). Another Dopper, writing in Het
Kerblad (lit: The Journal of Knowledge) (4 January 1905), summed up these rela-
tionships between the church, Afrikanerdom and language as follows: ‘We strug-
gle for the preservation of Afrikanerdom, our Nationality, our Religion, and our
Language’. To maintain Afrikaans was, therefore, not merely a national duty but a
religious one as well: ‘The soul of our private religious lives is our language’ (W.
Postma, in The Vriends des Volks (The Friends of the People (28 October 1910)). The
key to preserving their language was therefore religious: Postma adds, ‘Take away
our language and we will become Englishmen and accept their (i.e. the English)
religion’. The language, Afrikaans, would express the Afrikaners’ unique charac-
ter as a people, or volk, with its own culture, history and religion, since no national-
ity could be created without its own language (Giliomee, 1989: 34). Reaffirming
this religious legitimisation of the volk in 1944, the chairman of the Broederbond, J.C.
van Rooy, asserted that God created the Afrikaner people with a unique language,
a unique philosophy of life, and their own history and tradition in order that they
might fulfil a particular calling and destiny here in the southern corner of Africa
(Moodie, 1975: 110–11; Thompson, 1985: 29).
The Doppers‘ preoccupation with and view of themselves as a distinct race,
separate from the British and the Blacks, is said to have laid the seeds for
afschieding (separation), later to become known as apartheid (Moodie, 1975;
Villa-Vicencio, 1988). They were staunch advocates of this ideology of apartheid,
with some arguing for its implementation from 1905 onwards (Hexham, 1981:
180). Accordingly, the Doppers advocated teaching biblical history in conjunction
with national history so that one would succour the other and help create a
strong national consciousness among Afrikaners. The church, which until then
exclusively utilised Dutch rather than Afrikaans, was won over in the course of
the decade 1910–1920 and gave its approval to the translation of the Bible into
Afrikaans. In this regard, Ponelis (1993: 54) notes that a draft translation
appeared in 1922, followed by the final version in 1933. The church’s endorse-
ment of Afrikaans was followed, in 1925, by the recognition of Afrikaans as one
of the official languages of the state alongside Dutch and English.
The official recognition of Afrikaans prompted the state to begin systematic
and widespread translation into Afrikaans, which presupposed extensive termi-
nological research. A central bureau for translation and terminology was insti-
tuted in the civil service, assisted by similar bureaux in a host of government
institutions (the Departments of Transport, Postal Services, Mining, Defence,
Geological Survey, etc.) and parastatal organisations (the Broadcasting Author-
ity, the Energy Supply Commission (ESCOM)) (Ponelis, 1993). The Dutch
Reformed Church, and the Doppers in particular, saw themselves, as far as racial
matters were concerned, as the mouthpiece for all Afrikaners. In this capacity,
they declared: ‘It is the conviction of the majority of Afrikaans-speaking South
Africans and the majority of the Dutch Reformed Church that the only way of
insuring the continued survival of the nation is by observing the principles of
racial separation’ (Strassburger, 1974: 190). As might be expected, after the
National Party came to power in 1948, those principles of racial separation
supported by the Dutch Reformed Church were legislated in the Mixed
218 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Marriages Act (1949), the Population Registration Act (1950), the Group Areas
Act (1950), and the Immorality Amendment Act (1950). Also, the Dutch
Reformed Church became more militant than the Government in demanding
total racial separation (Chidester, 1992: 199).
Conventionally, Protestant churches in South Africa have been separated by
language (Hofmeyr & Cross, 1986). Churches speaking Dutch, and later Afrikaans,
have been distinguished from English-speaking churches. The largest and most
influential English-speaking churches have been the Anglican and Methodist
churches (Hinchliff, 1963). Other churches that belong in this category of
English-speaking churches include the Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists
and Lutherans. Afrikaans-speaking churches include the Nederduitse Gereformeerde
Kerk (i.e. Dutch Reformed Church), the one with the largest followings; and two
Reformed churches, the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk (founded 1853) and the
Gereformeerde Kerk (founded 1859, also known as the Doppers) (de Gruchy, 1995:
28–32). The Reformed denomination churches remain the stronghold of Afrikaans,
but that language is poorly represented among Roman Catholic churches, which in
the main are English speaking. English is also said to be much stronger in the Charis-
matic denominations that are growing rapidly among Afrikaans speakers
(Hinchliff, 1963; Ponelis, 1993). Afrikaans-speaking churches, though small, lent
considerable support to the development of the ideology of white supremacy, Afri-
kaner nationalism, and apartheid. As a matter fact, Chidester (1996: 75) says that ‘the
Dutch Reformed Church was organized as a branch of government. It rejected social
equality of Blacks and Whites in South Africa, and promoted social differentiation
and spiritual or cultural segregation’. The following section looks at the role of the
church and religion in the development and promotion of African languages.
African languages and religion
In this section, the European traders and missionaries’ view about the people
of South Africa and their religious beliefs is presented to provide the background
against which language and religion interacted in this part of the world. This will
be followed by a discussion of the emergence and development of independent
churches and of the impact of missionaries on the development of African
languages in the region.
Earlier contacts between Europeans and the indigenous people of South(ern)
Africa began not with the first European settlers in the Cape, the Dutch of ‘Dutch
East India Company’, but rather with the Portuguese navigators in 1488, espe-
cially Bartolemeu Dias, whose raising of a cross at Kwaaihoek on the
south-eastern coast is the first known Christian act in South Africa (Prozesky &
de Gruchy, 1995). Almost a decade later, in 1497, another Portuguese sailor
named Da Gama gave a Christian name to the eastern coastal area, Tierra da Natal
(Land of the Nativity), for he sighted the area, the present-day Province of
KwaZulu-Natal, on Christmas day (Prozesky, 1995b). According to published
research, these early contacts between Europeans and Africans had nothing to do
with religion (e.g. Beck, 1989; Du Plessis, 1965; Greetz, 1973; Prozesky, 1995a). If
the account given by Du Plessis (1965) of how the Dutch East India Company was
founded is anything to go by, the contacts were based on commercial enterprise:
In 1648, the Dutch East Indiaman ‘Haarlem’ was stranded on the
north-eastern shore of Table Bay. The crew reached the shore in safety, and
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 219

made their way to the spot on which Cape Town was subsequently built.
On their return to Holland five months later, two of the wrecked mariners
named Leendert Jansz and Nicolaas Proot, drew up a document which they
entitled: ‘Remonstrance, in which is briefly set forth and explained the
service, advantage and profit which will accrue to the United Netherlands Char-
tered East India Company, from making a Fort and Garden at the Cabo de Boa
Esperance’ ... The man to whom was entrusted the task of carrying out this
important project was Jan van Riebeeck, a ship surgeon by profession, a
man who thus became the founder of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
(du Plessis, 1965: 19) (emphasis added)

It seems that, as Prozesky (1995a: 7) puts it, the European impact on South
Africa was, neither in its origins nor in its subsequent main line of development,
primarily motivated by religious conviction, and not especially by any great
missionary concern for the soul of Africa. Reporting back home on their contacts
with the indigenous people of South(ern) Africa, Portuguese, Dutch and English
traders asserted that Africans had no religion (Chidester, 1996: 15). This assess-
ment was echoed by early missionaries to South Africa. The London Missionary
Society, for instance, assumed that Africans provided a natural focus for Satan’s
attention, and saw them as ‘essential sinners, as people of wild birth and dark
colour who, in the order of things, lived like children unknowingly close to evil’
(Landau, 1995: xvi). Landau observes further that African worship of fetishes
was described, in the words of Godefroy Loyer in 1714, as neither a cult, nor a
religion, nor rational, because ‘not one of them [the Africans] knows his religion’.
As the Wesleyan missionary William J. Shrewsbury put it, the indigenous people
of southern Africa lived ‘without any religion, true or false’ (Chidester, 1996: 13).
J.T. van der Kemp wrote back to London in 1800 about Xhosa-speaking people he
stayed with in the eastern Cape: ‘I never could perceive that they had any reli-
gion, nor any idea of the existence of God’ (Van der Kemp, 1804: 432). Twenty
years after van der Kemp, the Methodist missionary to the Xhosa, William Shaw,
argued that they (i.e. the Xhosa) ‘cannot be said to possess any religion’, while in
the north, the Methodist T. L. Hodgson reported that the Tswana ‘appear to have
no religious worship’, ‘with no idea of a spirit’ (Cope, 1977: 155, 367). Like the
Xhosas, the Tswanas and other South(ern) Africans, the Zulus were also believed
to have no religion. For instance, the survivors of the shipwreck of the Stavenisee,
as reported by Simon van der Stel, the Cape Governor to the Netherlands in 1689,
had discovered an absence of religion among people in the eastern coastal
region: ‘During the two years and eleven months which they passed amongst
that people (i.e. the Zulus)’, the Cape Governor recorded, ‘they were unable to
discover amongst them the slightest trace of religion’ (Chidester, 1996: 118–19).
Further, Chidester notes that during the 16th and 17th centuries, travel reports
frequently coupled the lack of religion with the absence of other defining human
features, such as the institution of marriage, a system of law, or any form of politi-
cal organisation. In many cases, the diagnosis of an alien society without religion
was delivered bluntly in the assertion that such people were brutes and beasts in
comparison to Europeans (1996: 13).
This initial, sweeping denial of African religion, says Chidester (1992: 38),
represented South Africa as if it were totally open for missionary activity and
220 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Christian conversion. Soon enough, however, Europeans began labelling aspects


of southern African behaviour in religious terms. Looking at BaTswana, for
example, what might otherwise be called ‘invoked ancestors’ became demons,
and dingaka (priest healers) aware of the ancestors’ presence were termed ‘sorcer-
ers’ (Geertz, 1973). By the 1850s, Christian missionaries had been forced by their
engagement with African resistance to conversion into acknowledging, grudg-
ingly, that Africans did in fact have a religion, but one which, in the words of the
government agent, J.C. Warner, in the eastern Cape, ‘ [was] a regular system of
superstition which answers all the purposes of any other false religion’
(Chidester, 1996: 13). They discovered that the Africans did indeed believe in a
Supreme Being, a God, and that this God had a name: Modimo in Setswana and
Sesotho, uNkulunkulu in isiZulu and siSwati, Mudzimu in Tshivenda, xiKwembu
in Xitsonga, uZimu in isiNdebele, Qamatha in isiXhosa, etc. This Supreme Being is
closely associated with natural phenomena. The essence of mystery, It evokes a
sense of awe. It represents the ultimate source of man’s well-being, but is not
directly involved in the affairs of the living. Its influence is mediated through the
ancestors, badimo in Setswana, amadlozi in isiZulu, makhulukulu in Venda,
izinyanya in isiXhosa, etc. One missionary after another suddenly found evidence
of this once ‘unknown God’ among the many language groups in the region. W.J
Colenso found it among the Zulu in the 1850s, Henry Callaway among the Xhosa
in the 1870s, and D.F. Ellenberger among the Sotho-Tswana at the beginning of
the 20th century (Beck, 1989; Cope, 1977). In brief, the missionaries found that all
Africans in south(ern) Africa, simply by virtue of birth, actually had a religion, a
common, generic religious system that could be identified as Bantu religion. The
discovery that black South Africans had a God was not an accident. Chidester
(1996) explains that this discovery came about after the European colonial
authorities, in collusion with the church, had achieved their initial goal to
conquer and impose their power over the African people. Put differently, the
discovery of an indigenous religious system in southern Africa depended upon
colonial conquest and domination. Once conquered, dispossessed and contained
under colonial control, the African people, who supposedly lacked any religion
at the beginning of the 19th century, were all credited with having the same reli-
gious system at the century’s end (Chidester, 1992, 1996; Cobbing, 1988; du
Plessis, [1911] 1965; Geertz, 1973; Hofmeyr & Cross, 1986).
An assessment of the impact of missionaries in South Africa must acknowl-
edge both good and ill. Indeed, Christian missions in South Africa were inter-
linked with the economic, social, and military advance of European colonial
interests. In different ways, and with different intentions, Christian missionaries
appeared as agents of conquest (Majeke, 1952). The implication of Christian
missions in conquest gave rise to the common aphorism that ‘when the white
men came to Africa, the black man had the land and the white man had the Bible,
[but] now the black man has the Bible and the white man the land’ (Zulu, 1972: 5).
Although in some ways they were destructive, the missionaries also brought
tangible advantages. Perhaps most comprehensive were literacy and education
(Ashley, 1974, 1980, 1982; Lye & Murray, 1980: 67). From the start, they founded
schools, which remained the basis of local educational systems. The church
became the first context where the indigenous languages were used as written
languages. Put differently, the educational system of South Africa developed out
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 221

of the work of the churches. So the kind of language used in church and school
became the ‘standard’ among the new elite. Kritzinger (1995) points out that of
the larger churches, only the Dutch Reformed Church family (NGK) has an abso-
lute majority of speakers of a specific language, Afrikaans. The Anglican Church
family (AC) has 50% of its members speaking either English or Afrikaans as
home language. The Zulu speakers, as the largest language group, have a strong
representation (more than 1 out of 3) in churches such as the African Traditional
Churches (ATR), Roman Catholic (RC) and Lutheran Churches. In general, every
church has (on a national level) sizeable representation of ten or more languages.
At the local level, especially in the rural areas, there are however many monolin-
gual congregations.
When missionaries first arrived in South Africa, they did not speak any of the
local languages, so it was difficult for them to convert the Africans to Christian-
ity. Initially they utilised a wide range of material means, goods and services,
which might help promote this aim. However, they soon realised that to reach
out to the indigenous people and preach the word of God to them, they had to
learn local languages. The Protestant missionaries believed people had to get the
Bible in their own language (Petersen, 1987). They were convinced that the expe-
rience of Pentecost, when everyone heard the message of the great deeds of God
‘in his own language’ (Acts 2), also had to become real for this new language
group (Kritzinger, 1995). That is why so much effort was put into the reduction of
the language into writing, and the subsequent translation of the Bible into the
various African languages. By the turn of the 20th century, complete Bibles had
been published in five South African indigenous languages: Setswana (1857),
isiXhosa (1859), Sesotho (1881), isiZulu (1883) and Sepedi (Northern Sotho)
(1904). The Setswana Bible of Robert Moffat was not only the first in any African
language, these five were among the first eight to be published (Kritzinger, 1995).
According to Human Science Research Council (HSRC) (1985: 20–24), in 1984
among South African Blacks there were 2,419,000 Methodists (11%); 2,022,000
Roman Catholics (9.4%); 1,300,000 Dutch Reformed (6.1%); 1,224,000 Anglicans
(5.7%); 948,000 Lutherans (4.4%); 516,000 Presbyterians (2.4%); 297,000 Congre-
gationalists (1.4%); and 141,000 members of the Apostolic Faith Mission (0.7%).
European missionaries were later joined in their effort to spread the word of
God by African independent churches that emerged and proliferated in number
from the early 20th century onwards. In this regard, Oosthuizen et al. (1989: 5)
note that from an estimated 32 independent denominations in 1913, indigenous
churches had multiplied to 800 in 1948, 2000 in 1960, and nearly 5000 different
denominations by 1990 with an estimated following of about 9,000 000 adherents
or 30% of the black population of South Africa (Oosthuizen, 1987, 1989). African
Traditional churches are known for their strong emphasis on healing. This
emphasis appears to be one of the main reasons for the phenomenal growth of
these churches. One of the most prominent independent churches that attracts a
huge following mainly because of its emphasis on healing is the Church of the
Nazarites, started in 1911 by the Zulu prophet and healer, Isaiah Shembe. By the
time of Shembe’s death in 1935, the Church of the Nazarites had a following of
nearly 30,000 members, almost completely comprised of Zulu-speaking converts
(Sundkler, 1961: 133). Today, one can estimate that the Shembe church has a
following of about two million adherents in southern Africa. Table 5 provides the
222 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 5 The home languages of African Traditionalists (ATR), Hindus and Muslims
in South Africa, 1980 (in thousands and percentages)
Language ATR Hindu Muslim
Afrikaans 1 135
% 0.2 38.2
English 464 168
% 88.0 47.6
Gujerati 10 18
% 1.9 5.1
Hindi 21
% 4.0
Tamil 19
% 3.6
Telegu 2
% 0.4
Urdu 1 7
% 0.2 2.0
N.Ndebele 50
% 1.4
N.Sotho 861 1
% 24.9 0.3
S.Ndebele 42
% 1.2
S. Sotho 175
% 5.1
Swazi 121 1
% 3.5 0.3
Tsonga 339 1
% 9.8 0.3
Tswana 130
% 3.8
Venda 66
% 1.9
Xhosa 421
% 12.2
Zulu 1224 2
% 35.4 0.6
Total 3456 527 353
% 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: Republic of South Africa (RSA) (1985). Population Census 1980. Social characteris-
tics. Report no. 02–80–12. Pretoria: Government Printer.
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 223

figures about the home languages of African Traditionalists (ATR), along with
Hindus and Muslims. As one might expect, African Traditional Religion is well
represented among most of the black language groups, while Hinduism is found
among South African Indians.
Hinduism is to a large extent practised in one or other of the Indian languages.
However, as a result of the language shift from the Indian languages to English,
by far the majority of the South African Hindus are actually English speaking.
South African Islam offers an interesting case study. Its official language is
Arabic, the language in which their holy book, the Quran, was written, but classi-
cal Arabic is not a spoken (i.e. community) language and no form of Arabic is
spoken in South Africa. This creates a formidable barrier to understanding. On
the other hand, almost 40% of South African Muslims are Afrikaans speaking,
and are generally credited to be original Afrikaans speakers (Kritzinger, 1995). (It
is known that the earliest written Afrikaans was in Arabic script). Apart from the
official use of Arabic, therefore, the Holy Book is also translated into Afrikaans
and English and these languages are used in general instruction and personal
worship.
To conclude this discussion on language and religion in South Africa, let me
reiterate that the country has a long history of language struggle, a history in
which religion has been deeply embedded. On the one hand, religion has been
implicated in forces of dehumanisation in South Africa. It has been entangled
with economic, social and political relations of power that have privileged some,
but have excluded many from a fully human empowerment (Chidester, 1992: xi).
Some of the European missionaries who settled in South Africa worked as spies
for the colonial authorities (Cochrane, 1987; de Gruchy, 1995: 62) and so played a
major role in the oppression to which the African people were subjected. On the
other hand, by introducing literacy and education in South Africa, among other
things, the missionaries have contributed substantially to the development of the
country and its linguistic heritage.

Language Spread
This section discusses language use and spread in the media and education.
With regard to the media, the focus will be on language use in the medium of tele-
vision, the radio and the print media. With respect to education, I shall examine
language spread in three historic periods, the pre-apartheid years, the apartheid
years, and the post-apartheid years. Each of these periods has its own distinct
characteristics. The pre-apartheid years are marked by the struggle of the
Afrikaners against the British policy of Anglicisation. The apartheid years are
marked by the policy of Bantu education, which, among other things, sought to
bring Afrikaans to equality with English by using both of these languages as a
medium of instruction in black schools. This policy and its legacy are discussed
later in this section. The post-apartheid years are marked by the dismantling of
the administrative structure of apartheid-based education and the adoption of a
new education system, the outcomes-based education, also called Curriculum
2005. The section that follows describes language spread through education in
the aforementioned three historic periods.
224 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Language spread through education


The pre-apartheid years
In order to understand language spread through South Africa’s present
education system, it is important to look back at the country’s past education
system, and especially the legacy of colonialism and apartheid-based education.
This is so because, although they often do, education systems do not always
change just because there is a change of government (Hofmeyr & Buckland, 1992:
15). Also, as Archer (1984: 3) rightly observes, once a given form of education
exists, it exerts an influence on future educational change. In the pre-apartheid
years the South African education system reflected, in the main, the struggle of
the Afrikaner people to escape the domination of the policy of Anglicisation
introduced in the earlier part of the 19th century by British rule (Engelbrecht,
1992: 498). The British rule and with it English domination subsided, in theory,
with the formation of the Union in 1910, when the parties involved agreed to
bring English to equality with Dutch and to recognise the two languages as offi-
cial languages of the newly formed Union:
Both the English and Dutch languages shall be official languages of the
Union, and shall be treated on a footing of equality and possess and enjoy
equal freedom, rights and privilege. (Union Constitution, Article 137,
quoted in Malherbe, 1977: 8–9)
Accordingly, Dutch served as the medium of instruction in Dutch schools
until 1914, and then its offspring, Afrikaans, took over unofficially as the
medium of instruction. The change over from Dutch to Afrikaans as a medium of
instruction in schools and colleges was ratified by Parliament in 1925 (Malherbe,
1977). The African languages had no place in the state’s educational system,
whether as a medium of instruction or as a subject. Rather, the languages were
marginalised along with the political marginalisation of their speakers (McLean,
1999: 12). In the early 1930s, missionaries requested that African languages be
used as a medium of instruction in the early years of schooling. In this respect,
Hartshorne (1995: 308) notes that by 1935 in all four provinces of South Africa
‘vernacular language was a compulsory subject or a prerequisite for success in
junior Certificate (Grade 10) or Senior Certificate (Grade 12)’. In regard to the
medium of instruction, Hartshorne summarises the policy as follows for African
(black) education:
the pupil’s mother tongue was to be used for the first six years of schooling
in Natal, for the first four years in the Cape and the Free State, and for the
first two years in the Transvaal. Thereafter an official language – in practice
almost always English – was to be used as medium [of instruction].
(Hartshorne, 1995: 308)
For the Afrikaners, the continued domination of English in education consti-
tuted a barrier to the spread of Afrikaans and was perceived as a threat to Afri-
kaner culture and identity. As Malherbe (1977: 3) observes, the Afrikaners felt
that ‘the language of the conqueror (English) in the mouth of the conquered (the
Afrikaners) was the language of slaves’. Against this background, the Afrikaners
under the leadership of the movement The Afrikaner Broederbond (sworn broth-
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 225

erhood) started what came to be known as the taal stryd (the language struggle)
(Lanham, 1996: 25) against die vyand se taal (the language of the enemy), English
(Branford, 1996: 39). In education this struggle expressed itself in a commitment
to separate schools, and in a rigid mother-tongue education policy (Hartshorne,
1995: 309). In 1953, that is five years after the Afrikaners took the reins of govern-
ment in 1948, this policy of mother-tongue education culminated in what came to
be known as the Bantu Education Act. I shall discuss this controversial piece of
legislation in a subsequent section. But first, let me give a brief introduction to the
administrative structure of the apartheid-based education system.

The apartheid years (1948–1994)


In the apartheid era, South Africa had 19 distinct departments of education:
one national and four provincial departments for White education, one depart-
ment for Indian education, one for Coloured education, and 12 for Black educa-
tion, including one department each for the various black ethnic groups that
were then divided into the so-called ‘ethnic homelands’. Each department of
education had its own language policies and was responsible for determining
assessment policies as well as the content of the curriculum. While it is beyond
the scope of this monograph to describe in detail the language-in-education poli-
cies of each individual department of education, under each a child was exposed
to 12 years of general education comprising, seven years for primary and five
years for secondary education. The educational system as a whole was divided
into four phases: (1) the junior primary school phase (grades 1–3); (2) the senior
primary school phase (grades 4–6); (3) the junior secondary school phase (grades
7–9); and (4) the senior secondary school phase (grades 10–12). At the end of the
last year of secondary education (grade 12), each department of education
required pupils to sit a written public examination, known as the matriculation
examination. This examination determined access to tertiary education.
The ethnic segregation of the apartheid educational system was in keeping
with apartheid thinking that education was an ‘own affair’, that is, that each
ethnic group had to look after its own interests including education (Hofmeyr &
Buckland, 1992: 38). Accordingly, language, and first language in particular
became central to apartheid-based education. For white education, English or
Afrikaans was the medium of instruction throughout and beyond the 12 years of
general education. In other words, there were English-medium and Afri-
kaans-medium white schools, with the latter being attended mostly by the
Afrikaners, that is to say, South African Whites of Dutch descent. Education was
segregated not only at the primary and secondary level, but also at the tertiary
level. Separate institutions – both universities and colleges of education – were
set up for Black, Coloured, Indian and White students. Like primary and second-
ary schools, white universities were also divided into Afrikaans- and
English-medium universities to cater for the education of Afrikaans- and
English-speaking Whites, respectively. That division exists to this day. However,
it must be noted that in the current context the division is aimed at meeting the
needs not only of the Whites, but also of the Afrikaans-speaking and
English-speaking population at large. To cater for this population, most histori-
cally Afrikaans universities are increasingly becoming dual-medium institu-
tions, offering tuition in both English and Afrikaans.
226 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

For ‘Indian’ education, as a result of the language shift to English in the Indian
communities as described in The Language Profile of South Africa, above,
English was used as the medium of instruction for primary, secondary and
tertiary education. For ‘Coloured’ education, Afrikaans was, in general, the
medium of instruction, since the majority of those racially classified as ‘Col-
oured’ speak Afrikaans as a first language. Thus, for each of the ethnic groups
mentioned, education was provided exclusively through the medium of the
group’s first language, English for Whites of British descent and the Indian
communities, and Afrikaans for the Afrikaners and the majority of Coloured
communities.
Education for the Black people was different from that for other ethnic groups
in many respects. First, in black schools, an African language was used as
medium of instruction for the first four years of primary education, years during
which, from grade two onwards, English and Afrikaans were taught as subjects.
Second, English became the medium of instruction in the fifth grade. The switch
from an African language to English as medium of instruction resulted in high
rates of failure and extensive drop-out, and was attributed in part to the inade-
quate linguistic preparation of the pupils in the second language prior to the
switch in the medium of instruction (Musker, 1993; Walters, 1996: 215). In this
respect, Macdonald and Burroughs (1991: 15) observe that at the end of the fourth
grade, the pupils may have acquired up to 800 words in English but the fifth
grade syllabus required them to have at least 5000 words. According to Macdon-
ald (1990) the disjuncture between the level of competence expected in the
second language in the fourth grade and the adoption of this second language as
the medium of instruction in the fifth grade placed too great a burden on pupils.
Also, pupils learning any L2 will be assisted by linguistic contact with native
speakers of the target language. However, in South Africa the policy of separate
development made it very difficult for black pupils to have contact with
mother-tongue speakers to practise their English. These pupils, being barely able
to communicate in English, could not cope with the demands of the curriculum
and so simply dropped out of school.
The face of ‘Black’ education changed drastically with the advent in 1953 of the
Bantu Education Act, which has had far-reaching implications for language
education in South Africa. The following section provides the background to the
Bantu Education Act and points out that this policy has impacted negatively on
black South Africans’ attitudes towards the use of African languages as media of
instruction.

The Bantu Education Act


At the heart of the Bantu Education Act was the notion of ‘mother-tongue
education’. UNESCO ([1953] 1995) defines mother-tongue education as ‘educa-
tion which uses as its medium of instruction a person’s mother tongue, that is, the
language which a person has acquired in early years and which normally has
become his natural instrument of thought and communication’. The concept of
‘mother tongue’ is essentially vacuous. As Ferguson (1992: xiii) observes, ‘much
of the world’s verbal communication takes place by means of languages that are
not the users’ “mother tongue”, but their second, third, or nth language, acquired
one way or another and used when appropriate’. This point can be illustrated
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 227

with the following extract from Mesthrie’s (1995b: xvi) interview with a
23-year-old student from Germiston (Johannesburg) about the languages he is
proficient in:
My father’s home language was Swazi, and my mother’s home language
was Tswana. But as I grew up in a Zulu-speaking area we used mainly Zulu
and Swazi at home. But from my mother’s side I also learnt Tswana well. In
my high school I came into contact with lots of Sotho and Tswana students,
so I can speak these two languages well. And of course I know English and
Afrikaans. With my friends I also use Tsotsitaal.
It is not clear what the mother tongue of the student who produced this text is.
Ferguson (1992: xiii) suggests that the whole mystique of ‘mother tongue’ should
be dropped from the linguist’s set of professional myths about language. The
concept of ‘mother-tongue’ is being used here because it was central to the apart-
heid government’s language-in-education policies, particularly mother-tongue
education. The campaign for mother tongue education was driven by the church
and by the apartheid government’s philosophy of Christian Nationalism. The
Christian Nationalism philosophy propagated notions of the separate identity
and development of each volk (people) and of the God-given responsibility of the
Afrikaner volk to spread the gospel to the native inhabitants of Africa and to act as
their guardians (Shingler, 1973). Engelbrecht (1992: 499) observes that the basic
values of this philosophy – among them the promotion of a Christian philosophy
of life with the emphasis on Calvinistic beliefs; support for the principle of
nationalism (a national ideal, traditions, religion and cultures); mother-tongue
instruction and parental involvement in education – reinforced the doctrine of
separate provision of education for groups of people with different languages,
religion and cultures. In support of this philosophy and especially the notion of
mother-tongue education, the church preached that ‘God had willed it that there
[should] be separate nations each with its own language and that, therefore,
mother tongue education was the will of God’ (Malherbe, 1977: 101). With the
church’s backing, the apartheid Government saw to it that every ethnic group
was educated in its own mother tongue. So, language became a yardstick for
segregated education: isiZulu mother-tongue speakers had to be educated in
isiZulu-medium schools; isiXhosa mother-tongue speakers had to be educated
in isiXhosa-medium schools; the Whites of British descent had to be schooled in
English-medium schools; their Dutch counterparts had to be schooled in Afri-
kaans-medium schools. What distinguished mother-tongue education for the
Whites from mother-tongue education for the Blacks was that the former was an
education with a difference: it was intended to promote white interests, to ensure
that the white segment of South Africa’s population had access not only to the
languages of power, English and Afrikaans, but also to the privileges with which
these languages were associated.
To achieve these objectives, the apartheid government introduced legislation
known as the Bantu Education Act no. 47 in 1953. The Act, also dubbed ‘Slave
Education Act’ (Grobler, 1988: 103), superficially had two main objectives. First,
it was aimed at ensuring equity between English and Afrikaans by using them
equally as a medium of instruction in black schools. Second, it was intended to
extend mother-tongue education from grade 4 to grade 8 in black schools to
228 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

promote the philosophy of Christian Nationalism as described previously. It


could well be argued that studying in one’s first language is cognitively advanta-
geous and so extending first-language education up to grade 8 was in the interest
of the learners (for a discussion of the advantages of first-language education, see
Akinnaso, 1993, UNESCO, 1995, Walker, 1984). However, the subsequent politi-
cal events in South Africa suggest that there was more to the Bantu Education Act
than its above-stated objectives (see e.g. Alexander, 1997; Heugh, 1995a;
Malherbe, 1977; Prah, 1995; RESA (Research and Education in South Africa),
1988; Shingler, 1973).
First, for Dr Verwoerd, who engineered the apartheid system and its laws, the
aim of the Bantu Education Act was
to teach a black child that he [was] a foreigner when he [was] in White South
Africa, or at best stateless; that equality with Europeans was not for him;
that there was no place for him in the European community above the level
of certain forms of labor . . . For that reason it [was] of no avail for him to
receive a training which [had] as its aim absorption in the European
community. (Malherbe, 1977: 546)
Second, it seems that in the apartheid era, one of the motives behind the drive
for mother-tongue education was linguistic nationalism, i.e. the identification of
language with national or group self-interest. Thus, as Malherbe (1977: 72)
observes,
for the Afrikaner the Afrikaans language became the symbol of the struggle
for national identity and in the course of time the State school was seized
upon as the means to foster that consciousness of ‘a nation with a
God-given destiny’.
This struggle was aimed at achieving one prize, to make Afrikaans the sole
(official) language of South Africa. This is clear from the following statement by
Mr J.G. Strijdom, a one-time Prime Minister of South Africa: ‘Every Afrikaner
who is worthy of the name cherishes the ideal that South Africa will ultimately
only have one language and that language must be Afrikaans’ (Malherbe, 1977:
72). The thinking behind this statement was the myth of one-nation-one-
language – for the ruling Afrikaners, Die taal is gans die volk (Language and nation
are wholly one) (Webb & Kriel, 2000: 45ff). Also, in their view, ‘wherever a sepa-
rate language is found, there a separate nation exists which has the right to take
independent charge of its affairs and to govern itself’ (Williams, 1994: 5). This
myth of one-nation-one-language, which in the apartheid era led to the creation
of language-based ethnic homelands for the Blacks, resonates in today’s South
Africa. Since the country became a democracy in 1994, some leading politicians
in the Afrikaner community have been lobbying the Government for the creation
of a separate homeland – volkstaat – for the Afrikaners, one in which Afrikaans
would play a central role.
Third, it is clear, again from Malherbe’s work, that first-language education
was an exercise in acquisition planning (Cooper, 1989: 33), for it was intended to
increase the number of users of Afrikaans. The apartheid government felt that
requiring black pupils to have Afrikaans as medium of instruction would
contribute to the demographic growth of the language. This is evident from a
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 229

paper entitled ‘Threatening Cultural Dangers’, published in 1937 by the Federasie


van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK) (Federation of Afrikaans Cultural
Organisations):
We must see to it that the Natives learn Afrikaans . .. If we should speak to
the Kaffir (sic!)..., what language is to be used? I believe that it should be
Afrikaans. That gives us another seven million people which will make our
language the strongest and the preponderating one in this part of the world
. .. If every Kaffir in South Africa spoke Afrikaans, the economic power of
Afrikaans would be so strong that we should no longer need an F.A.K. to
watch over our cultural interests. The Native will in future be a much
bigger factor in the development of our country than is the case at present,
and we must shape that factor so that it serves our purpose, assures our
victory, and perpetuates our language, our culture and our volk . . . The
Kaffir who speaks Afrikaans . . . can be our cultural servant as he is our farm
servant. (Malherbe, 1977: 73–4)
Fourth, by extending first-language education to grade 8, the apartheid
system intended to restrict Africans to menial status and poorly-paid occupa-
tions (Prah, 1995: 68), to allow them limited access to the languages of power
(English and Afrikaans), and to ensure that the majority of them failed to match
the academic achievements of native speakers of English and Afrikaans (Heugh,
1995a). As Research and Education in South Africa [RESA] puts it, the ultimate
goal of the Bantu Education Act was:
to protect white workers from the threat of African competition for skilled
jobs which emerged as a result of economic expansion coupled with Afri-
can rural-urban migration during the Second World War; [to provide the
Africans with limited skills in English and Afrikaans] to meet the demands
of white farmers for unskilled African labor; and to produce a black popu-
lation not only educated to a level considered adequate for unskilled work
and subordinated, but which would also accept its subordination and infe-
rior education as natural, as fitting for a ‘racially inferior’ people. (Research
and Education in South Africa (RESA), 1988: 1–2, 6)
Finally, the following quotation from a Christian National Education (CNE)
pamphlet illustrates further the ideology behind the Bantu Education Act.
We believe that the teaching and education of the native must be grounded
in the life and world view of the whites, most especially those of the Boer
nation as the senior white trustee of the native, and that the native must be
led to a mutatis mutandis yet independent acceptance of the Christian and
National principles in our teaching. We believe that the mother tongue
must be the basis of native education and teaching but that the two official
languages must be taught as subjects because they are the official
languages, and to the native, the keys to the cultural loans that are neces-
sary to his own cultural progress. (Article 15, CNE pamphlet, cited in Rose
& Turner, 1975: 127–8)
The Bantu Education Act had serious implications for the languages of learn-
ing and teaching in black schools. Black children had to receive education
230 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

through three languages, Afrikaans, English, and their first language; while for
their white, coloured, and Indian counterparts education was dispensed exclu-
sively in Afrikaans or in English, depending on whether one was Afrikaans- or
English-speaking.
The black pupils resisted first-language education, as promoted by the Bantu
Education Act, because they recognised it for what it was: one of the strategies
used by the apartheid Government to deny the Blacks access to higher education
and thus restrict their social and economic mobility (Kamwangamalu, 1997b:
243). The black pupils saw education in their own mother tongue as a dead-end, a
barrier to more advanced learning, a lure to self-destruction and a trap designed
by the apartheid Government to ensure that the black pupils did not acquire
sufficient command of the high-status languages (English and Afrikaans), for
such education would enable them to compete with their white counterparts for
well-paying jobs and prestigious career options (Alexander, 1997: 84). The resis-
tance to first-language education was a resistance to Verwoerdian instruments of
repression, intended to limit access to the mainstream of political and economic
life (Nomvete, 1994). The resistance to Afrikaans was a resistance to what was
perceived as a language of oppression, as well as a desire for greater access to
English. The black pupils’ resistance to the Bantu Education Act, and the apart-
heid Government’s determination to impose it, led to the bloody Soweto upris-
ing of 16 June 1976, which marked the end of Afrikaans as a language of learning
and teaching in black schools and concomitantly boosted the status of an already
powerful language, English, not only in these schools, but also in the black
communities as a whole. Thus, for the black people English became the language
of liberation, despite the fact that prior to the rise of Afrikaans both the Boers and
the Blacks viewed English as an instrument of domination. The Boers’ feelings
towards English need not be explained any further. For the Blacks, the view that
English was an instrument of domination was reiterated by the current ruling
party (the ANC) as recently as 1992, when the organisation referred to English as
‘a shackled language’:
English is in many ways a shackled language in the sense in which any
language that has been used for exclusion, division or domination is a
shackled language: it becomes trapped in the interests of money makers
and power makers. (ANC, 1992: 7)
In response to the pupils’ resistance against first-language education, the
apartheid Government amended the Bantu Education Act in 1979 and reintro-
duced African languages as the medium of learning for the first four years of
primary school, after which parents could choose one of the then two official
languages – English or Afrikaans – as the medium of instruction. This policy was
entrenched in Act 90 of 1979, which included the following clause on the medium
of instruction:
that the universally accepted education principle of the use of the mother
tongue as a medium of instruction must be observed: Provided that this
principle shall be applied at least up to and including Standard Two (i.e.,
grade 4): Provided further that wishes of the parents shall be taken into
consideration in the application of this principle after Standard Two, and
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 231

also in the choice of one of the official languages as a medium of instruction


where the mother tongue cannot be used as a medium of instruction after
Standard Two. (Hartshorne, 1995: 313)
In spite of the language choice offered by the policy, and against the back-
ground of the events of 16 June 1976, the black population opted for English as
the medium of instruction in their schools (Cluver, 1992: 119). This situation
prevails to this day. Hartshorne (1987: 92) points out that African opinion never
became reconciled to the extension of first-language medium beyond Standard 2
(i.e. grade 4). Thus first-language education, at least for the black population,
became stigmatised in South Africa, even after Bantu Education was largely
abolished. Along these lines, Heugh (1995b: 342) notes that the rejection of Afri-
kaans as a medium of instruction in 1976 has had the uncalculated effect of
advancing the position of English, not only over Afrikaans, but also over African
languages. Attempts to promote the indigenous African languages are seen with
suspicion and are considered as a neo-apartheid strategy designed to separate
Whites from Blacks and, even more importantly, to split Blacks (Makoni, 1997:
15).
The legacy of the Bantu Education Act foreshadowed current negative atti-
tudes towards the use of African languages as languages of learning and teach-
ing. This is a stumbling block in efforts to promote these languages. It is against
this background and in an attempt to break with past language-in-education
discriminatory policies that the current multilingual language policy was devel-
oped and enshrined in the country’s new Constitution. The new policy is
discussed under Language Policy and Planning, below. For now, let me turn to
language spread through education after apartheid.
The post-apartheid years (1994-)
As a result of the demise of apartheid, a number of changes have taken place in
the South African education system. First, during the apartheid era education
was not compulsory for all population groups. But there was, as a matter of
government policy, ten years’ compulsory schooling for white children (van
Rensburg, 1999: 84). For black children, the struggle for liberation against apart-
heid took precedence over education. In post-apartheid South Africa, however,
education is compulsory for all population groups including children between
seven and 15 years of age (Department of Education, 1997: The South African
Schools Act 84).
Second, a single, unified and non-racial education system14 has been estab-
lished. Instead of the 19 departments of education of the apartheid era, South
Africa now has a single national and nine provincial education departments.
Since segregated education15 has ended, pupils are free to attend any school and
to be taught in a language of their choice. The schools are, in theory at least,
expected to grant the pupils’ wish and promote multilingualism. With this in
mind, from grade 3 onwards all pupils are required to study the language in
which they are taught plus at least one other approved language, i.e. minority
languages such as the Indian languages (Tamil, Hindi, etc.). A pupil who fails a
language subject cannot be promoted to the next grade (South Africa Year Book,
1999: 339). According to the National Department of Education, there are 30,000
public schools (grades 1–12) in South Africa. In 1998 the number of students at
232 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

these schools was estimated to be 11,921,948. The average pupil-teacher ratio


varies considerably, depending on whether a school is located in an urban or a
rural area, whether it was formerly a ‘White’, ‘Indian’, ‘Coloured’ or ‘Black’
school. Whatever the case, it is common knowledge in South Africa that formerly
white schools have the lowest pupil-teacher ratios, (approximately 30: 1),
whereas formerly black schools have the highest pupil-teacher ratios, (approxi-
mately 60: 1 in urban areas, and about 100: 1 or more in rural areas).
The third major change in the South African education system is the new
national curriculum based on the principles of outcomes-based education, which
was introduced in all grade 1 classes in January 1998. The new curriculum,
known as Curriculum 2005, is described in the next section. For now, let me say
that despite the changes outlined above, in terms of the medium of instruction
and, to a large extent, the assessment policies, the South African education
system has remained relatively unchanged. I shall first consider the issue of the
medium of instruction. In this respect, South African schools at all levels includ-
ing primary, secondary and tertiary institutions fall into two language-based
categories, much as they were during the apartheid era. There are the
English-medium schools on the one hand, and the Afrikaans-medium schools on
the other. In regard to the English-medium schools, in the apartheid era
non-English-speaking background students were required to learn English as a
second language (L2). However, in the new South Africa the distinction between
‘English as a first (L1) and/or second (L2) language’ has been called into ques-
tion. For instance, Young (1988: 8) argues that the ‘apartheid’ labels L1 and L2
should be discarded because they imply that Blacks are not able to assimilate
western language and culture. Policy makers voice a similar view, i.e. that the
term ‘second language’ implies a ‘deficit view of language competence’ (ANC,
1992: 2) and that ‘the aim of a fully bilingual education system is rather to achieve
a single level of language proficiency by the end of compulsory schooling’
(Barkhuizen & Gough, 1996: 459). In 1993 a Core Syllabus Committee for English
was set up to look into this issue. The committee noted that the use of the terms
English as a first- and/or second-language is complicated by the fact that most
second-language learners, even those in rural areas for whom English can be
described as a foreign language, use English as their medium of instruction.
Therefore, the committee proposed that:
these terms [English as a first or second language] be replaced with the term
English. Nevertheless, the principle of equity demands some acceptable
and brief way of acknowledging the verifiable differences . . . between
mother-tongue and non-mother-tongue learners of English. For this
purpose then, it is proposed that a growing international practice of refer-
ring to all learners for whom English is not their mother-tongue as bilingual
learners of English, be adopted. (Murray & van der Mescht, 1996: 258)
Since then, there seems to be a trend (as yet to be documented) for everyone in
English-medium schools, irrespective of home language, invariably to learn
English as L1 and Afrikaans or an African language as L2. In Afrikaans-medium
schools everyone learns Afrikaans as L1 and at least one other language, in prac-
tice most commonly English, as L2. Unlike in English-medium schools, in Afri-
kaans-medium schools there seems to be no need to distinguish between
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 233

Afrikaans as a first and/or as a second language since these schools are attended
mostly by native speakers of Afrikaans.
Whether the school is an English- or an Afrikaans-medium school, English
and Afrikaans have the same time allocation. At the primary school level, a
first-language subject (English or Afrikaans or an African language) is taught for
five–30-minute periods per week, or a total of 150 minutes per week. What this
means is that since in South Africa a school year is 41 weeks long, in
English-medium primary schools, pupils have 205 periods of 30 minutes each
during which they study English, i.e. a total of 103 hours per school year. At the
secondary school level a first-language subject is taught for five periods of 50
minutes each per week, i.e. a total of 250 minutes per week or 171 hours per
school year. A language taught as L2, such as Afrikaans in an English-medium
school or English or an African language in an Afrikaans-medium school, is allo-
cated four periods of 50 minutes each per week, i.e. a total of 200 minutes per
week or 137 hours per school year. Recent developments in education, such as
the Curriculum 2005, suggest that the amount of time allotted to language
instruction was not sufficient. According to the 1997 language-in-education
policy, 70% of class time is now to be spent on language instruction (and maths).
In predominantly black schools, especially those located in rural areas, Afri-
can languages continue to be used as the medium of instruction for the first four
years of primary school, much as they were in the apartheid era. However, recent
trends in language education suggest that, in these schools, even where no quali-
fied English teachers are available, English is increasingly being used, in what-
ever form, as the medium of instruction from grade one onwards. Preference for
English as a medium of instruction is mainly due to economic considerations. As
Bendor-Samuel (quoted in Eggington & Baldauf, 1990: 100) points out, a
language must ‘fill a hole’ in the community for the teaching of that language to
be viable and meaningful. Accordingly, most black parents are opting for
English-medium education from day one of schooling because of the instrumen-
tal value of the language. They consider education in an African language as
‘miseducation’16 and useless, for it has no cachet in the broader socioeconomic
and political context. Along these lines, black parents who can afford to do so
send their children to formerly white schools (commonly known as ‘Model C
schools’) to expose them early to English and quality education, since these
schools remain the best equipped both in terms of facilities and teacher qualifica-
tion. This state of affairs has not helped the new language policy (see below) to
achieve its goal of promoting additive bi-/multi-lingualism in education. On the
contrary, even in predominantly black schools, there seems to be a general trend
towards the use of English as the sole medium of instruction from grade one
onwards.
A number of questions arise as a result. How does one promote
multilingualism in education if African languages are not used as a medium of
instruction throughout the entire educational system? How does one promote
African languages as the medium of instruction against the stigma left by the
Bantu Education Act? If the distinction between English as L1 and/or L2 is not
maintained, how does one prevent the emergence of a society in which, as Peirce
(1992: 6) warns, power is concentrated in a minority of speakers of standard
English? Should the country reintroduce first-language education despite its
234 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

close association with apartheid, or should it promote English-medium educa-


tion despite its elitist nature and the high failure and dropout rates, especially
among black learners. Future language-in-education policies must address these
issues if attempts to implement multilingualism in education in South Africa are
to succeed.

Assessing language subjects in South African education


In South Africa, assessing language subjects is a very complex process, espe-
cially at the senior secondary school level (i.e. grades 10–12). Unlike in primary
school and junior secondary school, in senior secondary school pupils are
required to choose at least six subjects for the Senior Certificate Examination. The
Department of Education (1999: 9) describes the Senior Certificate Examination
as serving a critical role in the current education system. It is the culmination of
12 years of educational endeavour and serves as the entrance into higher educa-
tion by accrediting school leavers with a certificate of achievement.
The six (or more) subjects for the Senior Certificate Examination must include
at least two languages, one of which must be the medium of instruction (that is
English for English-medium and Afrikaans for Afrikaans-medium schools). The
other four (or more) subjects can be chosen one each from the following,
non-exhaustive, lists: (1) science/biology; (2) geography/history/drama/art;
(3) Afrikaans L2/Zulu L2 (or English L2 for Afrikaans-medium schools); (4)
science/drama/home economics; (5) mathematics/typing/business economics.
Some subjects, such as science and drama, appear in more than one list to give
students more options in choosing their subject package.
Each of the subjects, including the language subjects, may be taken on either
the Higher Grade or Standard Grade level.17 But the Matriculation Board
prescribes that at least three subjects must be passed on the Higher Grade for a
learner to qualify for admission to university. A subject taken on the Higher
Grade level is studied in depth and is more difficult than a subject taken on the
Standard (or Lower) Grade. Accordingly, there is a different syllabus for each
level at which a subject is studied; and there are different examinations, one each
for the various syllabi. Each provincial department of education sets its own
matriculation examinations for all the subjects. As Barkhuizen and Gough (1996:
465) aptly point out, this means that the range of language assessment in South
African education is extremely broad, and the quality of assessment enormously
variable. The only link between the various ranges of assessment is that they all
aim at one goal: to decide by means of the Senior Certificate Examination
whether or not a learner qualifies for entrance to university or technikon. In each
province, the matriculation examinations are assessed anonymously by grade 12
teachers appointed by the province’s Department of Education on the basis of
their academic qualifications and teaching experience at the grade 12 level. In a
recent press statement the Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal, has
indicated that by 2005 all these various matriculation examinations will be
brought under one roof; that is, there will be only one matriculation examination
for all grade 12 pupils throughout the country (Daily News, 11 September 2001, p.
3).
There are 22 full-fledged universities and 15 technikons in South Africa. The
technikons are tertiary institutions that provide vocational education to supply
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 235

the labour market with individuals who have particular skills, as well as
adequate technological and practical knowledge in a specific field (Rauntenbach,
1992: 358). In South Africa, vocational education usually starts after the age of 16
and follows a general preparatory education. Seventeen of the universities are
English-medium institutions and five formerly Afrikaans-medium universities
have largely become English/Afrikaans-medium institutions. Like Afrikaans-
medium secondary schools, since the end of apartheid, Afrikaans-medium
universities have also opened their doors to black students. Note that the major-
ity, if not all, of these students are not native speakers of Afrikaans. Accordingly,
all Afrikaans-medium universities, whose population includes a substantial
number of black students, offer an English-medium stream to accommodate the
needs of these students. It seems that, in future, Afrikaans-medium universities
are most likely to operate on a dual-medium system, thus offering tuition in both
Afrikaans and English. This is likely to occur, especially in the light of the strong
competition among the universities to attract students from previously disad-
vantaged communities.

Language education in the outcomes-based Curriculum 2005


As observed earlier, the Ministry of Education introduced a new national
curriculum in 1998, Curriculum 2005, which is to gradually replace the curricu-
lum the country has inherited from the apartheid-based education system. The
new curriculum was initially scheduled to be implemented in grades 1–9 by the
year 2005, hence the name ‘Curriculum 2005’. However, due to the difficulties it
has encountered in its efforts to implement the outcomes-based education (OBE)
system (see below), the Department of Education has decided not to implement
the plan by 2005 but to aim at a later date. It is now projected that the revised
curriculum will be implemented by 2008. The rationale for introducing the new
curriculum is that, under the previous system, learners of different racial groups
did not get the same quality education. Curriculum 2005 is based on the concept
of OBE.
According to Spady (1995), who is regarded as the founder of OBE, outcomes
are what learners can actually do with what they know and have learned; that is, the
tangible application of what has been learned. An outcomes-based education is a
learner-centred, results-orientated approach to education based on the expecta-
tion that all learners can learn and succeed (Department of Education, 1998b).
One of the key characteristics of OBE is the acknowledgement of, and support
for, the learners’ use of their primary languages for acquiring knowledge,
whether or not such languages are the formal languages of the school for learning
and teaching. Other characteristic features of the OBE system include the follow-
ing. Learning is considered an interactive process occurring between the teach-
ers (educators) and the learners, with the latter playing a central role in the
learning process, and the former serving as facilitators. The focus of learning is
on what learners should know and do – the outcomes. A strong emphasis is put
on cooperative learning, especially group work on common tasks or activities.
The learner’s progress is determined on the basis of continuous assessment,
rather than on year-end examinations or on the accumulation of a series of tradi-
tional test results (Gultig et al., 1998).
OBE may be a new concept in the South African context, but it has been imple-
236 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

mented in many first world countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, the
United States, and the United Kingdom, most often in training. In South Africa,
the idea of OBE seems to have come about after the members of the Congress of
South African Trade Unions (COSATU) visited Australia and New Zealand in
the early 1990s and were impressed with OBE as a model for training (Depart-
ment of Education, 1997).
Since its announcement in 1997 and its subsequent launch in 1998, Curriculum
2005 has received a mixed reaction from the stakeholders. To my knowledge, and
except for a lone three-day conference on OBE organised by the Western Cape
Department of Education in December 1999, there has been very little academic
debate on OBE in South Africa (e.g. Gultig et al., 1998). The argument for or
against OBE has been aired mostly in the local newspapers. The opponents of
OBE, among them a mix of journalists, members of opposition political parties
and right-wingers, have said that OBE is a ‘very dangerous experiment in social
engineering’ (Sunday Times, 22 June 1997). According to its critics, OBE has been a
disaster in the first world countries where it has been implemented. The critics
see it:
as a system aimed at producing ‘confident illiterates’, a system which
refutes the need for competition and its essential element: individual excel-
lence. It is based on the group and seeks not so much to endow children
with skills as to make them feel good and to raise their self-esteem. (Sunday
Times, 1 June 1997)
In contrast, the proponents of OBE, including the current ruling party (The
African National Congress) and their associates, refer to the achievements of the
OBE system in the very same first world countries where, according to the critics,
OBE has been a failure. For instance, in a newspaper article, van der Horst and
McDonald (1997) remark that:
having studied the instructional systems of some states in the United
States, Australia, South America, the United Kingdom (including the Scot-
tish system), various European countries as well as Singapore and Japan, it
became clear to us that outcomes-based education has a place and function
in South Africa at this time. (Sunday Times, 22 June 1997)
The proponents of OBE argue that those who oppose OBE have ‘allegiance to
the elitist, inequitable and fragmented status quo which protects their privileges
while condemning millions to a life of poverty, illiteracy and ignorance’ (Sunday
Times, 15 June 1997). It may be too soon to comment on the merits or demerits of
OBE for South African education. Just because OBE has succeeded or has failed
in the first world context does not necessarily mean that it will succeed or fail in
South Africa. Only after OBE has been implemented at least partially in the latter
context would we be able to tell which way the pendulum might swing. In this
regard, a recent study (Holman, 2001: 8) assessing OBE in 65 schools in Johannes-
burg, indicates that thus far OBE has been successful. In particular, the study set
out to examine learner performance in these schools. It was based on the OBE
standards test that enables schools to compare their learners’ performance with
an average obtained by all participating schools. The study summarises its find-
ings as follows:
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 237

learners are performing as well as under the previous system, and some-
times even better. The ability of children to think and solve problems is
improving. There are, however, some problems that require immediate
attention, especially in the areas of literacy, mathematics, and group
work.

With regard to literacy, Holman (2001) observes that teachers appear to


concentrate more on vocabulary, verbal skills and language structure at the
expense of reading. This, Holman explains, is perhaps due to misinterpretation
of the OBE instruction that says, ‘let learners find their own answers’. This does
not necessarily mean that teachers cannot assist the learners, particularly the
weak ones, when the need arises. With regard to mathematics, the study shows
that there seems to be too much emphasis on measuring to the detriment of basic
arithmetic and number patterns. Finally, Holman (2001) says that teachers
mistakenly equate OBE with group work. As a result, weak pupils tend to rely
too much on the group rather than strive for individual achievement. Teachers
should ensure that all learners understand the language of tuition.
The latest input on Curriculum 2005 is that it will be streamlined according to
the recommendations of a group of academics who reviewed it recently at the
request of the Minister of Education (Sunday Times, 20 August 2000). As far as
language is concerned, 70% of classroom time will now be allocated to language
teaching/learning and mathematics in grades 1 to 3 and 50% from grade 4
onwards. The complex jargon of OBE will be eliminated so that the discourse on
OBE can become accessible to the stakeholders. Other changes are envisaged,
among them the following:

 a plan to translate the English-language policy documents into Afri-


kaans, Sotho and an Nguni language (isiZulu, isiXhosa, Ndebele or
siSwati: it is not as yet clear which one of these languages will be chosen
and why); and
 a clear statement of what pupils should achieve, and how they should go
about it.

In this regard, it is noted that by the end of grade 9, pupils should be able to
communicate effectively; solve problems through critical thinking; organise and
manage activities responsibly; work with others; collect, analyse, organise and
evaluate information; use science and technology; and understand how the
world functions as a whole (Sunday Times, 5 August 2001, p. 7). Put differently,
the revamped, much improved and leaner-centred Curriculum 2005 aims to
ensure that no pupil will leave school at the end of grade 9, which is the cut-off
grade for compulsory schooling in South Africa, unable to read, count and write.
In spite of all the changes highlighted here, the key features of OBE as described
earlier will remain at the core of Curriculum 2005. According to the Department
of Education, the retention of the main features of OBE is a rejection of the apart-
heid philosophy of Christian National Education (Sunday Times, 20 August
2000). Table 6 presents a summary of curriculum reform in South Africa since the
Bantu Education Act of 1953 as well as the various stages in the development of
Curriculum 2005 (Potenza, 2001).
238 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 6 South Africa’s Curriculum reform timeline


1953–1994: Bantu Education1953 and 2003: Implementation of C2005 in its
Christian National Education 1967 existing form in grade 6. Training of
teachers in the National Curriculum
Statement. Development of textbooks and
other learning support materials based on
the National Curriculum Statement.
1995: National Education and Training 2004: Proposed implementation of the
Forum (NETF) prepared the way for the National Curriculum Statement in the
development of a core interim syllabus Foundation Phase (grades R–3). Ongoing
and removed content of an offensive and training of teachers and development of
inaccurate nature from the school learning support materials based on the
curriculum. National Curriculum Statement.
1996: Constitution of the Republic of 2005: Proposed implementation of the
South Africa. SA Schools’ Act established National Curriculum Statement in the
one national educational system and Intermediate Phase (grades 4–6). Ongoing
outlined the powers of the national training of teachers and material
department and the provinces; it also development as specified above.
established School Governing Bodies and
gave them power to determine aspects of
the curriculum at school level
1996/7: The process of designing C2005 2006: Proposed implementation of the
National Curriculum Statement in grade
7. Ongoing teacher training and material
development as specified above.
1997: C2005 becomes national policy for 2007: Proposed implementation of the
all schools. Piloting of C2005 in grade 1 National Curriculum Statement in grade
8. Ongoing teacher training and material
development as specified above.
1999: Implementation of C2005 in grade 2. 2008: Proposed implementation of the
Piloting of C2005 in grade 7. National Curriculum Statement in grade
9. Ongoing teacher training and material
development as specified above.
2000: Implementation of C2005 in grade 3 2009: Possible review of the National
and grade 7. The review of C2005. Curriculum Statement?
Piloting of C2005 in grades 4 and 8.
2001: Implementation of C2005 in its
existing form in grades 4 and 8.
Development of the National Curriculum
Statement, i.e. a revised, streamlined
version of C2005 specifying learning
outcomes and assessment standards on a
grade-by-grade basis.

Source: Potenza (2001).

Language use in the media


The sociopolitical history of South Africa has played a major role in language
use in the country’s media: television, newspapers and radio. By all accounts,
and because of its instrumental value, English is by far the most widely used
language in the media in South Africa. It is followed by Afrikaans and the African
languages, in that order. In this section, I describe18 language use in these three
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 239

media. The first experimental radio broadcast in South Africa was undertaken in
Johannesburg in 1923 by a railway company, the Western Electric Company.
Subsequent developments include the establishment of the current South Afri-
can Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in 1936; that was followed by radio broad-
casting services in both English and Afrikaans in 1937, and in African languages
in 1942 (South Africa Year Book, 1999: 470). Today, the SABC has 16 radio stations,
broadcasting for a combined air time of 300 hours per week to an audience of
some 28 million listeners daily. In addition, the SABC also has an external
service, Channel Africa (formerly The Voice of South Africa), established in 1966.
It broadcasts 217 hours per week in four languages, English, French, Kiswahili
and Portuguese to millions of listeners in Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands
(Europa World Year Book, 1999, II: 3227). Its programmes include news, music,
sports, and social, economic and political issues, etc. Some 12 private and about
90 community radio stations complete the network of radio broadcasting
services in South Africa. The majority of these radio stations broadcast in English
and Afrikaans. There is, however, at least one radio station for each of the nine
official African languages. The radio remains the most powerful medium of
language use in South Africa, reaching as it does all South Africans in urban, as
well as remote rural, areas in the language they understand. However, the same
cannot be said about the television or the print media, for they cover mostly
urban areas and major cities.
Compared to the radio, TV broadcasting is a relatively recent event in South
Africa. The country launched its first television channel in January 1976 (Africa
South of the Sahara, 1999: 1007), six months prior to the Soweto uprisings of 17 June
of that year. Today, SABC has three television channels, SABC1, SABC2 and
SABC3. About 50% of all the programmes presented on SABC are produced
locally. Another 50% consists of programmes imported from overseas, especially
from the United Kingdom and the United States. It is estimated that some 14
million adults of all ethnic groups watch SABC television daily. Currently most
of the programmes, both local and imported, are in English. Thus, English has the
lion’s share of air time for all the three SABC channels combined. This is evident
from Table 7, taken from a study in which Kamwangamalu (2000a) examined the
distribution of the total weekly air time of the 11 official languages on the SABC’s
three channels. Briefly, the data for the study was collected from a TV guide for
the week of 10–16 May 1998. The TV guide indicates that, for that week, the 11
official languages had 126 hours, or 7560 minutes of air time per channel, that is, a
total of 22,680 minutes for all three channels combined. Also, the TV guide lists
the various programmes, as well as the languages in which they are presented.
Therefore, except for multilingual programmes, it was relatively easy to deter-
mine the amount of air time allocated to each individual language. The study
shows that the distribution of air time on SA television is strikingly uneven, with
English taking up to 20,855 minutes or 91.95% of the total weekly air time; Afri-
kaans 1,285 (5.66%) and all nine African languages sharing a mere 520 (2.29%)
minutes, or an average of 0.25% of air time collectively. Note that, in Table 8,
some African languages such as Tshivenda, isiNdebele, siSwati and Xitsonga are
marked (00)?, because the TV guide shows that they have no share of air time at
all for the week of 10–16 May 1998, on which the study was based. (For further
details see Kamwangamalu, 2000a: 54–5.)
240 Current Issues in Language Planning

Table 7 Weekly air time distribution on SABC in minutes: TV guide 10–16 May 1998
Languages Channels Total air time
SABC 1 SABC 2 SABC 3 (22,680 minutes)
Ndebele (00)? (00)? (00)? (00)?
Swati (00)? (00)? (00)? (00)?
Tsonga (00)? (00)? (00)? (00)?
Venda (00)? (00)? (00)? (00)?
Sepedi 00 35 00 35 (0.15%)
Tswana 00 65 00 65 (0.28%)
Xhosa 90 00 00 90 (0.39%)
Zulu 120 00 00 120 (0.52%)
Sotho 30 200 00 230 (1.01%)
Afrikaans 30 1255 00 1285 (5.66%)
English 7290 6005 7560 20,855 (91.95%)

Source: Kamwangamalu (2000a: 254).

Table 8 Monthly air time distribution in hours on SABC: TV Talk , April-June 2001
Languages Channels Total air time:
SABC 1 SABC 2 SABC 3 4664.52 hrs
isiNdebele 0 5.52 0 5.52
SiSwati 0 0 0 0
Xitsonga 0 0 0 0
Tshivenda 0 0 0 0
Sepedi 0 32 0 32
Setswana 0 27 0 27
IsiXhosa 34 0 0 34
IsiZulu 53 0 0 53
Sesotho 0 74 0 74
Afrikaans 0 483.5 0 484.00
English 1269 1104.5 1580.5 3954.00

A subsequent survey, also by Kamwangamalu (2001a) but on a relatively


larger sample (90 days from April-June 2001) supports the conclusions of the first
survey that, for all three SABC channels combined, English has more air time
than any other official language. Table 8 shows that, for the period surveyed, all
11 official languages had a total of 4664.52 hours of air time to share, including
1356.5 hours for SABC 1, 1727.02 hours for SABC 2, and 1581 hours for SABC 3. Of
the overall air time for the three channels combined, English alone takes up to
3954.5 (85%) hours; followed by Afrikaans with 484 (10%) hours, and the African
languages with a combined air time of 226.02 (5%) hours, or 25 (0.5%) hours per
language. Note that unlike in the week of 10–16 May 1998, in the period covered
by the second survey, the TV Guide lists only eight of the 11 official languages,
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 241

excluding the smaller languages, siSwati, Xitsonga, and Tshivenda. In other


words, except for their occasional use in multilingual programmes, these three
languages are not given any specific time slot of their own on any of the three TV
channels. No explanation is given for this state of affairs. It seems that the cost of
broadcasting programmes in all 11 official languages is gradually taking its toll.
Consequently, in a few years from now SABC might cease providing services in
minor official languages such as those mentioned above. So, in terms of the
performance and despite the constitutional principle of language equity (see
Language Policy and Planning, below) smaller languages such as Tshivenda,
isiNdebele, siSwati and Xitsonga are becoming less and less visible as compared
to their majority counterparts, especially in the higher domains such as the
media.
Besides the SABC channels, there are two private television channels (satellite
TV not included): the M-Net, a private pay-TV19 service launched in 1986; and
Midi Television, a private but free-to-air TV service launched in 1998 and operat-
ing a channel called E.TV (Entertainment Television). The M-Net channel has
over 1.23 million subscribers. It broadcasts 24 hours per day in English to some 41
countries across the African continent, and in English and Afrikaans within
South Africa. In South Africa, the M-Net’s audience consists mostly of white
viewers and some wealthy urban blacks (in the generic sense of this term – Indi-
ans, Africans, and Coloureds). The programmes presented on the M-Net channel
include movies, sports, dramas, magazines, music, and specialised community
services for the local Indian, Portuguese, Italian, Jewish and Christian communi-
ties. Like the M-Net channel, the E.TV channel also broadcasts 24 hours per day,
mostly in English in South Africa. Its estimated audience is over 600,000 viewers.
But unlike the M-Net channel, in addition to programmes such as movies, sports,
dramas and music, the E.TV channel also broadcasts news bulletins in English,
Afrikaans and some official African languages (e.g. isiZulu, isiXhosa, and
Sesotho).
With respect to the print media, the first known newspaper, a government
gazette entitled Cape Town Gazette, appeared in the early 19th century together
with a commercial advertiser, African Advertiser/Kaapsche Stads Courant en
Afrikaansche Berigter (South Africa Yearbook, 1998: 435). Three Sunday newspapers,
Sunday Times, The Sunday Independent and Rapport are considered national newspa-
pers. The first two are published in English and the third is published in Afrikaans.
Of these three (and other Sunday newspapers – e.g. City Press), the Sunday Times
has the largest circulation (452,461 copies in 1998), followed by Rapport, which has
a circulation of 376,101 copies. Besides these national newspapers, there are 17
daily newspapers, 8 weeklies, about 200 weekly tabloids, almost 300 consumer
magazines, and hundreds of neighbourhood newspapers known as
‘knock-and-drops’ or ‘freebies’ (Europa World Year Book, 1999, II; South Africa Year
Book, 1998). Except for the three main Afrikaans dailies (Beeld (The Portrait), Die
Burger (The Citizen), Die Volksblad (The People’s Paper)) and weekly magazines
(Huisgenoot (You Magazine), Sarie (Suzanne (a women’s magazine)) Rooi Rose (Red
Roses)), most of the dailies, weeklies and magazines with a relatively wide circula-
tion are published in English. Among the dailies, in 1999 The Sowetan had the larg-
est circulation (217,324 copies), followed by The Citizen (125,966) and two of the
three main Afrikaans dailies, Die Burger (112,844) and Beeld (107,965) (South Africa
242 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Table 9 The main newspapers in South Africa


Name Frequency Language Circulation in 1999
Beeld D Afrikaans 111,958
Business Day D English 41,000
City Press W English 259,374
Daily Dispatch D English 39,000
Diamond Fields Advertiser D English 8,000
Die Burger D Afrikaans 112,844
Die Volksblad D Afrikaans 28,000
EP Herald D English 30,000
Evening Post D English 19,000
Ilanga Twice W Zulu 117,000
Imvo Zabantsundu W English/Xhosa 31,000
Mail & Guardian W English 32,510
Natal Witness D English 28,000
Post W English 42,203
Pretoria News D English 25,500
Rapport W Afrikaans 353,000
Sunday Independent W English 39,456
Sunday Times W English 458,000
Sunday Tribune W English 113,000
The Argus D English 85,000
The Cape Times D English 53,000
The Citizen D English 125,966
The Daily News D English 71,600
The Independent on Saturday W English 77,500
The Mercury D English 42,000
The Sowetan D English 225,000
The Star D English 162,316
Transvaaler D Afrikaans 40,000
Umafrika W English/Zulu 60,000
Vista Twice W English/Afrikaans 35,119

Note: D = daily; W = weekly.


Sources: Compiled from South Africa Year Book 1998: 434–437, 1999: 476–479; The Europa
World Year Book, 1999 (II): 3223–3225; and Africa South of the Sahara, 1999: 1003–1005.

Year Book, 1998, 1999). While some newspapers and magazines are published in
English or Afrikaans, the tabloids and the ‘freebies’ are published mostly in
English, except for those that cater exclusively for Afrikaans-speaking communi-
ties. Table 9 presents the main dailies (D) and weeklies (W) in South Africa,
together with information about circulation and language of publication. Table 10
presents the country’s other, mostly weekly, newspapers.
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 243

Table 10 Other newspapers in South Africa


Name Frequency Language Circulation in 1999
African Jewish Newspaper W Yiddish N/A
Afrika News Press W English N/A
China Express Tu/Fr Chinese N/A
Die Afrikaner W Afrikaans 10,000
Eikestadnuus W Afrikaans/English 7,000
Ladysmith Gazette W Afrikaans/ 7,000
English/Zulu
Noord Transvaaler W Afrikaans 12,000
Noordwes Gazette W Afrikaans/English 35,000
Northern Review W Afrikaans/English 10,300
P & V Herald W Afrikaans/English 5,000
Rustenburg Herald D English/Afrikaans 11,000
The Herald Times W English 5,000
Vaalweekblad W Afrikaans/English 16,000
Vrye Weekblad W Afrikaans 13,000

Note: D = daily; W = weekly; Tu/Fr = published on Tuesday and Friday.


Sources: Compiled from the same sources as Table 9.

Language Policy and Planning


Kaplan and Baldauf (1997: 3) define language planning as a body of ideas,
laws, and regulations (language policy), change, rules, beliefs, and practices
intended to achieve a planned change (or to stop change from happening) in the
language use in one or more communities. It is, in the words of Fishman (1987:
49), the authoritative allocation of resources to the attainment of language status
and language corpus goals, whether in connection with new functions that are
aspired to, or in connection with old functions that need to be discharged more
adequately. In South Africa, language planning has historically been what
Tollefson (1991: 13) calls an arena for struggle, where the white segment of the
country’s population has sought to exercise power over other ethnic groups,
hence the term baasskap (‘domination, especially by whites, of other groups’; see
the second paragraph of this monograph), through control of language. It has
been more so because, as Wiley observes (1996: 104), decisions about language
often led to benefits for some and loss of privilege, status, and rights for others.
Not much is known about language policy and planning in South Africa prior
to the arrival in the Cape in 1652 of white settlers led by the Dutch colonist Jan van
Riebeeck, as discussed in The Language Profile of South Africa, above. From this
time onwards the history of language policy and planning in South Africa can be
described in terms of the following four important eras: Dutchification
(1652–1795, 1803–1806), Anglicisation (1806–1948), Afrikanerisation (1948–1994),
and language democratisation (1994-present). Dutchification refers to the official
promotion and use of the Dutch language in all the higher domains, such as
administration, education, trade, etc. by the Dutch officials of the Dutch East
244 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

India Company who settled in South Africa after 1652. During the century and a
half of the Dutch occupation of the Cape from 1652 to 1795, only knowledge of
Dutch served as a catalyst for access to resources and employment in the civil
service. Anyone who wanted to do business with the Dutch authority had to
display knowledge of Dutch. The indigenous population of the area, the Khoi
and the San, lost their languages entirely (language death) and acquired an
interlanguage form of Dutch, so that today the descendants of all these people are
Afrikaans- (or Sesotho-, isiXhosa-) speaking. The Dutchification of the Cape
came to an end in 1795, when Britain first took control of the Cape of Good Hope
(now Cape Town) to prevent the territory from falling into the hands of the
French, who had already laid claim to Holland during the Napoleonic wars
(Watermeyer, 1996: 101). However, Dutchification continued in the north of the
country, where the Boers had established the Boer Republics of the Free State and
the Transvaal. The latter was later renamed the ‘South African Republic’.
Anyone who lived in the Boer Republics and especially in the South African
Republic, including the Uitlanders (foreigners, mostly British immigrants) were
subject to Dutchification. The Uitlanders’ request to Britain for protection against
Dutchification in education and for franchise in the South African Republic is
said to be one of the contributory factors to the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902.
Thus, education became politicised. As Malherbe (1925: 287) notes,
it [education] was seized upon by politicians as one of the instances in
which the rights of the Uitlanders were infringed, and was made a contrib-
utory cause to the [Anglo-] Boer war. For instance, in a dispatch from
H.M. Government, dated 10 May, 1899 to Government of South African
Republic on 13 June, 1899, Mr Chamberlain wrote: the education system
was ‘more directed to forcing upon the Uitlander population the habitual
use of Dutch language than to imparting to them the rudiments of general
knowledge’.
After the war, which the British won, the policy of Anglicisation continued, as
discussed earlier (Moodie, 1975; Ponelis, 1993; Warwick,1980). This policy ended
only in 1948, when the Afrikaners took the reins of government. With the power
now in their hands, and in the interest of Afrikanerdom, the Afrikaner politicians
replaced Anglicisation with Afrikanerisation. The Afrikaans language took
centre stage in the administration of the state, and, as Webb and Kriel (2000) put
it, the use and power of Afrikaans increased dramatically.
All government-controlled institutions, the state administration, the radio
and television, the education sector, the defense force and semi-state insti-
tutions gradually [became] almost wholly Afrikaans. The [white] Afri-
kaans-population was in total control, and Afrikaans was considered to
have earned, and was thus given, a monument: the gigantic language
monument on a hill in Paarl, a town near Cape Town, where one of the
organized movements for the promotion of the language, [the Genootskap
van Regte Afrikaners (GRA) (Society of Real Afrikaners) had its roots. (Webb
& Kriel, 2000: 22)
Knowledge of Afrikaans became a requirement for entry into the civil service.
The state invested heavily, both politically and financially, in the development of
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 245

Afrikaans and often praised the language as a gift from God. In this regard, Webb
and Kriel (2000) quote the following from former state president P.W. Botha’s
addresses to Parliament and celebratory ceremonies marking the achievements
of Afrikaans:

We pay homage to the cultural leaders of the past, but we also stand
humbly before the Creator of all languages and all nations [volkere], grateful
for this miraculous gift to our soul. (Webb & Kriel, 2000: 42)
....

Langenhoven ... referred to Afrikaans as the expression of the soul of South


Africa ....We believe that a human being has a soul, and that a volk and a nation
has a soul .... Afrikaans is the God-given instrument used by millions of people in
Africa when performing their daily task ... but also when praying ... when serv-
ing their Creator. (Webb & Kriel, 2000: 42)
Efforts to promote Afrikaans led the apartheid Government to enact drastic
policies, such as the Bantu Education Act (see above). The end of apartheid and
the subsequent birth of democracy in South Africa in 1994 created a new era for
Afrikaans. The change from apartheid to democracy brought about the official
recognition that South Africa is a multilingual rather than the bilingual country it
had been assumed to be in the apartheid era. This recognition has translated into
a new, multilingual language policy, hence language democratisation. It is to this
new language policy that I now turn.

The new, multilingual language policy


The new language policy accords official status to 11 languages: English, Afri-
kaans and nine African languages. The policy itself is stipulated as follows in
South Africa’s 1996 Constitution:

The official languages of the Republic (of South Africa) are Sepedi, Sesotho,
Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele,
isiXhosa and isiZulu. (The Constitution, 1996, Chapter 1, Section 6(1))

All official languages must enjoy parity of esteem and must be treated equita-
bly. (The Constitution, 1996, Chapter 1, Section 6(2))
A number of questions have been raised concerning this policy. Why 11 offi-
cial languages? Why not settle for English only? What language will be used as
the medium of instruction? These questions are addressed in section 3 of the
Interim Constitution (1995). According to the Interim Constitution, South Africa
has chosen 11 languages:

(a) to ensure and guarantee the freedom and human dignity of all South Afri-
cans under a new dispensation,
(b) to recognise the country’s linguistic diversity as well as the fact that the
majority of South Africans – probably 98 per cent – use one of these
languages as their home or first language, and
(c) to ensure that the process of democratization is extended to language-
related issues as well (The Department of Education: South Africa’s New
Language Policy: The Facts, 1994: 4, 6).
246 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Similarly, South Africa has not declared English the only official language, as
it is a minority language, spoken as first or home language by only 9% of South
Africa’s population. Also, it is worth noting that South Africa has opted for a
multilingual language policy in order not to re-ignite the long-standing
ethnolinguistic rivalries20 among the speakers of the various African languages
on the one hand, and between English-speaking and Afrikaans-speaking Whites
on the other. As Webb (1994: 255) observes, the incidence of ethnic nationalism,
for instance among the Afrikaans-speaking Whites and within the Zulu-
speaking community, is language related and has a high potential for inter-
group conflict. The Afrikaans-speaking Whites, the Afrikaners, have fought
against English domination for the past 300 years and, therefore, they would not
have accepted English (let alone any of the African languages) as the sole official
language of the state. Similarly, speakers of the various African languages
consider their respective languages as symbols of cultural identity. Accordingly,
it would have been inconceivable, especially for the speakers of major languages
such as isiZulu, isiXhosa or Sesotho, to accept any one of these languages as the
sole official language of the state.
With regard to the question of the medium of instruction, the new Constitu-
tion of South Africa stipulates that:
matters such as the medium in which a pupil’s instruction takes place and
the number of languages that are to be compulsory school subjects may not
conflict with the language clause in the Constitution [Section 3] nor with
section 32, which provides that every person shall be entitled to instruction
in the language of his or her choice where this is reasonably practicable [author
emphasis].
I have highlighted the phrase ‘where this is reasonably practicable’ to under-
line the ambivalence, vagueness and non-committal nature of the policy. For
instance, who decides what is ‘reasonably practicable’21 and what criteria are
used in making this decision?
One of the main objectives of the new multilingual language policy has been to
promote the status of the nine official African languages against the backdrop of
past discriminatory language policies. Accordingly, the new Constitution states
that ‘recognizing the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous
languages of our people, the state must take practical and positive measures to
elevate the status and advance the use of these languages’ (The Constitution,
1996, Chapter 1, section 6 (2)). The Constitution also makes provision for the
establishment of a Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB) with the
responsibility to, inter alia: ‘promote and create conditions for the development
and use of these (African) and other languages’ (The Constitution, 1996, Chapter
1, section 6 (5a)). Building on the aforementioned constitutional principles, in
1997, the Minister of Education announced a language-in-education policy whose
main aims are:
(a) to promote additive multilingualism, that is, to maintain home language(s)
while providing access to and the effective acquisition of additional
language(s);
(b) to promote and develop all the official languages;
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 247

(c) to counter disadvantages resulting from different kinds of mismatches


between home languages and languages of learning and teaching;
(d) to develop programs for the redress of previously disadvantaged lan-
guages. (Department of Education, Government Gazette no. 18546, 19 Decem-
ber 1997).

The policy also mandates the schools, through their respective governing
bodies, to stipulate how they will promote additive multilingualism through the
use of more than one language of learning and teaching, and/or by offering addi-
tional languages as fully-fledged subjects, and/or applying special immersion or
language maintenance programmes.
It is clear from the constitutional clauses cited above that the thrust of the new
language policy is to promote additive multilingualism through mother-
tongue22 education – that is, by using the official indigenous languages as media
of learning and teaching. However, not much progress has been made yet in
attempts to implement the policy, especially with respect to the issue of
mother-tongue education. Rather, the status quo prevails: English and Afrikaans
remain the chief media of learning in English-medium and Afrikaans-medium
schools respectively, much as they were in the apartheid era. Put differently, if
anything has changed at all in terms of the language practices, it is that English
has gained more territory and political clout than Afrikaans in virtually all of the
country’s institutions, including the legislature, education, the media, and the
army. Language practices in the media have already been discussed (see above).
The discussion that follows will focus on the language practices in the remaining
institutions, beginning with the legislature.
Commenting on language practices in the legislature, Gunning (1997: 7)
remarks that most provincial legislatures use English. He explains that: ‘politi-
cians seem to prefer English over other languages, practical circumstances
dictate its use, it [English] is used to avoid confusion, it is the main language of
documentation’. Pandor (1995) makes a similar remark in regard to language
practices in the country’s Parliament. She observes that in 1994, 87% of the
speeches made in Parliament were in English, less than 5% were in Afrikaans,
and the remaining 8% were in one of the nine official African languages – that is,
less than 1% in each of the languages, despite the fact that about 80% of the
members of Parliament are Africans, the majority of whom are fluent in at least
two of the official African languages. Besides being prevalent in the majority of
the speeches made in Parliament, English has also been proposed as the sole
language of Hansard, the Parliament’s historical record of proceedings, formerly
published in both English and Afrikaans. The proposal was, understandably,
prompted by the prohibitive cost of publishing Hansard in all 11 languages.23 A
similar proposal was made recently by the Minister of Justice. Parliament
approved the idea that English should become the sole language of record in the
courts (The Daily News, 20 October 2000). The implications of these proposals for
language practices in the higher domains are obvious. The proposals contribute
to the further exclusion from these domains of both Afrikaans and the previously
marginalised languages, the African languages. Along these lines, in its investi-
gation into language practices in public institutions, the Language Plan Task
Group (LANGTAG, 1996: 47) found that:
248 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

some cabinet ministers and directors-general refuse to respond to docu-


ments unless they are in English; at the provincial level, correspondence
between Provincial Governments and the Central Government is
conducted mainly in English; at local Government level, City and Town
Council meetings are held monolingually in English because some council-
ors refuse to let other councilors speak in any other language.
With respect to the language practices in the army, English has increasingly
become the de facto language of the army’s administration and training (de Klerk
& Barkhuizen, 1998). In their study of language use on a military base in the
Western Cape, de Klerk and Barkhuizen (1998: 68) found a strong shift from the
use of Afrikaans to the use of English. They explain that English has become a
lingua franca on the base, because it is seen by most staff and troops as a ‘neutral’
code, a language best understood by the greatest number, including former
members of the liberation armies who have been incorporated into the National
Defense Force, and the only language that can be used for inter-ethnic communi-
cation.
In education, besides being used as the medium of instruction in ‘black’
schools and ‘Model C schools’,24 English is also increasingly being used, along-
side Afrikaans, as the medium of instruction in (traditionally) Afrikaans-
medium schools and universities, to accommodate black students who attend
these institutions of learning. In a recent newspaper article, for instance, the
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Stellenbosch, an Afrikaans-medium univer-
sity, described by the newspaper as one of the last enclaves of white Afrikaner
intellectualism, states that ‘Stellenbosch would become “language-friendly”’,
that is, in addition to Afrikaans, Stellenbosch would start offering an English-
medium stream to accommodate black students. This is aimed, in the Vice-
Chancellor’s words, at ‘shedding the image of [Stellenbosch as] an institution
that is unwelcoming to black people’ (The Daily News, 4 September 2000). Other
historically Afrikaans-medium universities have already embarked, or are in the
process of embarking, on a dual-medium system to meet the educational needs
of black students.
Language practices in these higher domains (the legislature, the media, the
army, and education) show that Afrikaans has lost a lot of the ground it used to
have in the apartheid era. It is not surprising that, in its capacity as official
language, Afrikaans is currently described as being in ‘a state of demise’ (Webb &
Kriel, 2000: 23). In spite of this loss, Afrikaans remains the only language that
competes with English for territory in these other domains of language use.
Thus, some sort of ‘slanted’ English-Afrikaans bilingualism, or what Clyne
(1997: 306) would call asymmetrical bilingualism, where English is the High
language and Afrikaans is the Low language, reigns supreme by default in
post-apartheid South Africa. This state of affairs should not be surprising, espe-
cially if one takes a closer look at some of the language-related clauses in the
country’s Constitution. For instance, Chapter 1, section (3) of the Constitution
(1996) stipulates that:
the national government and provincial governments may use any particular
official languages for the purposes of government, taking into account usage,
practicality, expense, regional circumstances and the balance of the needs
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 249

and preferences of the population as a whole or in the province concerned;


but the national government and each provincial government must use at
least two official languages (author emphasis).

It is clear that there is a loophole in the clause under consideration, namely, the
lack of specification about the official languages that must be used at the provin-
cial and national level for the purpose of government. And since the Constitution
does not specify which official languages should be used in which province or by
the national government, both provincial and national governments have tacitly
opted for the status quo and thus use English and Afrikaans as the languages of
administration, much as was the case in the apartheid era. If the policy is couched
in sufficiently general terms, says Bamgbose (1991: 113), it may go down well,
since it will be a ‘catch-all’ formula that may be interpreted in a flexible manner.
And because the policy is vague and so is subject to multiple interpretations, it
has hardly been implemented, especially with respect to the African languages.
In 1998 the lack of progress in attempts to promote the African languages
prompted the Government to embark on a year-long multilingualism awareness
campaign. Drawing on the tenets of the 1997 language-in-education policy as
described earlier, the campaign was aimed at, among other things:

(a) promoting multilingualism so that South Africans will view multi-


lingualism as a valuable resource;
(b) bringing about an appreciation that, in a multilingual society, knowledge of
more than one language is an asset both in an immediate economic sense
and in the larger social sense;
(c) breaking down the legacy of apartheid by means of the promotion of Afri-
can languages. The elaboration, modernization and development of these
languages are important requirements for the attainment of social and
economic equality and justice for the majority of South Africans. (Depart-
ment of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, 1998: 20)

As Kamwangamalu (2000b) observed elsewhere, it is too soon to tell what


effect, if any, this campaign will have on language practices in South Africa.
What is clear, however, is that language practices in most of the country’s institu-
tions flout the principle of language equity enshrined in the Constitution: ‘All
official languages must enjoy parity of esteem and must be treated equitably’
(The Constitution, 1996, section 6 (2)). The language practices support the
Language Plan Task Group (LANGTAG) and its research findings that ‘despite
the constitutional commitment to multilingualism, . . . there seems to be a drift
towards unilingualism [in English] in public services’ (LANGTAG, 1996: 31);
and that ‘all other languages are being marginalised’25 (LANGTAG, 1996: 47).
What role, then, do the indigenous languages play in South Africa in their capac-
ity as official languages? What does the term ‘official language’ mean for these
languages and their speakers? Walker (1984: 161) defines an official language as
one designated by government decree to be the official means of communication
of the given state in government, administration, law, education and general
public life. Eastman (1990: 71) sees it as one used in the business of government.
A true official language, says Fasold (1984: 74), fulfills all or some of the functions
250 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

listed in (1)-(5), below, to which Fishman (1971: 288) would add those in (6) and
(7). The official language is used:
(1) as the language of communication for government officials in carrying out
their duties at the national level;
(2) for written communication between and internal to government agencies at
the national level;
(3) for the keeping of government records at the national level;
(4) for the original formulation of laws and regulations that concern the nation
as a whole;
(5) for forms such as tax forms;
(6) in the schools; and
(7) in the courts.
Current language practices in South Africa, as described in the foregoing
discussion, show that only Afrikaans and English perform some or all of these
functions. The inclusion of the nine African languages in the Constitution seems
to be merely symbolic, to say the least. It is obvious from the description of the
language practices in the higher domains (e.g. the media, the army, the legisla-
ture, education) that government structures have failed in their mission to imple-
ment the proposed multilingual language policy. Accordingly, it has become
almost impossible to convince parents and pupils that multilingualism is a
resource, that African languages can be used as a medium of instruction
throughout the entire educational system. It is not surprising, therefore, that,
when presented with the following models26 of literacy, parents overwhelmingly
opt for the third model.
(1) Initial literacy in the mother tongue followed by a shift to English.
(2) Initial biliteracy in English plus an indigenous language.
(3) Literacy only in English throughout the entire educational system (e.g. de
Klerk, 2000b; Heugh, 1995a; Roodt, 2000).
As pointed out earlier, the choice of English over the African languages has to
be understood against the background of the negative attitudes people have
towards the African languages, an obvious consequence of the legacy of apart-
heid-based Bantu-education. Also, English is perceived to be materially more
relevant than African languages. For instance, citing a 1992 ANC’s language
policy document, Heugh (1995a: 341) reports that ‘large sections of black urban
communities have already pressurized primary schools into beginning with
English as the medium of instruction from day one’. In a more recent survey on
the choice of the medium of instruction in the Pretoria area, Roodt (2000) also
found that ‘98% of black parents want their children27 educated in English, 1%
prefer Afrikaans and only 1% an indigenous African language’. He concludes
that many non-English speakers, be they Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Sotho, Venda,
Tsonga, Afrikaans, etc. are choosing to abandon their mother tongue by speaking
English to their children. De Klerk (2000b) draws a similar conclusion in her
investigation into language practices in isiXhosa-speaking communities in
Grahamstown. The study reveals that Xhosa parents not only choose to send
their children to English-medium schools, they also encourage them to speak
English rather than isiXhosa at home. The following extracts from interviews
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 251

between de Klerk and Xhosa parents are telling. They show that, for mostly
economic reasons, parents prefer English to isiXhosa for the education of their
children:
 there is a tradition between me and my children that if they catch one
another speaking Xhosa (see Note 3 concerning the spelling of the names of
African languages), they use two clicks to remind the other to speak
English;
 they (the children) hardly speak Xhosa . . . all the time they like English. I
don’t encourage them to speak Xhosa, not at all;
 it’s fine to let it (Xhosa) die. We have never teach (sic!) our son any Xhosa;
 I don’t think there will be a need to be a Xhosa-speaker later on;
 I am a Xhosa, but I can’t use it anywhere else; Xhosa cuts you off (de Klerk,
2000b: 93–94, 103).
The implications of this state of affairs for the maintenance of African
languages will be discussed in Language Maintenance and Prospects, below.
These extracts suggest, however, that unless the black communities28 value their
own languages, as the Afrikaners have valued theirs since the era of Angli-
cisation, the Government will be powerless to enforce change and so top-down
efforts to promote the indigenous languages will not succeed. In the next section,
language planning agencies are described. In the subsequent section, some of the
factors that influence language policy and planning in the polity, with a focus on
market forces, the legacy of apartheid education, elite closure, and linguicism are
discussed, followed by a discussion of literacy.

Language planning agencies


Over the years a number of agencies, both governmental and non-govern-
mental, have played a significant role in shaping South Africa’s language plan-
ning. Most of these agencies are listed in Webb (1994: 261). They include:
 government ministries;
 government-sponsored bodies such as the National Terminology Services,
the State Language Services, among others;
 language bureaux of major corporations such as postal and telephone
services, the Electricity Supply Commission, the South African Broadcast-
ing Corporation;
 universities, the Department of Art, Culture, Science and Technology;
 National and Provincial Language Committees; and
 professional language associations, such as the Linguistic Society of South-
ern Africa (LSSA), the African Languages Association of Southern Africa
(ALASA), the South African Applied Linguistics Association (SAALA), the
South African Association for Language Teaching (SAALT), the English
Academy, and Afrikaans-based associations such as the Stigting vir Afri-
kaans (Foundation for Afrikaans) and the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir
Wetenskap en Kuns (the South African Academy for Arts and Science).
Besides these language planning agencies, other recent individual and
government-sponsored language planning bodies include: the Project for the
Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA), the Language Plan
252 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Task Group (LANGTAG) and the Pan South African Language Board
(PANSALB). PRAESA is an independent research and development unit
founded in 1992 by Dr Neville Alexander of the University of Cape Town. It
emerged from the struggle against apartheid education, to which it sought to
provide an alternative. Its main goals are to:
 further an additive approach to bilingualism and biliteracy in education;
 raise the status of the (official) African languages, with a focus on isiXhosa
in the Western Cape Province;
 assist teachers in coping with the challenges of working in multilingual
classrooms; and
 contribute towards a database of research relating to language policy, plan-
ning and practice (PRAESA, 1999a: 3).
The Language Plan Task Group (LANGTAG), the precursor to PANSALB,
was a policy advisory body appointed in 1995 by the Minister of Arts, Culture,
Science and Technology. Its brief was to produce a report that would provide the
then Government of National Unity with guidelines for:
 the realisation of language policy and planning across all social sectors;
 the promotion of multilingualism and, more specifically, the development
of the African languages; and
 combating the trend towards unilingualism resulting from the perception
by many South Africans that multilingualism is a problem (PRAESA,
1999b: 13).
LANGTAG completed and submitted its report, entitled Towards a National
Language Plan for South Africa: Final Report of the Language Plan Task Group to the
Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in August 1996. The report
contains discussions of, recommendations for, and data on, various aspects of
language policy and planning in South Africa, among them language equity,
language development, language as a resource, language in education, language
in the public service, to list but a few.
PANSALB is an independent statutory body appointed by the Senate and
enshrined in the country’s new Constitution. Its aims, as stipulated in the 1996
Constitution, Chapter 1, section 5, are:

[to] promote, and create conditions for the development and use of (i) all
official languages; (ii) the Khoi, Nama and San languages; and (iii) sign
languages; and (b) promote and ensure respect for (i) all languages
commonly used by communities in South Africa, including German, Guja-
rati, Hindi, Portuguese, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu; and (ii) Arabic, Hebrew,
Sanskrit and other languages used for religious purposes in South Africa.

PANSALB has as yet to achieve the goals for which it was enshrined in the
Constitution. Financial constraints and the lack of political support have made it
difficult for PANSALB to execute its constitutional mandate to promote
multilingualism. Besides the language planning agencies already discussed,
there are several interest groups involved in language planning activities, espe-
cially for Afrikaans and English. Apart from PRAESA, which concentrates its
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 253

activities on isiXhosa in the Western Cape, there exist very few language plan-
ning organisations involved with the remaining African languages.

Factors influencing language policy and planning in the polity


The language planning agencies highlighted in the previous section support
the new multilingual language policy and would certainly want to see it imple-
mented. There are, however, quite a number of factors that interact in complex
ways to impede policy implementation, especially in regard to the African
languages. Some of these factors include, for instance, (1) the legacy of apartheid
education, (2) market forces, (3) elite closure, and (4) linguicism.
I have already commented on the legacy of apartheid education, noting that it
has rendered indigenous African languages instrumentally valueless and has
foreshadowed current negative attitudes towards the proposal that these
languages be used as languages of learning, save in the lower grades in predomi-
nantly black schools. As explained earlier, generally, education in an African
language is seen as a dead end aimed at denying one access to English, the
current language of the ruling classes and one in which, as Lynn (1995: 55) puts it,
the elite reproduces itself.
As far as market forces are concerned, there is no sustained demand for multi-
lingual skills in the African languages for academic, economic, administrative
and employment purposes. The lack of this demand has ensured that English
and to some extent Afrikaans remain central to virtually all the higher domains of
language use. As Verhoef (1998: 192) remarks, the demand for multilingual skills
in the African languages would contribute towards raising the status of these
languages and change the way in which the languages are perceived by the vari-
ous language communities. Several studies have shown, for instance, that black
South Africans have ambivalent attitudes towards their own languages: they
value the languages highly only as symbols of ethnolinguistic identity and as
vehicles for intergenerational transmission of indigenous cultures and tradi-
tions; but they prefer English for all the higher-level functions and for personal
upward social mobility (see Slabbert, 1994; Verhoef, 1998; Virasamy, 1997).
Elite closure (Scotton, 1990) refers to ‘linguistic divergence’ created as a result
of using a language which is only known to or preferred by the elite, in this case
English. This divergence may be purposeful, as a measure of control. Laitin
(1992) observes that the elite use the preferred language for intra-elite communi-
cation and a different lingua franca for communication with the masses. In South
Africa, however, the linguistic behaviour of the elite is characterised by an almost
exclusive use of the preferred language, English, irrespective of whether they
interact among themselves or with the masses who have little or no knowledge of
the language. This does not mean that the elite make no effort to converge.
However, such effort is often stage-managed and purposeful. At election time,
for instance, the elite tend to use code switching involving English and local
languages when addressing the masses; but they rarely do so at any other times.
Also, the literature indicates that, in order to preserve the privileges associated
with knowledge of the preferred language, the elite tend to resist any language
planning efforts which seek to promote the languages of the masses (see
Bamgbose, 1991; Kamwangamalu, 1997a; Schiffman, 1992). Elsewhere in Africa,
such resistance has been deliberate rather than innocent, as is the case for the elite
254 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

in Tanzania (Mafu, 1999). Mafu notes that, while expressing official support for
Swahili-medium instruction, the Tanzanian elite generally send their own chil-
dren to ‘English academies’, that is, to private English-medium schools that have
mushroomed in Tanzanian urban centres. In South Africa, the mismatch
between the new language policy and language practices (as described above) in
the higher domains resembles the Tanzanian trend, although the indigenous
South African languages do not have the high sociolinguistic profile that Swahili
does in Tanzania. Also, by adopting English as the sole language of Hansard and
court records, the South African elite are, perhaps consciously, resisting the new
language policy.
Linguicism refers to ‘ideologies and structures which are used to legitimate,
effectuate and reproduce an unequal division of power and resources between
groups which are defined on the basis of language’ (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1988: 13;
see also Phillipson, 1988, 1992). It is an ideology according to which the language
of the politically or economically dominant group or class is given a higher social
status than the indigenous languages. That view is self-evident in South Africa,
where English and Afrikaans have historically been assigned a higher status than
African languages. Because of linguicism, Western donors, for instance, tend to
support educational programmes that promote subtractive and transitional
bilingual programmes, where African languages are used in early years of
schooling, and subsequently a world language (English) takes over as the
medium of instruction. In this regard, Heugh (1995a: 343) observes that foreign
donors, including World Bank officials, who visited South Africa in 1992, made it
clear that additive bilingualism was not on the World Bank’s agenda and that
funds would not be available to support such programmes. As Kamwangamalu
(1998a, b) has observed elsewhere, foreign aid, in part, constitutes one of the chal-
lenges to implementing the new language policy in, say, education, especially if
doing so is geared towards additive rather than subtractive bilingualism; not
only do foreign donors influence language-in-education policy by providing
funds, they also often serve as government advisors on that very policy. Thus,
Popham (1996: 39, as quoted in Master, 1998: 717) is right when he notes that
‘while the engine of colonialism [and apartheid in South Africa] long ago ran out
of steam, the momentum of its languages and legacies is still formidable, and it is
against their tyranny that the smaller languages fight to survive’. Therefore,
pupils who are, or who become, bilingual in English and an African language, as
is the case in de Klerk’s (2000b) study, must, in practice, become monolingual in
English, that is, follow monolingual usage in order to succeed in life. Accord-
ingly, bilingualism, and by extension the bilingual learner, is viewed in deficit
terms, a problem to overcome, rather than a resource to be promoted (Landon,
2000).

Literacy
Many definitions of literacy can be found in the literature. However, Herbert
and Robinson (1999: 248) note that there has been a radical shift away from the
dominant view of literacy as a neutral, technological skill unaffected by social
contexts (or what Street (1995) calls the ‘autonomous model’) towards a broader
view, the ‘ideological model’, whereby material and social conditions determine
the outcome. Anticipating the latter model, Street (1984: 28) defines literacy as ‘a
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 255

social construction, not a neutral technology, . . . [whose] uses are embedded in


relations of power and struggles over resources’. This view of literacy cannot be
emphasised enough in the South African context, as will be evident later from the
statistics about the distribution of literacy in the country. Literacy arrived in
South Africa with the establishment, in 1652, of the Dutch re-supply station at the
Cape for the ships of the Vereenigde Oostindische Companie (Dutch East India
Company), which I have alluded to earlier. However, as French (1988: 27) notes,
literacy was introduced to many of the peoples in the country only in the 19th
century by missionaries, the extension of white colonisation and the industrial
revolution centring on the discovery of diamonds and gold.
During the apartheid era, literacy in the indigenous languages was rigorously
promoted; the languages that now count among the official languages of South
Africa were each allocated their own language board. But as Bhola (1992: 251)
points out, promoting literacy in these languages was a mechanism of
marginalisation and exclusion of the black people from the economy and from
politics, domains that required English and Afrikaans. In the new South Africa,
the right to education and literacy has been entrenched in the country’s 1996
Constitution. According to section 29(1),
everyone has the right to (i) a basic education, including adult basic educa-
tion; and (ii) to further education, which the state, through reasonable
measures, must make progressively available and accessible.
In section 29(2) the Constitution stipulates that:
everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or
languages of their choice in public educational institutions where that
education is reasonably practicable.
These constitutional principles are bold in theory but they have, in practice,
remained unimplemented. For instance, despite an increase in enrolment of
black pupils in formerly White, Indian and Coloured schools, there has not been
a comparable change in the schools’ language policy, with respect to the medium
of instruction. And, as a reviewer observes, why should there be a change in the
schools’ policy because it is the very policy that attracted the students in the first
place. The problem here is the mismatch between the schools’ inherent policy
and the new language-in-education policy. Most of these schools do not offer
tuition in an African language, whether as a medium of learning or as a subject.
The heritage of apartheid-based Bantu education makes it difficult for parents
and politicians alike to support literacy in any African language (i.e. mother-
tongue education) even in the first few years of school, or to maintain additional
bilingualism later (Reagan, 1995: 324). Most black parents consider African
languages as irrelevant in the education process (Msimang, 1993: 38) because,
unlike English- or Afrikaans-medium education, education in an African
language is not rewarding. Against this background and the legacy of apart-
heid-based Bantu education, the stigma associated with education in the African
languages lingers. Consequently, the pupils who cannot cope with the demands
of learning in a foreign language, in this case English, simply drop out of school,
thus adding to the high rate of illiteracy in black communities.
In South Africa, a person is described as literate if he or she has completed
256 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

grade 7. However, and against the backdrop of apartheid-based education, the


LANGTAG report (1996: 143) recommends that a more realistic measure of liter-
acy is completion of grade 9, which is also the cut-off grade for compulsory
schooling in South Africa. It must be noted, however, that completion of a given
grade, in this case grade 9, may not be a good measure of literacy for every learner
in South Africa. Due to a lack of adequate facilities, a learner who has completed
grade 9 at a rural school may not be as literate as his or her counterpart in a
well-equipped urban school. Viewed from this perspective, literacy is not merely
the ability to read and write; it is the ability to use reading and writing to achieve
societal goals (Kaplan, 1992: 289), to develop one’s full potential and to partici-
pate in the social, economic and political life of the country through lifelong
learning (Bock, 1996: 32). Along these lines, Hillerich (1976: 53) states that:
a person is literate when he (sic) has acquired the essential knowledge and
skills which enable him to engage in all those activities in which literacy is
required for effective functioning in his group and community and whose
attainments in reading, writing and arithmetic make it possible for him to
continue to use these skills towards his own and the community’s develop-
ment.
The statistics about literacy/illiteracy in South Africa vary from one study to
another. However, they all do have one feature in common: they all testify that a
very large number of South Africans, the majority of them Blacks, are illiterate;
white and Indian South Africans have the highest rate of literacy, 99% and 93%
respectively (Ellis, 1987; LANGTAG, 1996; The Population of South Africa Census
1996, 1998: 41; van Zyl Slabbert et al., 1994). Ellis (1987: 17) puts the number of
adult Blacks who were illiterate in 1980 at five million people or 55% of the over-
all adult population. It is worth noting that at that time the number of illiterate
Blacks must have been much higher, especially as Ellis’s study does not include
the black populations that then resided in the former independent homelands.
According to the 1991 census figures, 49% of the black youth between 15 and 24
years of age do not speak, read, or write English (van Zyl Slabbert et al., 1994: 109).
A recent report by the current Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal,
indicates that 12 million South Africans are illiterate and that about 20 million
others, mostly schoolchildren, are not fluent readers in any language (The Sunday
Times, 16 April 2000). I would like to emphasise, once again, that all these figures
about literacy refer mostly to black communities. In the latest survey on literacy,
the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB) reports that about 50% of
non-English-speaking South Africans (read mostly black South Africans) do not
understand statements or speeches made in English by government officials (The
Star, 8 September 2000). The distribution of literacy reflects the profile of inequal-
ity in South Africa and prejudices the use of African languages in many domains.
In Language Maintenance and Prospects, below, suggestions will be made as to
how literacy in the indigenous language can be promoted to enable the masses to
participate actively in the development of the state.
A number of literacy agencies, including governmental and non-govern-
mental agencies, have been established to promote literacy, especially in black
communities. The first South African (adult) literacy organisation, The Bureau of
Literacy and Literature, was initiated in 1946 (French, 1988: 27), that is, two years
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 257

before the apartheid Government came into power. This organisation is credited
with publishing course books in the majority of South(ern) African indigenous
languages and running training courses for literacy instructors. One of the most
recently established literacy agencies is the South African National Literacy
Initiative (SANLI), a government-sponsored body, whose brief is to reduce adult
illiteracy through, among other things, the mobilisation of voluntary services in
support of a nationwide literacy campaign, development of training pro-
grammes for volunteer educators, evaluation, development and procurement of
reading and resource materials for use in the nationwide literacy campaign,
recruitment of learners and the servicing of their needs (Sunday Times, 12
November 2000). Other literacy agencies include the churches, SABC TV and
radio (literacy) programmes, newspapers, Trade Unions (COSATU) literacy
projects, universities, the South African Association of Literacy and Adult
Education, which has close ties with the International Council of Adult Educa-
tion, as well as the National Literacy Cooperation and Project Literacy, each of
which has at least one regional branch in each of the nine provinces. Most of these
agencies produce learning materials for adults and provide training in basic
methods for literacy instructors.

Language Maintenance and Prospects


In the last part of this monograph, I shall consider the implications of the
current multilingual language policy and language practices for language main-
tenance and shift, with a focus on South Africa’s official languages. Currently,
these languages coexist in what may be characterised as a hierarchical, three-tier,
trilingual system, one in which English is at the top, Afrikaans in the middle, and
the African languages at the bottom. Following Clyne (1997: 306), this trilingual
system can be described as asymmetrical multilingualism, for at least one of the
languages, English, has more prestige than the others. The system reflects the
roles that the official languages perform in the South African society. These roles,
already discussed in The Language Profile of South Africa and to which I shall
return below briefly for ease of reference against the background of the multilin-
gual language policy, are vital in determining language maintenance and shift
and prospects for the country’s official languages.
Joshua Fishman, a pioneering scholar of language maintenance and shift,
defines the field as:

the relationship between change (or stability) in language usage patterns,


on the one hand, and ongoing psychological, social or cultural processes,
on the other hand, in populations that utilize more than one speech variety
for intra-group or for inter-group purposes. (1972: 76)

The term ‘language shift’ is invoked here in the sense of Fishman (1991: 1),
who uses it to refer to ‘speech communities whose native languages are threat-
ened because their intergenerational continuity is proceeding negatively, with
fewer and fewer users (speakers, readers, writers and even understanders) or
uses every generation’. The opposite of language shift is language maintenance.
The literature indicates that many factors are responsible for language mainte-
nance and shift, the most important among them being generation, the numerical
258 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

strength of a group in relation to other minorities and majorities, language status,


socioeconomic value, education, and institutional support/government policies
(see Fishman, 1991; Paulston, 1987; Romaine, 1995; Sridhar, 1988). These factors, I
argue, do not operate independently of one another, but they interact in complex
ways in determining language maintenance and shift. For instance, quite a
number of scholars maintain that generation is the single most vital factor of
language maintenance and shift (Fishman, 1991; Gupta & Yeok, 1995; Sridhar,
1988). It is argued that the ability and desire of parents to transmit the ancestral
language to their children (Gupta & Yeok, 1995: 302), or the extent to which the
language is used among the younger generations (Sridhar, 1988: 83), constitute
the litmus test for language maintenance and shift. It is worth noting, however,
that individuals’ decisions to transmit or not to transmit the ancestral language
are often influenced not by generation alone, but also by other factors, such as the
status of the ancestral language in the wider society, government’s language
policy vis à vis the ancestral language in question, community support, etc.
(Tollefson, 1991). A case in point is the shift from Indian languages to English in
the South African Indian community. Prabhakaran (1998: 302) describes the shift
as a conscious choice that Indian parents made for their children. She explains
that parents forced their children to learn English and discouraged them from
learning Telugu or any other vernacular, because, first, the social identity associ-
ated with English was more desirable than that associated with Indian languages
and, second, the Government’s language policies did not assign the Indian
languages any role in the South African society. In what follows, I examine how
the factors highlighted in this section, particularly education, socioeconomic
value, generation and language policy impact on language maintenance and
shift and prospects for South Africa’s official languages: English, Afrikaans, and
the nine previously marginalised indigenous languages.

English
The new Constitution of South Africa does not accord English any special
rights or advantages over the other official languages. As a matter of fact, in
section 3(2), the Constitution stipulates that ‘any person may communicate in
writing or orally with a government department in any official language’, and
that ‘any attempt by the government to act in any linguicist manner or to allow
any language/languages to dominate others would be unconstitutional’ (The
Constitution of South Africa, 1996). Other constitutional measures, already
discussed under Language Policy and Planning, also call for parity of esteem
among, and equity in the use of, the official languages. Despite all these
measures, language practices in the country’s institutions point to a different
reality – that English has a special status in South Africa. This is evident from the
language practices in the higher domains such as the media, the legislature,
education and the army, as discussed above. It is also evident from the language
practices for political events, such as the inauguration in 1994 of Nelson Mandela
as the first democratically elected president of South Africa, the annual openings
of Parliament, the signing ceremony on 10 December 1996 of South Africa’s new
Constitution, and various official announcements or press releases. In South
Africa, most official events, including those mentioned above, are conducted
exclusively through the medium of English.
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 259

The hegemony of English can be explained in terms of the key factors in


language maintenance and shift outlined earlier: status, generation, socioeco-
nomic value, numerical strength, education, Government language policy. In
terms of the status and socioeconomic value, and because of the multiple func-
tions it performs in South African society (see The Language Profile of South
Africa, above), English ranks higher than any of the country’s other official
languages. Because it is seen as the key to upward social mobility, English is the
language in which the majority of South African parents want their children to be
educated. This reality explains why, when apartheid ended in 1994, and with it
school segregation, the country witnessed an influx of speakers of African
languages into formerly White or Indian schools in their quest to be educated
only through the medium of English. In terms of generations, English receives a
lot of support not only from the minorities (e.g. South African Whites of British
descent and South African Indians, who speak it as a native tongue) but also from
many Afrikaans-speaking parents, who believe that their children’s future lies
with the global language, English, and from all black South Africans, who speak
English as a second or third language and value it more highly than their own
indigenous languages. We have seen, for instance, that African members of
Parliament make their speeches almost exclusively in English, and that some
provincial authorities do not respond to letters and administrative memoranda
written in languages other than English. The language practices of the members
of Parliament and other authorities add to the hegemony of English. Finally, in
terms of the new language policy, English has covertly been put on a pedestal.
For instance, when the policy says that ‘the national government and each
provincial government must use at least two official languages‘ (author emphasis)
for the purposes of government (see previous discussion), this is in general
understood to mean that one of the required two official languages must neces-
sarily be English. Accordingly, multilingualism in the new South Africa in prac-
tice means English plus any other languages, and not the use of any two
languages without English (i.e. an English-knowing bilingualism as in Singa-
pore; see Pakir (1998)). Thus, in the new South Africa, English reigns supreme,
and its hegemony is felt country-wide, especially in the higher domains, to the
extent that none of the other official languages can match it. The multiple roles
that English performs in South African society indicate that the language is not
likely to come under any threat from the other official languages. If anything, the
other official languages, especially the African languages, are likely to see some
of their traditional domains (e.g. the family) taken over by English, particularly
in urban communities. A discussion now follows about the prospects for Afri-
kaans followed by a discussion of language shift and the prospects for indige-
nous languages.

Afrikaans
Afrikaans is the only language that could present a challenge to the hegemony
of English in all the higher domains, except diplomacy. And this despite the fact
that Afrikaans has lost most of the privileges and political prestige it had during
the apartheid era. It is no longer a compulsory school subject in the country’s
educational system, it no longer receives the special financial support it had
during the apartheid era, it is no longer the sole language of the army and is grad-
260 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

ually being replaced by English in this domain to accommodate the members of


former liberation armies who have been incorporated into the new South African
National Defense Force (de Klerk & Barkhuizen, 1998; Barkhuizen & de Klerk,
2000). Furthermore, Afrikaans is struggling to shed its tarnished image as the
language of oppression, an image it has acquired because Afrikaner politicians
associated the language with apartheid. Of the determining factors in language
maintenance and shift outlined earlier, generation, education and socioeco-
nomic value stand out as the key for the maintenance of Afrikaans. With regard
to generation, Afrikaans is the symbol of Afrikaner identity and culture, and of
exclusivity and separateness. It is the core, if not the single vital feature, of what it
means to be an Afrikaner29 (that is, a white South African of Dutch descent). It is
used in every domain of public and private life in the country, and it occupies a
central place in the Afrikaner community, where it is used for daily communica-
tion, cultural ceremonies, church services, leisure and sports, especially rugby
and cricket. The community-based support for Afrikaans guarantees the trans-
mission of the language from one generation to the next.
Besides the Afrikaner community, the majority of the so-called ‘Coloured’
people do also contribute to the intergenerational transmission of Afrikaans,
which they speak as a native language. There are, however, some in the ‘Col-
oured’ community who have turned their back on Afrikaans due to its associa-
tion with apartheid oppression (McCormick, 1989) although their number is not
significant enough to impact negatively on the language. Note also that
McCormick’s study is now quite old. Many English-orientated Coloured people
may have changed their attitudes towards Afrikaans since then. New research
might shed light on language use and language attitude in the target Coloured
community. With respect to education, like English and unlike the African
languages, Afrikaans has a fully developed infrastructure. Its rich literature and
its use as a medium of education at all levels of schooling (primary, secondary
and tertiary), as well as its use in virtually all the higher domains, ensure that the
language retains much of the vibrancy developed during the apartheid era. As
van Rensburg (1999: 92) puts it, it seems that Afrikaans’s negative image is being
cast off. Its speakers are too interwoven in the future of South Africa to warrant
any substantial decrease in the role played by Afrikaans.
The vitality of Afrikaans is maintained through various initiatives, such as
preparations for the establishment of Afrikaans private schools, universities, and
television stations; and the establishment after 1994 of a Volkstaat Council
(people-state council), a political body investigating the possibility of self-
determination (i.e. the creation of a separate homeland) for the white Afri-
kaans-speaking community (Webb & Kriel, 2000: 44). Besides generation and
education, the Afrikaners constitute the largest and most economically powerful
minority group in South Africa. For instance, in a statement on SABC TV (1 May
2001) by an advocate for Afrikaans, it was said that the Afrikaners control at least
52% of South Africa’s economy. In the statement the speaker accused the
Government of being anti-Afrikaans. He urged the Afrikaners to use their hold
on the economy to maintain Afrikaans and their standard of living. Thus the
Afrikaners are, as Romaine (1994) would put it, in a better position by dint of
numerical and economic strength to make themselves prominent and to mobilise
themselves in support of their language. As a matter of fact, Afrikaans emerged
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 261

on the South African linguistic scene as a result of Afrikaner mobilisation for the
language against the British Government’s oppressive policy of Anglicisation,
which banned Afrikaans from the public service in the 1880s. Prior to its rise to
prominence with the coming to power of the National Party in 1948, (Dutch-)
Afrikaans had survived 300 years of British oppression. Under the current
Government, Afrikaans is, like all other official languages, protected by the
Constitution. Therefore, although as a result of the demise of apartheid, Afri-
kaans no longer receives special treatment from the state and has been reduced to
one of the 11 languages in the country’s official linguistic heritage, the language
is not likely to come under any threat of attrition, in spite of the territory it has lost
and is likely to lose to its historical rival, English, in the higher domains, such as
the government and administration, the media, the army, the court, to list but a
few. On the contrary, I would like to postulate that the continued rivalry between
English and Afrikaans might lead the Afrikaners to mobilise again for their
language which, as Webb and Kriel (2000: 20) note, they profess to ‘love’ and for
which they are prepared to make material sacrifices to ensure its continued main-
tenance. If the press statement referred to above is any indication, the seed for the
Third Afrikaans Language Movement might have already been sown.

The official indigenous languages


As a result of past language policies, and particularly the Bantu Education
Act, most African people attach a higher value to English than to their mother
tongue, which they believe to be deficient and unsuitable for use in a modern
society (Maartens, 1998). This point is echoed in Nyamende (1994: 213–14), who
describes isiXhosa speakers’ attitudes towards their own language as follows:
Not only are [isi]Xhosa variants denigrated today, but even [isi]Xhosa, the
standard dialect, as a school subject or university course, is looked down
upon by school people as a subject for the simple-minded and or rustics.
These two factors, the hegemony of English and people’s negative attitudes
towards the indigenous languages, must be addressed if efforts to develop the
indigenous languages are to succeed. Access to English should not translate into
the demise of the indigenous languages. Furthermore, people’s attitudes
towards the indigenous languages might change if the languages were in some
way economically important in the community. This last point will be discussed
further in the last section of this monograph. The discussion that follows high-
lights the formal steps that have been taken by government-sponsored agencies
to modernise the African languages.
The new language policy provides for the development of the official indige-
nous languages, so that the languages can function beyond the traditional
domains of the home, family and immediate community, in domains such as the
media, education system, and science and technology (see, for instance, Depart-
ment of Education, 1994a; Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology,
1996). Also, research shows that there is a high failure rate in science and mathe-
matics at the end of grade 12, and that the failure rate is much higher in schools
where science is taught via English rather than via the mother tongue of the
learner (Carstens, 1997: 1). So, there is a real need to develop the indigenous
languages so that students can access science and technology via the medium of
262 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

their native languages. In the current South African context, developing the
indigenous languages entails, in particular, the elaboration and modernisation
of their vocabulary, especially in the field of science and technology. This, as
Godman and Veltman (1990: 196) put it, has the economic benefits of making
science and technology and other higher domains accessible in the indigenous
languages. In this regard, Cluver (1996) notes that lexicographers must be
trained to embark on the task of creating a scientific lexicon for each official indig-
enous language. Also, African language practitioners must be trained to facili-
tate the dissemination of information in the official indigenous languages. These
are all top-down and costly undertakings, which the Government alone cannot
afford for all the indigenous languages. The main challenge will be for each
language community, in cooperation with government structures, to take the
lead in developing their own language so that they will have access to science
and technology through that language. A number of language development
projects, including lexicography projects and electronic corpora for all the offi-
cial languages, have been initiated by linguists in collaboration with scientists at
various South African universities. One such project is the multilingual dictio-
nary for students of chemistry, initiated by Dr A. Carstens of the Department of
Afrikaans at the University of Pretoria and the Chemistry Division of the South
African Academy for Science and Art in 1998. The project, titled Quadralingual
Explanatory Dictionary of Chemistry, aims to provide access to new or incom-
pletely learnt special-field concepts by means of the first language of the user.
Carstens (1997: 2) describes the project as ‘designed to be a multilingual explana-
tory special-field pedagogical dictionary with English as the source language
and Afrikaans, isiZulu and Sepedi as target languages’. Its emphasis is on
comprehensible definitions in plain English of scientific terms, provided by the
chemists, plus translation equivalents and definitions of these terms in the
remaining three languages: Sepedi, isiZulu, Afrikaans. It is noted that, by offer-
ing linguistic and encyclopaedic information in English, Afrikaans, Sepedi and
isiZulu, the concepts of the subject field are made accessible not only via the
language(s) of wider communication, English, but also via the mother tongue of
the student, Afrikaans, Sepedi, or isiZulu. To date the dictionary has compiled
1000 scientific terms. The government and language activists must sensitise the
communities to the benefits of projects such as the one described here, for they
both contribute to language development and ensure language maintenance.
In terms of the key factors in language maintenance and shift discussed
earlier, two factors – namely numerical strength and generation – constitute the life-
line for the survival of the major official indigenous languages, such as isiZulu
and isiXhosa, which have a little over nine million and seven million speakers,
respectively. Minor official indigenous languages, such as Tshivenda and
isiNdebele, which have less than a million speakers each (see Table 1), face a seri-
ous threat from English, especially in urban areas. Their chances of survival in
these areas are comparatively slimmer than those of, say, any other indigenous
languages, including isiZulu and isiXhosa. Also, in terms of performance in the
higher domains, minor official languages are becoming increasingly far less visi-
ble than the major indigenous languages, as is evident from the data on language
use in the media and other domains. Recent research shows that, in urban areas,
English is steadily intruding into the family domain for daily communication,
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 263

particularly among the younger generations (Bowerman, 2000; de Klerk, 2000b).


Domain intrusion, observe Appel and Muysken (1987: 39, 41) is a clear warning
sign of language shift. Romaine (1994) points out that language shift generally
involves bilingualism (often with diglossia) as a stage on the way to mono-
lingualism in a new language. She goes on to explain that
typically, a community which was once monolingual becomes bilingual as
a result of contact with another (usually socially and economically more
powerful) group and becomes transitionally bilingual in the new language
until their own language is given up altogether. (Romaine, 1994: 50)
Along these lines, as Fishman (1989: 206) puts it, ‘what begins as the language
of social and economic mobility ends, within three generations or so, as the
language of the crib as well, even in democratic and pluralism-permitting
contexts’. Fishman’s and Romaine’s remarks reflect what has happened within
the Khoisan and the Indian communities in South Africa. As a result of contacts
with economically more viable languages, in this case Afrikaans and English, the
Khoisan and the Indian communities are now mostly monolingual in either Afri-
kaans or English, respectively. Against this background and with English
increasingly infiltrating the home domain in urban African communities, the
question arises as to whether these communities are on their way to mono-
lingualism in English. Pauwels (1988: 12) observes that the maintenance of an
ethnic language in its communicative function appears to be largely dependent
on the number of speakers in that community who cannot rely adequately on
English for their communicative needs. At present the majority of black South
Africans live in rural areas and rely on the indigenous languages for their daily
communication needs. Therefore, if these languages are to give in to English,
they are likely to do so in urban rather than rural areas, as two recent studies
suggest (see, Bowerman, 2000; de Klerk, 2000a). Bowerman (2000) undertook a
study of language use in urban black communities in the Western Cape Province.
Two aspects of the study are relevant for our purpose; namely, language use in
interactions with family members and with neighbours and friends. The study
shows that the respondents use an African language, rather than English, in their
interactions with older family members, irrespective of the latter’s degree of
proficiency in English. However, they use English regularly for interactions with
family members around the same age as themselves; and this number, the study
concludes, ‘increases significantly (to more than a third of the (31) respondents)
when it comes to communicating with family members of younger generations’
(Bowerman, 2000: 138). The author draws a similar conclusion with respect to
language use in interactions with neighbours and friends: ‘[if] the neighbor/
friend interlocutors are of the younger generation, ... there is significant spread of
English dominance over these interactions’ (pp. 157–158). de Klerk’s (2000a)
report is on the influx of speakers of isiXhosa into English-medium schools in the
Eastern Cape Province. In particular, de Klerk aims to investigate parents’
reasons for sending their children to these schools and the linguistic and
psycho-social effects of the move on the children and on the long-term situation
of their native tongue, isiXhosa. The study shows that language shift from
isiXhosa to English is currently taking place among the wealthier and more privi-
leged members of the isiXhosa-speaking community, both on a practical level
264 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

and on a socio-psychological level. Another finding of de Klerk’s study shows


that there is considerable internal conflict in the minds of both the parents and
children undergoing the shift as to the future role of isiXhosa language and
culture in their lives. If the trend towards language shift as described in both de
Klerk’s and Bowerman’s studies continues, one can project that, in the next two
generations or so, the indigenous languages, especially the minor ones (e.g.
Tshivenda, isiNdebele, etc.) are most likely to be replaced by English, especially
in urban black communities. Should this happen, the result will be what
Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) has termed ‘linguistic genocide’. By this term,
Skutnabb-Kangas means that, just as physical genocide occurs when people are
systematically killed, so linguistic genocide, in her words, occurs when (indige-
nous) languages are systematically killed as a result of contact with more power-
ful languages. Education will play a vital role in stopping or guaranteeing
linguistic genocide in the indigenous languages. As observed earlier, education
has often been cited as one of the key factors in language maintenance and shift
(Walker, 1984). For instance, Lee (1982) argues that people with a higher educa-
tion and socioeconomic status, such as described in the de Klerk study, have
greater resources to maintain native traditions such as language. Demos (1988),
however, argues the opposite. In a study of ethnic mother-tongue maintenance
among Greek Orthodox Americans, he concludes that educational attainment is
a vehicle of social and geographical mobility and that college education is partic-
ularly likely to encourage the development of critical values incompatible with
maintenance of traditional forces such as language (Demos, 1988: 67). Current
language practices in South Africa’s urban African communities as described in
de Klerk (2000a) and Bowerman (2000), lend support to Demos’s study. The prac-
tices suggest that a higher level of education has a negative effect on ethnic
first-language retention, particularly in urban African communities. In these
communities, parents consciously choose English for the education of their chil-
dren at all levels of schooling, including primary, secondary, and tertiary educa-
tion. For instance, recent press reports indicate that the number of students
studying African languages at universities has been declining by half each year
since 1996. According to the University of South Africa (UNISA), the only institu-
tion that offers courses in all official African languages, ‘the number of under-
graduate students registered for these courses has dropped from 25,000 in 1997
to 3,000 this year (i.e. 2001). The number of postgraduate students has also
decreased, from 511 to 53 in the same period’ (Sunday Times, 4 March 2001, p. 2).
The implications of these facts for the retention of the indigenous languages, and
for language policy, are as yet to be fully investigated. As Kamwangamalu
(1998b: 122) has remarked elsewhere, unless these communities make a deliber-
ate effort to maintain and promote their own languages, the chances are that the
languages will face the same fate as the Indian and the Khoisan languages did –
attrition and eventual death. In this respect, the suggestion that Lopes (1997)
makes about consciousness raising and improvement of attitudes towards indig-
enous languages among parents and pupils in Mozambique applies to the
language situation in South Africa:

The educational authorities must succeed in explaining to parents, teachers


and children the implications of teaching and learning through a certain
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 265

medium of instruction (mother tongue, language of wider communication,


or both), and succeed in convincing them of the pedagogical and cultural
advantages associated with promotion of mother tongue education, and
with promotion of individual and societal bilingualism. (Lopes, 1997: 25)
A similar view is expressed by Luckett (1992), who says that
until educational resources in the African languages are developed to a
higher conceptual level and not unless these languages are perceived to
facilitate access to the wider society and economic advancement, the attrac-
tion of English as opposed to the African languages will continue to be
overwhelming. (Luckett, 1992: 18)
The section that follows concludes this monograph by addressing the implica-
tions of the aforementioned trend in language shift for the current language
policy. The main point to be made is that if this trend is to be reversed, South
Africa must review its language policy with a view to revalorising ethnic first
language. This can be done by extending the use of these languages to all the
higher domains and rewarding multilingual skills in these languages. The
discussion will focus on one such domain, education, and will make the case for
mother-tongue education in African languages. It is worth noting at this point
that in the absence of serious language modernisation, there seems to be little
hope of raising the African languages to genuine equality with English and Afri-
kaans. Therefore, the demand for English in particular is most likely to continue
unabated, especially in urban black communities (but see note 28).

Language policy and planning: The way forward


One of the key issues that this monograph has highlighted, and that I would
like to focus on in this section, is the mismatch between South Africa’s multilin-
gual language policy on the one hand, and language practices on the other. The
language policy promotes additive multilingualism, or what Phillipson and
Skutnabb-Kangas (1996) would call the ‘ecology-of-language paradigm’, while
the language practices promote unilingualism in English or what the authors
would call the ‘diffusion-of-English paradigm’. There is strong evidence, as
shown in this monograph, with regard to the language practices in education, the
media and other higher domains that, in South Africa, the diffusion-of-English
paradigm is gaining momentum in virtually all of the country’s institutions. I
have explained that the mismatch between the language policy and language
practices derives, in the main, from three key factors, comprising the status and
instrumental value of English as a global language, the ambivalent language-
related clauses in the country’s Constitution, and the legacy of apartheid’s
language-in-education policies, especially the Bantu Education Act. These
factors, together with vested interests and market forces, have been a stumbling
block in the country’s efforts to promote the status of African languages in the
higher domains, including education.
English has been used officially in South Africa for at least the past 200 years.
And yet its distribution remains restricted to a minority elite group. Efforts to
make English accessible to the masses have been resounding failures. The major-
ity remains on the fringe. Language-based division has increased, economic
266 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

development has not reached the majority (Alexander, 1997: 88), and the illiter-
acy rate, especially among the black population, remains high. Although people
will always want to learn English, particularly because of its instrumental value,
there is a need for extending the use of the indigenous languages to all the higher
domains and especially to the entire educational system. Using indigenous
languages in such higher domains as education is vital, not only for an efficient
promotion of those languages, but also for the rapid and massive development
and spread of literacy among the populace to empower them to participate
actively in the social, political and economic development of the state.
Promoting the indigenous languages also requires policy revision on the one
hand, and ridding the languages of the legacy of the Bantu Education Act on the
other. With regard to the former, the language policy must state unequivocally
which official languages must be used in which province for what purposes. It is
not enough to have legislation in place that accords recognition and equal status
to all the official languages. One needs a sustaining rather than a laissez faire
policy (see Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997: 210–213 for discussion). This is because, as
Schiffman (1992) points out, egalitarianism in language policy does not necessar-
ily result in equal outcomes; nor does it necessarily entail language promotion.
Language policy is more than a language clause in the Constitution; rather it is, as
Djité (1990: 96) points out, ‘the realisation and the consciousness raising about
language as a cultural heritage and as a primary factor of socioeconomic devel-
opment, the calculated choice of the language(s) of education and administra-
tion, and the actual implementation of that policy’. Unless the loopholes inherent
in the current language policy are closed, efforts to promote the indigenous
languages will be doomed to fail. Fortunately, the question of policy revision
now appears to be one of the top priorities of the Minister of Education, Professor
Kader Asmal. In a recent newspaper article, the Minister remarks that ‘language
policy “is not working for all” [the official languages]’ and so it ‘requires an
immediate review’ (Daily News, 8 May 2001). He points out that
Although the language policy promulgated in 1997 was theoretically
sound, it had not really worked on the ground. ... Some school governing
bodies refuse to comply with all the provisions of the language-in-
education policy because of racism and use explanations as varied as school
culture, corporate vision, capacity and resource availability as covers for
their actions. (Daily News, 8 May 2001)
It is not clear what amendments will be made to the language policy, but they
should be informed by the findings of current research, discussed in this mono-
graph, into why the policy has not worked in the first place (e.g. Kamwanga-
malu, 1997a, 1998b; LANGTAG, 1996; Verhoef, 1998). Most importantly, the
amendments should be geared towards making the indigenous languages ‘fill a
hole’ in their respective communities, as explained below.
Finally, the legacy of apartheid30 education not only has rendered the indige-
nous languages instrumentally valueless, but it has also led black South Africans
to equate education in the indigenous languages (their own languages) with infe-
rior education. Therefore, for the indigenous languages to become competitive
vis à vis English- or Afrikaans-medium education, they must be ‘cleansed’ of the
stigma of inferiority they have been carrying for decades (Kamwangamalu, 1996,
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 267

1997b). This cleansing can be achieved by investing the indigenous languages


with some of the advantages and perquisites that are currently associated only
with English and/or Afrikaans. For instance, a certified knowledge of the indige-
nous languages should become one of the criteria for upward social mobility, for
political participation, and for access to employment in the civil service, much as
was the case during the eras of Dutchification, Anglicisation and Afrikanerisation
(Kamwangamalu, 2000a, 2001b). The black communities will not accept educa-
tion in the medium of an African language and will ‘trade in’ their own language
for English unless they are convinced that the outcomes of education in an Afri-
can language will be as rewarding as those of English or Afrikaans-medium
education. Put differently, would education in the medium of an African
language enhance the target population’s standard of living? Would it give them
a competitive edge in the employment market? What benefits would individuals
actually reap, particularly in the labour market, because of their skills in an indig-
enous language? And how, as Grin (1995: 227–31) asks, would these benefits
compare to the benefits deriving from the skills in English or Afrikaans?
A related question is, who must ensure that an indigenous language becomes
economically viable? Language communities tend to rely on the Government to
develop their respective languages. But the Government does not have the
resources to develop all these languages, nor, as the Soweto uprising has shown,
does it have inherent power to impose a particular language on the population.
Whether a language becomes economically viable or not is largely dependent on
its users. As the studies by Heller (1995) in Canada and Woolard (1988) in
Catalonia have shown, fundamental shifts in language values come with move-
ments where a substantial proportion of a population is mobilised around a
particular language, as an emblem of identity and citizenship. Along with this
idea, language activists should mobilise speakers of the indigenous languages
around their respective languages both to bring about shifts in the values of and
attitudes towards these languages and to stave off the threat of linguistic geno-
cide (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000). Language activists have mobilised their respec-
tive communities against harmonisation, a language planning exercise that
sought unsuccessfully to develop a standard variety for each of the Nguni and
Sotho languages, because they saw in it a threat, real or potential, to their cultures
and languages. Therefore, there is no reason why similar efforts would not
succeed if the activists sought to bring about shifts in the values of their
languages. Bringing about such shifts does not entail saying farewell to English
and Afrikaans. Rather, it means staving off the current trend towards language
shift from the indigenous languages to English, especially in urban black
communities, and creating conditions in which English and Afrikaans and the
previously marginalised indigenous languages can function alongside each
other in all walks of life.

Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Vic Webb for his insightful comments and suggestions on an
earlier draft of this monograph and for pointing me to key references on ‘Lan-
guage and Religion’.
268 Language Planning and Policy in Africa

Correspondence
Any correspondence should be directed to Prof. Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu,
Howard University, Department of English, 248 Locke Hall, 2441 6th Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20059, USA (nkamwangamalu@howard.edu).

Notes
1. This idea that each racial group must have its own territory continues to be voiced in
today’s South Africa by the Freedom Front, an Afrikaner political party which seeks
self-determination; that is, a separate region or homeland, volkstaat, for the Afrikaners.
2. I am using the term ‘Africans’ to refer specifically to black South Africans. In South
Africa, politicians sometimes use this term to refer to all so-called ‘non-whites’ includ-
ing Indians, Coloureds, and Blacks.
3. These conferences include The 15th Southern African Applied Linguistics Association
(SAALA) conference on Constitutionally Enshrined Multilingualism: Challenges and
Responses (Stellenbosch, South Africa, 1995), The Workshop on Post-colonial
Language Problems and Language Planning: Assessing the Past Half Century
(Utrecht, The Netherlands, 1996); The Panel on Sociopragmatic and Sociolinguistic
Approaches to Multilingualism, 6th International Pragmatics Conference (Reims,
France, 1998); Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics
(Washington, DC, 2000), and The University of Natal’s 17th Conference on Language
Development and Language Use (Durban, South Africa, 2000). Also, in writing this
monograph I have used as a guide the 22 questions provided by the series editors,
Robert Kaplan and Richard B. Baldauf, Jr, and the monographs on the language-
planning situation in the neighbouring countries of Malawi (Kayambazinthu, 1998)
and Mozambique (Lopes, 1998).
4. As in the new Constitution of South Africa, in this monograph I have used a prefix in
the spelling of the names of the indigenous languages, e.g. isiZulu, isiXhosa,
isiNdebele, siSwati, Xitsonga, Tshivenda, etc. The prefix serves to distinguish
between a language (e.g. isiZulu, siSwati, Tshivenda) and its speakers (e.g. Zulus,
Swatis, Vendas). Note, however, that the names of the indigenous languages are also
commonly spelt without a prefix, e.g. Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, Swati, Tsonga, etc.
5. A descendant of Dutch settlers in South Africa was known during the 19th century as a
Boer, which means farmer. By the early 20th century such people were calling them-
selves Afrikaners, which means people of Africa. Their language is Afrikaans, a
locally evolved form of Dutch (Attwell, 1986: ix)
6. The war was triggered by a combination of factors, among them the discovery of the
gold in the Witwatersrand in 1886, which precipitated a collision between the Boers
and Uitlanders, that is, the new immigrants, mainly British; the denial by the Boers of
the political rights to the Uitlanders; and the desire of Britain to federate South Africa
and bring the whole country under the control of the British Empire.
7. The stipulation of Dutch, and not Afrikaans, in the constitution, or Act of the Union as it
was called, provoked conflict among the parties to the Union. In 1925, Article 137 of
the Act of the Union, by which English and Dutch were given equal status as official
languages of the Union, was amended to state explicitly that reference to Dutch also
included Afrikaans (Maartens, 1998: 29)
8. For an in-depth discussion of the development of Afrikaans, see Ponelis (1993), van
Rensburg and Jordan (1995), and Webb et al. (1992).
9. These organisations include the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, the Natal Tamil
Vedic Society, the Andhra Maha Sabha of South Africa, the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of
South Africa, the Kathiawad Hindu Seva Samj, the Surat Hindoo Association and the
Shree Sanathan Sabha of Natal.
10. For the Muslim community, some such organisations include the Islamic Propagation
Centre, the Juma Musjid Madressa Trust, the Darul Uloom Trust and the Orient
Islamic Educational Institute.
11. The other organisations involved in promoting Indian languages are: Hindi Sikha
Sangh (teaches Hindi reading and writing skills); Gujarati Khathiawad Association
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 269

(teaches Gujarati language and culture in Gujarati patasalas (schools)); Natal Tamil
Federation, a sister organisation to the Tamil Vedic Society of South Africa, (teaches
Tamil through dances, songs, and through the study of Thevaram (i.e. Hindu religious
texts written in Tamil)); and the Institution for Indian Languages, a new organisation
established in 1995 by some concerned academics at the University of
Durban-Westville to fight for the rights of Indian languages in South Africa.
12. A distinguishing grammatical feature of the south-eastern languages, including the
nine official indigenous languages of South Africa, is that locatives and diminutives
are formed by noun suffixes, while most other Bantu languages employ prefixes
(Schuring, 1990: 25). Two of the nine official indigenous languages, namely Sesotho
and siSwati, also serve as official languages in the neighbouring kingdoms of Lesotho
and Swaziland, respectively.
13. Some of these languages, particularly Zulu, are taught at a number of overseas univer-
sities, e.g. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Yale University, University of
California at Los Angeles.
14. The idea that South Africa should aim for a single non-racial education system was
recommended in 1981 by a Human Science Research Council Committee appointed
by the apartheid Government to conduct an in-depth investigation into the crisis trig-
gered by the 1976 Soweto uprisings. The committee’s report, named the De Lange
Report (after its chair, Professor Pieter de Lange), recommended, inter alia, that:
there should be only one education department responsible for the provision of
education in South Africa at the first or national level; that education management
at the second level should be organised on a regional basis; that the greatest possi-
ble degree of autonomy should be given to the institution that is closest to the
parents and the teachers, viz. the school; and that parents and teachers should have
a major share in decision-making at this level. (Engelbrecht, 1992: 510)
15. Although school segregation has ended, former white schools have gate-keeping
mechanisms, such as lengthy waiting lists and high fees to ensure that the status quo
remains or is, at best, slightly changed by accepting only very small numbers of black
students. For instance, in a study of schooled literacy at a Durban pre-school,
Adendorff and Nel (1998: 211) found that discrimination in South Africa now takes a
different and less easily discernible form. Restrictive mechanisms limit the possibility
of access to elite discourse practices to numbers sufficiently small not to threaten the
status quo, demonstrating the way in which the status quo is upheld, even after the
official mechanisms, such as separate education for Blacks and Whites, have been
dismantled.
16. Andrew Gonzalez (1990: 322) uses the term ‘miseducation’ to describe the attitudes of
Filipino students towards the use of English instead of their native tongue, Filipino, as
the medium of instruction. The students consider the use of English in the Philippine
educational system as a continuation of cultural and linguistic imperialism by the
United States. Unlike in the Philippines, in South Africa, because of the legacy of the
Bantu Education system, it is the use of the indigenous languages in education rather
than English that the pupils and parents consider as ‘miseducation’.
17. Until recently, three levels were distinguished, the Higher, Standard and Lower
Grade.
18. The description draws mostly on the following sources: South Africa Year Book, 1998,
1999; Europa World Year Book, 1999; Africa South of the Sahara, 1999.
19. Everyday M-Net broadcasts to the general public, known as open-time viewers, for
two hours 5–7 p.m.) free of charge.
20. Ethnolinguistic rivalries are not unique to South Africa. As Laitin and Mensah (1991)
point out, the promotion of any indigenous language for official use often yields
opposition, not only from those doing technical work, but also from leading politi-
cians of the ‘non-chosen’ languages. This is illustrated in the following statement by
Chief Anthony Anahoro of Nigeria, an Edo speaker, in which he opposes the choice of
Hausa as the official language of the state:
as one who comes from a minority tribe, I deplore the continuing evidence in this
270 Language Planning and Policy in Africa
country that people wish to impose their customs, their languages, and even their
way of life upon the smaller tribes .... My people have a language, and that
language was handed down through a thousand years of tradition and custom.
When the Benin Empire exchanged ambassadors with Portugal, many of the new
Nigerian languages of today did not exist. (Laitin, 1992: 96)
21. In 1997 the Department of Education qualified the phrase under consideration to read:
It is reasonably practicable to provide education in a particular language of learn-
ing and teaching if at least 40 in grades 1 to 6 or 35 in grades 7 to 12 learners in a
particular grade request it in a particular school.
However, at the same time it added the following, also non-committal and
open-ended clause, to the policy:
The provincial education department must explore ways and means of sharing
scarce human resources. It must also explore ways and means of providing alter-
nate language maintenance programmes in schools and or school districts which
cannot be provided with and or offer additional languages of teaching in the home
language(s) of learners. (Government Gazette, 17 July 1997)
22. The term mother-tongue is being used here in the sense of UNESCO ([1953] 1995), as
already described under Language Spread. It is worth noting that the mother-tongue
‘need not be the language which a person’s parents use; nor need it be the language
one first learns to speak, since special circumstances may cause one to abandon this
language more or less completely at an early age’ (UNESCO, [1953] 1995).
23. In accordance with this proposal, the other official languages, including Afrikaans,
are currently being used as the languages of record on a rotating basis each month (The
Sunday Times, 31 May 1998).
24. In the apartheid era, the term ‘Model C schools’ was used to refer to ‘whites-only’
schools, especially white English-medium schools.
25. Incidentally, current language practices in regard to English can be traced back to the
language policy proposal made by the ANC, now the ruling party, in 1993. The first
clause of that proposal reads as follows:
No language must be constitutionally designated as an official language.
However, one language may be designated through legislation as the language for
government record purposes at the national, regional, and local levels of govern-
ment. At the national level, this language will probably be English.
Compare this proposal with the one made a year earlier by the English Academy of
Southern Africa:
Although it is desirable that all eleven languages normally recognized as the main
languages spoken in South Africa should have equal status, the only practicable
solution is to make one language the language of wider communication. The other
languages should all have official status at various levels of public life, in various
circumstances, and possibly on a geographical basis, to be laid down in broad
terms in the Constitution and spelled out in more detail in corresponding legisla-
ture. (English Academy of Southern Africa, 1992: 3)
Note that the English Academy does not name the language it says should be made the
language of wider communication. But it is obvious that the language in question is
and must be English.
26. The language research group of the National Education Policy Investigation (NEPI)
(1992: 4–16) offers an in-depth discussion of various policies for the medium of
instruction, their advantages and disadvantages, and the necessary conditions for
them to succeed.
27. In an article aptly entitled ‘When mother tongue education is not preferred’, Gupta
(1997: 506) makes a similar remark about resistance to mother-tongue education in
Tamil by the urban middle-class Tamil parents of Malaysia. In particular, and citing
Schiffman (1996), Gupta points out that the parents ‘declared that they would not put
The Language Planning Situation in South Africa 271

their children in Tamil schools in Malaysia because Tamil schools are a dead-end
professionally and socially’.
28. According to press reports, one language community, the Tshivenda-speaking
community, appears to have taken the threat of English to its language to heart. In an
effort to roll back what the community terms ‘cultural imperialism’ associated with
English – one that breeds ‘cultural genocide’ – a group of Tshivenda-speaking people
have started a movement to establish a school in Johannesburg which would teach
Tshivenda and Venda culture to Venda children (The Star, 25 September 2000). It is not
surprising that the Tshivenda-speaking people are the first to undertake such an
initiative. They are the smallest among the indigenous language communities in
South Africa and so, in terms of language and culture loss, they feel more vulnerable
than any of the other indigenous language communities.
29. Vic Webb (personal communication, 2001) says that the term ‘Afrikaner’ is defined
more narrowly by many, viz. as (1) support of self-determination/apartheid /sepa-
ratism (politically), (2) white (racially), (3) membership of the Dutch Reformed
Church (religion), (4) a sense of a glorious past (historically) and (5) particular values,
attitudes, and norms (culturally).
30. There is no denying that apartheid is certainly the root of many evils in South Africa. It
is worth noting, however, that language planning situations in the rest of Africa,
which did not have apartheid, are so similar to that in South Africa that other factors,
such as colonialism, slavery, and Christianisation must also have had their impact on
the language situation in South Africa.

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Biographical Notes on Contributors
Armando Jorge Lopes took his doctorate at the University of Wales, and is
currently Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Eduardo Mondlane University
in Mozambique, where he has served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Pedagogic
Affairs. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief (1990–1995) of the Linguistics
Association for SADC Universities. He has undertaken a number of consultancy
assignments for the Commonwealth and the Organisation of African Unity in
Addis Ababa. He has published two books and some two dozen articles in refer-
eed journals and as chapters in books. His research interests include discourse
analysis, contrastive rhetoric, and language planning and language policy.
Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu is currently Associate Professor of English and
Linguistics at Howard University in Washington, DC. He has taught linguistics
at the National University of Singapore, the University of Swaziland, and the
University of Natal in Durban, South Africa, where he was Professor and Direc-
tor of the Linguistics Program. He holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and has also received a Fulbright award. His
research interests include multilingualism, code-switching, language policy and
planning, language and identity, New Englishes, and African Linguistics. He has
published widely in these areas. He is the author of the recent monograph The
Language Planning Situation in South Africa (2001, Multilingual Matters), and has
guest-edited special issues on this and related topics for The International Journal
of the Sociology of Language (Vol. 144, 2000), Multilingua (Vol. 17, 2–3, 1998), and
World Englishes (Vol. 21, 1, 2002), and Language Problems and Language Planning (in
preparation).
Dr Edrinnie Kayambazinthu holds a PhD from LaTrobe University, Australia
and is a Senior Lecturer in the English Department at Chancellor College,
University of Malawi. She has published a number of articles in the field of
sociolinguistics and language planning in Malawi. Her major work on the
language situation in Malawi first appeared in the Journal of Multilingual and
Multicultural Development in 1998. Her other publications such as ‘Sociolinguistic
Theories: Some Implications from Malawian Data, Codeswitching and
Codemixing’ have appeared in the Journal of Humanities and one on ‘Patterns of
Language Use in Malawi in the Journal of Contemporary African Studies.
Professor Lydia Nyati Ramahobo obtained her PhD in Applied Linguistics at
the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. She served as head of the Department of
Primary Education at the University of Botswana from 1996 to 1999. She is
currently the Dean of the Faculty of Education, a position she has held since 2000.
Professor Ramahobo was Coordinator for the Educational Research Network in
Eastern and Southern Africa from 1992 to 1995. Her major publications include
the book titled The National Language: A Problem or Resource (Pula Press), The Girl
Child in Botswana (UNICEF) and a recent extended journal article titled ‘From a
Phone Call to the High Court: Wayeyi Visibility and the Kamanakao Associa-
tion’s Campaign for Linguistic and Cultural Rights in Botswana’ in the Journal of
Southern African Studies 28 (4). Her areas of interest are language in education,
language and ethnicity, educational research and female education.

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