Language or legacy: Afrikaans at a crossroads after 100 years

The Citizen

09-05-2025

Afrikaans is celebrated at 100, but leaders warn it risks fading as schools drop the language and political pressure mounts.
As many South Africans celebrated the 100th-year of existence of the Afrikaans language, some doubt it would be around another year, or exist in a significant way.
But EFF MP Carl Niehaus loves Afrikaans.
'I grew up speaking Afrikaans; it's my mother language. I like the word mother tongue because the first language I learned was Afrikaans from my mother,' he said.
Niehaus loves Afrikaans
Niehaus added: 'We should be careful not to use Afrikaans for political and racial purposes because it damages the language'.
'The whole idea of sovereignty and exclusivity in the farright community was downright wrong,' he said.
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'Afrikaans shouldn't be used in schools to keep a school white or create whites-only areas. The majority of Afrikaans-speaking people are not even white.'
Niehaus said Afrikaans should be recognised as one of the 12 official languages in South Africa and 'must be respected and used in that sense, not for exclusivity'.
Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations (FAK) spokesperson FC Pelser said Afrikaans is the 'language of the Afrikaner ancestors and, if they did their duty, it would be the language our children speak for hundreds of years to come'.
'Language of the Afrikaner ancestors'
'For the FAK, it is important to live out, protect and develop our language and culture every day and in 2025, we are reminded once again to cherish our most beautiful mother tongue in all its creativity,' he said.
Pelser said FAK officially launched a new song writing competition, Skryf'it, with Vonk Musiek and Entertainment and Event Factory. Later this month, they will launch an Afrikaans 100 board game with Spoetnik.
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'Afrikaans 100 is not just a festival. It's a reminder to cherish our language and celebrate it every day,' he said.
Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Corné Mulder said while one was tempted to say the rest is history, it is not quite.
'Afrikaans' fight for survival continues. This language journey is fuelled by the extraordinary love that Afrikaans speakers have for their language: a love so great that a lasting monument was erected to commemorate it and so deeply rooted that enemies of Afrikaans underestimate it to their detriment,' he said.
Fight for survival continues
'One example is that Afrikaans was nearly eradicated with the dawn of democracy in 1994 when the ANC, and even the DA, proposed that English should be the country's only official language.'
Mulder said the FF+ was one of the few parties that opposed the idea, insisting that Afrikaans and other indigenous languages should also be recognised.
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'As a result, South Africa now has 12 official languages. But as the Afrikaans saying goes Die skyn hiervan bedrieg [appearances are deceptive]. English stands first in line among the official languages, while Afrikaans has to fight for survival,' he said.
'Against this backdrop, a serious cause for concern is that the Bela [Basic Education Laws Amendment] Act, particularly clause 4 [admissions policy] and 5 [language policy], could serve as an instrument to target Afrikaans schools in the name of 'equality and accessibility'.
'By the end of last year, only 1 303 of the about 25 000 schools in South Africa were still Afrikaans single-medium schools – a drop of 15% from 2012, when there were 1 531. In just 12 years, the number of Afrikaans schools plummeted by 228.'
Afrikaans, like other languages, not necessarily guaranteed
Mulder said Afrikaans, like any other language, was not necessarily guaranteed.
'A language can easily disappear when it loses its higher functions,' he said.
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'If books and newspapers are no longer published in a language and it is no longer spoken in courts, parliament, schools, universities and the economic sphere, it loses its status, leaving little incentive for parents to raise their children to speak it.'
Political analyst Piet Croucamp said Afrikaans has managed to end up in a form of schizophrenia about its origins and legitimacy as a source of communication, its position in history and even questions about its future.
'It's because of its association with apartheid in the past and with a degree of white privilege as it is now. Against all these odds, Afrikaans has remained rooted as an important source of social capital to many,' he said.
Association with apartheid in the past and white privilege now
'I can't imagine it would still exist in a significant way in 30 years from now. Afrikaans was in the predicament of a language that existed in an environment where the conditions that maintain them was depleted.
'The realities of demographics in 30 or 40 years from now mean that Afrikaans-speaking people would be less than two percent of the population. But for now, it has some importance to some people.'
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