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Twenty-seven years after democracy, English retains its hegemony as the language of influence, means, and access in all spheres of life – despite progressive language policies and government promises to foster all eleven official languages. “We are a multilingual country with monolingual practices,” said University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng in a public lecture, delivered as Bristol Illustrious Visiting Professor (BIVP). [...] In 1997 South Africa announced a new Language in Education policy for schools, recognising eleven official languages and encouraging multilingualism. Within this policy, learners must choose the preferred language of learning on admission to a school. Where the language they choose is not available, parents can apply to the provincial education department to provide instruction. Most choose English – probably through their parents’ influence, as it holds the key to opportunities, said Phakeng.

In 2020 the Department of Higher Education and Training published a language policy framework for public higher education institutions. These policies are intended to develop and strengthen indigenous languages as languages of scholarship, teaching and learning, and communication in South African universities, said Phakeng. The policy framework is also meant to highlight the role of higher education in creating and promoting conditions for the development of historically marginalized official South African languages of the Khoi, Nama, and San people, as well as sign language [...]. 

History has shown that despite their lofty intentions, both policies have failed to redress the situation. English still dominates in almost every facet of public life. The reasons are many and complex, said Phakeng [...].

“For example, you can be fluent in six of the country’s eleven official languages but denied an opportunity to join the military, because your matric English mark was 45%. It doesn’t matter that you scored 78% for your home language, Xhosa.” [...] Research suggests that schools are not opting to use indigenous African languages as languages of learning and teaching, in both policy and practice. Those in power should have known better, Phakeng said.

“Mother-tongue instruction has a bad image among speakers of African languages. It is associated with apartheid, and hence inferior education – parents’ memories of Bantu education, combined with our perception of English as a gateway to better education, and making most black parents favor English from the beginning.” 

English is also a prerequisite for anyone aspiring to become a professional in South Africa. [...]

 (Adapted from: https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2022-03-10-failed-policies-false-promises-bedevil-multilingualism-in-sa)