On June 16, 1976, students led by Tsietsi Mashinini protested the compulsory use of Afrikaans (afr) in South African schools. The event is known as the Soweto Uprising and is remembered as Youth Day, a national holiday.
The era of apartheid ended in 1994, and today South Africa has eleven official languages. In addition to Afrikaans and English, they are:
- Ndebele (nbl),
- Northern Sotho (nso),
- Sotho (sot),
- Swazi (ssw),
- Tswana (tsn),
- Tsonga (tso),
- Venda (ven),
- Xhosa (xho), and
- Zulu (zul).
In commemoration of this holiday, Chris Swepu, acting chief executive officer of the Pan South African Language Board, exhorts South Africans to celebrate their linguistic heritage with pride, allowing all to speak their native tongues so they might live to their full potential. Read his essay “Restoring our national pride” in the Star.
See also “Task Force to Study African Language Requirement” on this blog.
Living Languages 