South Africa is a country where many languages are spoken. However, the different languages have not always been “working together.” In the past, the richness of their linguistic diversity was used as an instrument of control, oppression and exploitation. The existence of different languages was recognised and perversely celebrated to legitimise the policy of “separate
development” that formed the cornerstone of apartheid. The policy of “separate development” resulted in the privileging of English and Afrikaans as the official languages of the apartheid state and the marginalisation and under-development of African and other languages (Department of Education 2002:2). The demise of apartheid and the subsequent change to democracy in South Africa in 1994 witnessed a radical shift in the language policy of South Africa. President Thabo Mbeki stated in 1999: “The building blocks of this nation are all our languages working together” (Department of Education 2002:2). The role of all languages “working together” to build a common sense of nationhood is consistent with the values of “democracy, social justice and fundamental rights,” which is enshrined in the Constitution.
Ruiz (1984:15-34) speaks of language-as-right in language planning or policy and says that linguistic minorities have human and civil rights to maintain their mother-tongue. The post-Apartheid Constitution of South Africa states 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. In order to ensure the effective access to, and implementation of, this right, the state must consider all reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium institutions, taking into account: Equity; Practicability; and the need to redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws and practices” (Section 29(2) of the Constitution 1996). The Constitutional provisions in respect of language in education explicitly state that such rights as receiving education in the official language(s) of choice in public educational institutions are subject not only to considerations of equity and the need to redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws and practices, but also to those of practicability (Section 29(2) of the Constitution 1996).
Today South Africa has 11 official languages. They are: IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, Afrikaans, SeSotho sa lebowa, English, Setswana, Sesotho, Xitsonga, SiSwati, Tshivenda and IsiNdebele (Section 6(1) of the Constitution 1996). This list includes the two official languages of the apartheid era (Afrikaans and English) and 9 major Bantu languages of the country. Universities generally use either English or Afrikaans as the language of instruction (Department of Education 2009:1). In terms of the 11 official languages, IsiZulu and IsiXhosa are the most widely spoken in the country; Afrikaans is the third most spoken and English the fifth. English is in second position as non-primary language. There is no general national lingua franca, but English is the lingua
2002:7). Thus, functionally, English is the major language in the country, being virtually the language of formal public contexts. Afrikaans is still a factor in the workplace and the African languages are used almost only for low-level functions, such as personal interaction, cultural expression and religious practice (Webb 2002:7).
Ruiz (1984:15-34) also proposed the orientation „language-as-problem,‟ i.e. that linguistic minorities must overcome the language obstacle in order to mainstream into the majority culture. The problem of language is also demonstrated in South Africa. Language has been and continues to be a barrier for access to and success in higher education. This is true both in the sense that African and other languages have not been developed as academic or scientific languages and in so far as the majority of students entering higher education are not fully proficient in English and Afrikaans. As the Department of Education (2002:4-5) points out: “The challenge facing higher education is to ensure the simultaneous development of a multilingual environment in which all our languages are developed as academic/scientific languages, while at the same time ensuring that the existing languages of instruction do not serve as a barrier to access and success.”
The internal environment that has to be considered in strategic language planning is constituted by the language character of the country, the language political situation, language-related problems of the country and language problems (Webb 2002:6). As mentioned, South Africa has 11 official languages. In addition, other world languages are spoken in various communities: Portuguese (57,080), German (11,740), Greek (16,780), Dutch (11,740), Italian (16,600), French (6,340), Hindi (25,900), Urdu (13,280), Gujarati (25,120), Telegu (4,000) and Tamil (24,720) (Webb 2002:7). Chinese speakers are not, however, included in this categorisation (Webb 2002:7). According to Xinhua News (2008), there were more than 300,000 native Chinese speakers in South Africa in 2008. The number of Chinese speakers is thus much more than the total number of people who speak non-African languages mentioned above. Therefore, the use of the Chinese language in South Africa is extensive and has considerable scope (Xinhua News 2008:97).
According to Fishman, LP is motivated by finding solutions to language problems (see 2.2.1). What is the main problem and how does government solve for it through LP? Cooper (1990:34) points out that national LP is typically driven by non-linguistic ends, for example, political,
economic or scientific motivators. This approach views “LP not as efforts to solve language problems but rather as efforts to influence language behaviour” because language and communication problems are not the only issues at hand (Cooper 1990:35). However, the view exists that the communication problem is the main problem in South Africa and that this impacts economic and political problems. Webb (2002:6) highlights the problem in education: “Education has an enormous task, and language, as the fundamental instrument in learner‟s educational development requires serious and informed attention. Language-in-education policy practice must therefore ensure that the languages of instruction used facilitate effective educational development, and do not obstruct it.”