'Build up African languages'

2003-10-11 08:34

Cape Town - Time spent on attempts at reducing Afrikaans would be better utilised in uplifting African languages, Stellenbosch University's Professor Bankole Omotoso said on Friday.

Reacting to a recent call for English to be made the sole language used in courts, Omotoso told the Black Management Forum (BMF) conference in Cape Town that such action was futile.

"This action seeks to reduce Afrikaans to the same level as African languages... not uplift it, not make it grow, but reduce it."

There were Afrikaans universities, newspapers, magazines and publishing companies operating successfully in South Africa.

"How can we try to reduce it? Should these people not be trying to uplift their own languages instead of making this futile effort," he said.

He said if organisations were "so in love with English" they should work so that all South Africans could read, write and speak the language within five years.

English is spoken by 8.2% of the population and understood by 22%.

"If they do not follow the process of mass education they should just shut up."

Asking for English to be the main official language was "pleading for the death" of other South African languages, Omotoso said.

- SAPA