Western Cape Authors Call on Government to Enforce Language Policy

The African languages in South Africa are constantly under serious threat because there is no legislation that enforces their protection and usage, a meeting of authors, aspiring African writers and academics told the Minister of Arts and Culture at an imbizo held in the University of Stellenbosch earlier today.

The imbizo noted that the erosion of isiXhosa and other African languages was further perpetuated by the critical shortage of new written material in African languages as a result of the publishing companies' resistance.

This focus meeting was organized as part of the Ministry of Arts and Culture imbizo with authors of the province to discuss issues affecting them directly. Writers voiced their serious concern about the continued marginalization of isiXhosa at schools in particular at the so-called model C schools, at government departments and in the private sector. They have re-iterated the call for government to introduce legislation that would enforce the usage of all official languages. They say that currently the constitution of the country recognizes 11 official languages only on paper, there are no attempts to give practical effect to the provisions enshrined in the constitution.

The Education Policy which stipulates that from grade 10 learners must take only two languages as subjects got under scrutiny. They claim that this places isiXhosa and other African languages at a disadvantage because of the perceived inferiority of these languages. They reiterated the call by the Minister of Education for teaching in mother tongue at the foundation phase to ensure good prospects for the development of these marginalized languages.

The publishing companies were also fingered for not providing adequate support to African writers resulting in the scarcity of written material in isiXhosa and other languages. They have asked Minister Jordan to set bursaries for aspiring African writers as a strategic intervention to ensure the development of these previously marginalized languages.

Minister Jordan informed the meeting that his department does have a bursary for postgraduate studies in African languages but conceded that his department did not communicate effectively in this regard. He said his department will contact all the universities with details of their bursary. He added that talks with publishers to be more accomodative towards African writers were continuing however they realize that it is not a walk in the park given the business objectives of publishers to publish books that will sell.

A second imbizo was with the Western Cape Musicians Association, cultural activists and community based cultural organizations at a separate venue in the same university. The issue of accessing funding and resourcing structures dominated the imbizo. Minister Jordan said in response that he will ask the National Arts Council to do a roadshow in all provinces, workshoping organizations about the processes and procedures for a successful application.

Minister Jordan was accompanied by MEC Jacobs during his two-day imbizo programme in the Western Cape.

---

Enquiries: Mandla Yeki
Media Liaison Officer: Ministry Cultural Affairs and Sport
Tel: 021 483 9804
Fax: 021 483 9801
Cell: 079 511 2087
Email: myeki@pgwc.gov.za