Cape Town - Experts have broadly backed EFF
leader Julius Malema’s calls for a common language to unite Africans and a
borderless continent, but have said it
would be costly and could not happen
overnight.
A postdoctoral fellow at UWC’s Department of Political Studies, Dr Shingai Mutizwa-Mangiza said: “The language issue cannot be seen in isolation. The choice will involve issues of culture, power and of course there is the short-term cost of new literacy generation. Who will pay for it? There would also have to be a timeline. When do we want it to become the common language?”
Stellenbosch University School of Security and African Studies lecturer, Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast, said: “This idea of having one language is noble, however it cannot happen overnight due to the social cleaving of the African continent. Africa has many ethnic groups and this compounds the issue in question.”
An expert in South African and regional politics and international relations issues, Professor Bhekithemba Mngomezulu, also from UWC, said: “Malema has a point. Although national pride is an issue, the idea is a sound one. It would bring Africans closer and facilitate trade opportunities.”
Malema on Friday repeated his call for a common African language during an event organised by the Press Club South Africa where he had been invited to respond to Thursday night’s SONA. Malema said it didn’t have to be Swahili as he had suggested in 2018, but Zulu or any other widely used language would be suitable.
Malema said: “The first thing we need to do is to communicate with one another with ease as a continent.”
Referring to the recent AU summit where President Cyril Ramaphosa assumed the chair of the organisation, Malema said: “We argue among ourselves on the continent about other people’s language. This is where we are coming from when we say Swahili. Let’s find a common language as Africans so that we do not use the languages of colonisers to divide ourselves or to communicate among ourselves.
“Also, I don’t understand why in South Africa we don’t have a similar common language that we can all speak. It was tried by Afrikaners who imposed Afrikaans on all of us. We shouldn’t impose anything on anyone because once you impose, you shock people and once you shock people they will react,” said Malema.
South Africa recently became the first southern African country to offer Swahili as an optional subject in schools, raising hopes for the growth of the language considered the lingua franca of East Africa.
Malema spoke about working to eliminate borders across the African continent. “Respecting African borders is a colonial hangover, we don’t regard borders as serious.”
Professor Breakfast said: “The idea of having a borderless African continent is not a new concept. It comes from people like Kwame Nkrumah for purposes of unifying the African continent. Again, African states need to explore this concept, but it cannot be imposed on any state.”
@MwangiGithahu