Recognition of Language Rights in South Africa: Innovation or Dismal Failure?

One of the main goals of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 is to bring about transformation within South African society. The new Constitution recognised no less than eleven languages as official languages, including various previously neglected indigenous languages. Where only two languages were previously recognised as official languages under the apartheid regime, this was replaced with a range of languages. However, South African government bodies do not always follow the Constitution’s language obligations; public higher education institutions have nearly all eliminated tuition in languages other than English; and legislation is rarely (if ever) issued in other official languages. The present paper shows how the recognition and use of languages in South Africa differs significantly in theory and in practice. The paper highlights this disparity by first laying out South Africa’s constitutional and legislative framework for official language recognition and use with regard to two issues, namely translation of legislation and the use of languages in higher education. Second, the paper looks at various rulings from South African courts that shows how official languages are used in practice and how language issues have been resolved by the courts. Third, the paper concludes that, rather than becoming a beacon of innovation, the South African Constitution’s language provisions have become a terrible failure. Finally, the paper offers several suggestions for dealing with this sad predicament.