Let’s talk language freedom in celebration of Freedom Day

Thirty-one years on, many South Africans are too young to remember that first day of freedom, while for some, the memory may have faded, or a certain complacency set in. And current concerns with the state of our country and the world may leave few in a celebratory mood. All the more reason to heed Nelson Mandela’s caution: “Freedom can never be taken for granted. Each generation must safeguard it and extend it.”

Freedom Day calls on us to honour the sacrifices made in the struggle against apartheid and to reflect on the liberties won through that sacrifice. And every year it reminds us that with freedom comes the responsibility to use our individual and collective power to make the most of our freedom and enhance the freedom of others.

The shape and sound of freedom

Freedom is not only political; it is cultural, linguistic and expressive. The rights to vote, live without fear of persecution, and participate in civic life are foundational. But these rights are incomplete without freedom of expression and linguistic freedom − the power to speak, think, create and communicate in the language of your choice. If your voice is not heard, you cannot participate. If you cannot understand, you cannot access rights. In short, if your language is excluded, so are you.

The South African Constitution is often praised as one of the most progressive in the world. The Bill of Rights guarantees both freedom of expression and linguistic freedom, recognising twelve official languages and explicitly valuing cultural and linguistic diversity.

But for many South Africans, especially those whose mother tongue is not English or Afrikaans, the right to fully express themselves in their home language remains more aspirational than actual. English dominates academia, government, media and technology, effectively becoming the gateway to opportunity and a class marker: those fluent in English can access jobs, justice, and online spaces; those who are not are left behind. In the process, African languages are devalued and often treated as symbols of heritage rather than living systems of thought and communication, eroding cultural pride and limiting intergenerational knowledge transfer.

Let’s pause here and consider for a moment how this translates into the daily lived experience of millions of South Africans: a Tshivenda speaker who cannot access online legal advice in his home tongue; an isiXhosa-speaking patient struggling to explain symptoms to an English-speaking doctor; a Sepedi-speaking child who must learn to read English before mastering her own language. What is does language freedom mean to them?

Making multilingualism mainstream

In a truly multilingual South Africa, no language would be excluded, and no one would be left behind. If there were no lack of resources or infrastructure and no gap between policy and practice, there would be government services in all official languages and full access to digital and other media. There would be investment in translation and interpreting services and language technologies for indigenous languages; and there would be support for content creation in underrepresented languages, especially on digital platforms. There would be legal accountability when constitutional language rights are ignored. And there would be mother tongue education and multilingual pedagogies at all levels of schooling.

We are not quite there − but then, freedom is not a destination; it is a constant striving, a becoming. Language activism is gaining momentum and there is much to celebrate and build on.

The Nal’ibali reading campaign distributes children’s stories in all South African languages to foster early reading and storytelling at home, and projects like PRAESA promote early literacy in African languages, working to change the schooling system from the ground up. At the same time, translanguaging offers a potentially transformational approach to learning and teaching that engages linguistic diversity additively and equitably in the classroom in a way that empowers multilingual learners and values the knowledge they bring.

In tertiary education, the Department of Higher Education (DHET) finalised a language policy framework (2020) aimed at promoting multilingualism and the development of indigenous languages at South Africa’s 26 public universities; and in 2023 the department set aside about R70m over a three-year period to help universities achieve these goals. Stellenbosch University (SU) has used the funds received so far to boost its endeavours to promote social cohesion and inclusion through language at the institution. The promotion of a multilingual mindset at SU is an ongoing initiative, and is something for which the whole University community, at an academic and social level, shares responsibility.

Creating a welcoming environment on campus and promoting a multilingual mindset among the broad campus community are overarching goals, and examples of more practical endeavours are the Building Communities through Multilingualism workshop series offered to the SU student community and staff members, and isiXhosa and South African Sign Language (SASL) courses offered to students and staff, free of charge. Another exciting initiative at SU is isiXhosa terminology development.

In the digital space, community publishers and creators are reaching audiences, telling stories and building cultural capital in online poetry slams, podcasts, or TikTok videos in, among others, isiXhosa, Setswana, Xitsonga; while the Masakhane initiative brings together African IT experts to develop natural language processing tools for African languages, ensuring they are represented in AI, voice technology and machine translation.

Freedom is a doing word

Language freedom is not self-actualising − it is something we must embody, act on and defend to give it meaning. When we choose to speak in our languages, we affirm their worth. When we demand inclusion − in the classroom, technology, health care or the media − we honour the right of all to be heard. And when we teach, create, and listen across linguistic borders, we build a freer, more equal society.