Lakhasly

The history of English in South Africa dates from the arrival of the British at the Cape in 1806.
As was the case in most colonies, English was brought to South Africa during the 19th century
initially by soldiers, and then by administrators, missionaries, settlers, and fortune-seekers. It
took root as a southern African language as a result of the settlements of 1820 (in the Eastern
Cape) and 1848–1862 (in Natal), and of the influx to the diamond mines of Kimberley (1870)
and the gold mines of the Witwatersrand (1886).
English has evoked differing reactions in the different South African language communities.
From the beginning, English was imposed at the Cape upon an unwilling Dutch (later Afrikaans)
community. There was an attempt to make English the sole language of the law and of education,
even in the overwhelmingly Dutch/Afrikaans-speaking rural areas, causing a deep resentment
which is still noticeable in some Afrikaner groups today. Afrikaner hostility towards English was
of course considerably hardened by the South African (or ‘Boer’) War of 1899–1902, and
English became die vyand se taal, ‘the language of the enemy’.
In the early years of the 19th century English was introduced into many black communities of the
Eastern Cape (and subsequently Natal) by missionaries – who at the same time codified Xhosa,
and later the other African languages. English was used as the medium of instruction in mission
schools – “superior English, classical and mathematical education” being offered. By the end of
the century there was an influential corps of black educators, writers, ministers, and political
leaders who were fluent in English. The accomplished, elegant writings of John Tengo Jabavu,
Gwayi Tyamzashe, Sol Plaatje, John Knox Bokwe, and many others, remain as proof of this.
As in most countries where it serves as lingua franca, English came to be perceived as the
language of the social elite. But while it was seen as the language of aspiration and
empowerment for black South Africans and for many Afrikaners, among a significant section of
the Afrikaans population it was consistently received with hostility as an oppressor, and, from the
time the National Party came to power in 1948, Afrikaans became the openly-favoured language.
Despite the fact that English was the other official language, the business of government and
administration was conducted almost exclusively in Afrikaans. State resources were allocated to
the development of Afrikaans while English was afforded a lesser status and the African
languages were ignored (except for some being declared the official languages of the discredited
ethnic ‘homelands’).