Let’s promote a language we can proudly own as African people

I CONSIDER myself fortunate to have been brought up in a Englishspeaking household. That does not preclude me from enjoying Alex Tabisher’s voting day column. Most South Africans enjoy trashing the Brits and their language.

Tabisher is right on the button when he says that English is a hotchpotch, a stew of borrowings, thieving, appropriation and misappropriation. One merely has to look in the latest Scrabble Word Book to confirm this. The book includes words that are considered to have been absorbed into the English language such as “babalaas”, “ubuntu” and “Uhuru”.

One thing is for sure, English is on a roll throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Back in 2015 Barney Mthombothi stated: “To speak only English is to live in darkness in our own land.” Although I am ashamed to admit that I have a dismal track record in African languages, I fully agree with him.

However, if we don’t wake up soon, English will put all our cherished African languages to bed. To avoid being eternally exploited by the rest of the world, we would do well to focus our attention and energy on only one sub-Saharan African language. Cradle to grave, it should be Swahili. “Let’s all speak Swahili.” This flash of brilliance was first tabled in 2017 by the popular songstress Simphiwe Dana. Stupidly, the multilinguist lobby was able to kick to this worthwhile proposal into touch.

Multilingualism is a local issue. Bilingualism is of national and international significance. Therefore institutions of learning, the state and the private sector would be well advised to focus their energies on promoting Swahili. All of us will benefit if we achieve this objective.

ALAN CARNEGIE | Saldanha