This past Saturday, Africans across the continent celebrated what is termed: The Day of an African Child. The name The Day of an African Child however, conceals the fact that the brutality and blood spilt on June 16th, 1976 was for instruction in African languages. This is not a Children’s Day; it is an African linguistics day. This day must be renamed The African Languages Day to put a spotlight on the fact that the student rebellion was against linguistic repression in favour of education in African languages. The central issue was not children but the position of African languages in the education system. Forty years later African governments are content with celebrating African children on this day, but show minimum commitment to the central issue of this day, the central reason the children died, which is the development and position of African languages in the education system. Let us retrace our steps.
It is now common knowledge that the Day of the African Child was initiated by the Organisation of African Unity which has been renamed The African Union, in 1991. It is a day which honours the victims of apartheid government violence in what is now known as Soweto Uprising, better known as Soweto Massacre as many young people lost their lives in the protests. However it appears the issues have been conflated and lost. The student matches of 1976 were not about children. The students were not seeking to draw attention to themselves or even attention to the general concerns of young people. The central matter in the entire campaign was language, specifically the plight and position of African languages. The students’ protest was against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, simply put, they were revolting against being taught in Afrikaans. The Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 forced all black schools to use Afrikaans and English as mediums of instruction in school. All subjects: Mathematics, Arithmetic, Social Studies, Science, Agricultural subjects, Art etc were to be taught in English or Afrikaans. Indigenous languages were only reserved to teach Religious Education, Physical Culture and Music. The aim was clear: the Afrikaner government wanted to promote the Afrikaans language amongst blacks at the detriment of not just African languages but also that of English. The decision to promote Afrikaans was especially done without the consent of blacks themselves. Janson the Deputy Minister of Bantu Education at the time declared that: “A Black man may be trained to work on a farm or in a factory. He may work for an employer who is either English-speaking or Afrikaans-speaking and the man who has to give him instructions may be either English-speaking or Afrikaans-speaking. Why should we now start quarrelling about the medium of instruction among the Black people as well? … No, I have not consulted them and I am not going to consult them. I have consulted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.”
The order to force blacks to study in Afrikaans affected the students’ performance since many were not competent in the language. The students protested that just as white children learnt in their own languages, black children should be accorded similar rights. So when the thousands of children poured from Soweto schools into the streets their protest was about linguistic rights. Their placards were clear: “Down with Afrikaans!” Some even read: If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu. When the police set their dog on the students, and the students responded decisively by killing it, it was a metaphor of their protest, that they wanted Afrikaans dead in their education system. The police responded with live bullets and gunned down the protesting students sending an unambiguous message that resistance would not be tolerated. Hundreds of students died for linguistic rights, thousands were injured. When the OAU renamed the June 16, the Day of the African Child they made the day about any challenge that may be facing an African child. They unintentionally concealed the bloody bath of June 16, 2016. They shifted the spotlight from the central issue which is linguistic rights and then put it on anything that may concern an African child. By shifting the issue from linguistic rights, the OAU concealed its own shame because many African states are as guilty as the apartheid government, or even worse. Alidou (2004) has argued that in post-colonial Africa, in avoidance of ethnic wars, African governments ironically retained colonial languages which were viewed as neutral means of communication. She also argues that governments felt that in the interest of national unity, it was crucial that a country rallied behind a single flag, a single constitution and a single local language.”
African languages are now worse off than under the apartheid government and Bantustans. At least during the apartheid regime, African languages were reserved to teach blacks Religious Education, Physical Culture and Music. Most African states now use one local language in the teaching of the said language and literature and don’t use any local language in the teaching of any other subject. This is true for the situation in Botswana where “The Setswana language is not viewed as an important factor in the contemporary economic and cultural life of the country and it is not seen as a vehicle for secondary or even tertiary education.” (RNCE, 1993:183). We must however remind African governments that June 16, 1976 was not about children. When the children matched out of their schools on that day, they faced numerous challenges still. There was poverty, violence, tribalism and even racism in the streets. However on that fateful day, their issue was singular and specific. They were marching against linguistic repression. They were not seeking favours. They appreciated that Afrikaner children learnt in their own tongue, and so did the English speaking learners. All they were seeking was the equal right to learn in their own tongue. Regrettably their blood was spilt in vain. The linguistic revolution they sought never materialised. Learners still learn in either Afrikaans or English, now through the repressive linguistic laws established by black African governments. What a shame!
