The founding provisions of South Africa’s constitution recognise 12 official languages: Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga and, since 2023, South African Sign Language or SASL.

During colonialism and apartheid official languages were European – Dutch, English and Afrikaans. African languages, spoken by at least 80% of the people, were ignored. In 1996 a new constitution gave official protection to all of the country’s major languages.

South Africa has about 34 historically established languages. Thirty are living languages and four extinct Khoesan (Khoisan) languages.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

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The 12 languages: overview and origins

South Africa’s 2022 census lists the languages most often spoken at home – the first or home language – of people aged one year and older.

IsiZulu is the largest language. According to the census, it’s the home language of almost a quarter (24.4%) of the population. Second is isiXhosa, spoken at home by 16.3%.

Afrikaans (10.6%) and Sepedi (10%) have roughly the same number of home language speakers, as do English (8.7%) and Setswana (8.3%).

Nationally, smaller official languages are Sesotho (7.8%), Xitsonga (4.7%), siSwati (2.8%), Tshivenda (2.5%) and isiNdebele (1.7%). But these languages are widely spoken in individual provinces.

Census 2022 estimates that South African Sign Language is used by fewer than 10,000 people – way under 0.1% of the population. But other estimates put its number of users at around 600,000. An official language since 2023, SASL is distinct from the hundreds of other sign languages deaf and hard of hearing people use elsewhere in the world.

The census also lists significant but unofficial home languages in South Africa. These are the Khoi, Nama and San languages (0.1%) of the Northern and Western Cape, and Namibia, as well as the Shona of Zimbabwe (1.2%), Malawi’s Chichewa (0.3%), and Portuguese (1.2%). Portuguese is the official language of both Mozambique and Angola, colonies of Portugal until 1975.

Another 2.1% of people in South Africa speak “other”, unspecified languages.

Maps of first-language speakers in South Africa, based on Census 2011 data.

South Africa’s language origins

English is an urban language of public life, widely used in the media, business and government. It’s estimated that nearly 31 million people – more than half the population – speak and understand the language. Out of the 5.2-million who speak English at home, more a third (34%) are white, a tenth (11%) black, 30% Indian/Asian and 23% coloured. Two-thirds of South Africa’s home-language English speakers are not white.

Afrikaans evolved out of a South Holland Dutch dialect brought to South Africa in the 1600s. Over the centuries it has picked up influences from African languages and from European colonial languages such as English, French and German. More than half (56%) of Afrikaans home-language speakers are coloured, 40% are white, 4% black and just 0.2% Indian/Asian.

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South Africa’s nine African official languages are almost entirely spoken at home (99% or more) by black people.

The languages all fall into the Southern Bantu-Makua subfamily, part of the broad and branching Niger-Congo language family. They arrived in South Africa during the great expansion of Bantu-speaking people from West Africa eastwards and southwards into the rest of the continent. The expansion began in around 3,000 BCE and was largely complete by 1,000 CE.

Like all Niger-Congo languages they are tonal. Either a high or low tone gives a word a different meaning.

The nine African languages can be divided in two:

• Nguni-Tsonga languages: isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, siSwati, Xitsonga
• Sotho-Makua-Venda languages: Sesotho, Sepedi (Sesotho sa Leboa), Setswana, Tshivenda

In the first group Xitsonga alone falls into the Tswa-Ronga subfamily, while isiZulu, isiXhosa, isNdebele and siSwati are Nguni languages.

Sesotho, Sepedi and Setswana are closely related Sotho languages, and Tshivenda something of a standalone in the Sotho-Makua-Venda subfamily.

Multilingual South Africa

South Africa’s people are more than bilingual. A rough estimate based on Census 2001 first-language data and a 2002 study of second-languages speakers is that the average person – man, woman and child – uses 2.84 languages. Some may speak only one language, but many others may chat freely in three, four or more languages.

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English- and Afrikaans-speaking people (mostly coloured, Indian/Asian and white people) tend not to have much ability in African languages, but are fairly fluent in each other’s language. Multilingualism is common among black people.

For this reason, South African censuses ask people which two languages they speak. The question in the 2011 census was:

Which two languages does (member of household) speak most often in this household?

Thirteen options were given: South Africa’s official languages,  and “other”. If a person did not speak a second language, that too was recorded.

The contrast between first language and second language is shown in the maps at right. While the geographical pattern of dominant first languages neatly conforms to the facts of history and urbanisation, the picture of second languages is more complicated, more of a mess.

The second map reveals a couple of things. The first is how few people in South Africa speak just one language. The second is that while English is the dominant first language only in the cities – Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban – it is widely used as a second language across the country. English is spread by the media and used as a common language of communication.

But many are compelled to learn English and Afrikaans simply to get a job. These are often poorer people denied an education.

Elsewhere in the world the ability to speak many languages is a sign of sophistication. In South Africa, multilingualism – a complex undertaking, especially in languages from different families – is a common achievement of the poor.

Code-switching South Africa

Language is fluid. In South Africa, languages are and have for centuries been in a constant swirl, mixed by work, migration, education, urbanisation, the places we live, friendship and marriage.

Code-switching is common. This simply means the use of one or more language in a single conversation. Every adult in South Africa does it, even if they aren’t aware of it.

Here’s an example of code-switching overheard at a football match. IsiZulu is in regular type, Afrikaans in bold and English in italics:

“I-Chiefs isidle nge-referee’s ngabe ihambe sleg.
Maar why benga stopi this system ye-injury time?”

A rough translation:

“Chiefs [the football club] won because the referee’s decisions were bad.
Why is this system of injury time not stopped?”

Influenced by other languages around them, South Africa’s languages change.

Who speaks what?

South Africa’s 2011 census recorded language breakdown by population group:

Data source: Statistics South Africa Census 2011

An increasingly intermingled society means it’s less easy to assign a single language to a single population group. But for the population as a whole, here’s a breakdown:

The languages of the provinces

The languages you hear in South Africa depend on where you are in the country.

In the Eastern Cape isiXhosa is spoken by 82% of the population, according to the 2022 census. IsiZulu is the largest language in both KwaZulu-Natal, where 80% speak it, and Gauteng, where it makes up 23% of languages. Sesotho is the language of the Free State, spoken by 72% people there. And so on …

South Africa’s provincial language distribution, from Census 2011 data:

Data source: Statistics South Africa Census 2011

According to the 2022 census, the main languages of each province are:

• Eastern Cape – isiXhosa (81.8%), Afrikaans (9.6%)
• Free State – Sesotho (72.3%), Afrikaans (10.3%)
• Gauteng – isiZulu (23.1%), Sesotho (13.1%), Sepedi (12.6%)
• KwaZulu-Natal – isiZulu (80%), English (14.4%)
• Limpopo – Sepedi/Sesotho sa Leboa (55.5%), Tshivenda (17.4%), Xitsonga (17.3%)
• Mpumalanga – siSwati (30.5%), isiZulu (27.8%)
• Northern Cape – Afrikaans (54.6%), Setswana (35.7%)
• North West – Setswana (72.8%), Sesotho (5.9), Afrikaans (5.2%)
• Western Cape – Afrikaans (41.2%), isiXhosa (31.4%), English (22%)

The languages

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older. South Africa is a multilingual country, so many speak one or more other languages.

Afrikaans

Also known as: isiBhuru (isiNdebele), isiBhulu (isiXhosa), isiBhunu (isiZulu), siBhunu (siSwati), Seburu (Sepedi), Xibunu (Xitsonga)
First-language users: 6,365,488 (10.6% of total population)
Most often spoken in: Western Cape (home to 46.4% of Afrikaans speakers), Gauteng (17.7%) and Northern Cape (10.9%)
Largest language in: Northern Cape (54.6% of provincial population) and Western Cape (41.2%)

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

Afrikaans evolved out of a 17th-century Dutch dialect introduced to South Africa in 1652 when the Dutch first colonised the Cape of Good Hope. It became an official language with the Official Languages of the Union Act of 1925. This retroactively dated its official status to 1910, when the Union of South Africa, a British dominion, was formed.

The 6,365,488 people who speak Afrikaans make up 10.6% of the country’s population. More than half (56%) are coloured, 40% white, 4% black, 0.2% Indian/Asian, and 1% “other”.

Among South Africa’s population groups, Afrikaans is spoken by 0.5% of black people, 72.6% of coloured people, 0.7% of Indian/Asian people, 58% of white people and 22.2% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Most Afrikaans speakers (46.4%) live in the Western Cape, and 17.7% in Gauteng. For the rest, 10.9% are in the Northern Cape, 10.6% in the Eastern Cape and 4.6% in the Free State.

Afrikaans is the majority language of the Northern Cape (spoken by 54.6% of the provincial population) and the largest in the Western Cape (41.2%). It’s the second largest language (10.3%) in the Free State after Sesotho (72.3%), and in the Eastern Cape (9.6%) after isiXhosa (81.8%).

It makes up 7.7% of Gauteng’s languages and 5.2% of languages in North West.

English

Also known as: Engels (Afrikaans), isiNgisi (isiNdebele and isiZulu), isiNgesi (isiXhosa), Senyesemane (Sesotho), Seisemane (Sepedi), siNgisi (siSwati), Xinghezi (Xitsonga)
First-language users: 5,228,301 (8.7% of total population)
Most often spoken in: KwaZulu-Natal (home to 33% of English speakers), Western Cape (30.2%) and Gauteng (25.6%)
Minority language in all provinces

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

English is a prominent language in South African public life, widely used in government, business and the media. As a first language it is mainly confined to the cities.

In 1910 English and Dutch were declared the official languages of the new Union of South Africa, a dominion of Britain. English has retained this official status ever since.

The 5,228,301 people who speak English make up 8.7% of the country’s population. About 34% are white, 30% Indian/Asian, 23% coloured, 11% black and 2% “other”.

Among South Africa’s population groups, English is spoken by 1.2% of black people, 25.1% of coloured people, 94.6% of Indian/Asian people, 41.1% of white people and 32.3% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

A third (33%) of English speakers live in KwaZulu-Natal, another 30.2% in the Western Cape and a quarter (25.6%) in Gauteng. A further 6.4% live in the Eastern Cape.

Small minorities of English speakers (1.4% to 0.6%) are scattered across the remaining five provinces.

English is the second-largest language (14.4% of the provincial population) in KwaZulu-Natal after isiZulu (80%). It’s the third-largest in the Eastern Cape (4.8%) after isiXhosa (81.8%) and Afrikaans (9.6%), as well as in the Western Cape (22%) after Afrikaans (41.2%) and isiXhosa (31.4%).

• Read more: The online dictionary of South African English

isiNdebele

Also known as: Ndebele, Southern Ndebele, Ndzundza, isiKhethu
First-language users: 1,044,377 (1.7% of total population)
Most often spoken in: Mpumalanga (home to 47% of isiNdebele speakers), Gauteng (42.5%) and Limpopo (6.9%)
Minority language in all provinces

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

IsiNdebele is the second-smallest official language – after South African Sign Language – confined mainly to Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

It is an Nguni language, like isiZulu, isiXhosa and siSwati. Also called Southern Ndebele, it is not to be confused with Northern Ndebele, more commonly known as Matabele, which is closer to isiZulu and an official language of neighbouring Zimbabwe.

The 1,044,377 people who speak isiNdebele make up just 1.7% of the country’s population. Almost all (99.7%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, IsiNdebele is spoken by 2.1% of black people, 0.1% of Indian/Asian people and 0.6% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Most isiNdebele speakers (47%) live in Mpumalanga, followed by Gauteng (42.5%) and Limpopo (6.9%).

But it’s only the fifth-largest language (9.9% of the provincial population) in Mpumalanga, the 10th-largest (3.1%) in Gauteng and the seventh-largest (1.1%) in Limpopo.

Small minorities of isiNdebele speakers (1.4% to 0.6%) are scattered across the remaining six provinces.

isiXhosa

Also known as: Xhosa
First-language users: 9,786,928 (16.3% of total population)
Most often spoken in: Eastern Cape (home to 58.7% of isiXhosa speakers), Western Cape (23%) and KwaZulu-Natal (3.8%)
Largest language in: Eastern Cape (81.8% of provincial population)

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

The dominant language of the Eastern Cape, isiXhosa is also the second-largest language in South Africa after isiZulu. It is an Nguni language, like isiNdebele, isiZulu and siSwati, but also shows some influence from Khoisan languages.

The 9,786,928 people who speak isiXhosa make up 16.3% of the country’s population. Almost all (99.7%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, isiXhosa is spoken by 20% of black people, 0.5% of coloured people, 0.3% of Indian/Asian people, 0.1% of white people and 3.3% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Most (58.7%) isiXhosa speakers live in the Eastern Cape, with nearly a quarter (23%) in the Western Cape. A tenth (9.9%) live in Gauteng and 3.8% in KwaZulu-Natal.

Small minorities of isiXhosa speakers (1.8% to 0.1%) are scattered across the remaining five provinces.

IsiXhosa is the majority language in the Eastern Cape, where it is spoken by 81.8% of the population. It’s the Western Cape’s second-largest language (31.4%) after Afrikaans (41.2%).

IsiXhosa is also the third-largest language in the Free State (5.5%) after Sesotho (72.3%) and Afrikaans (10.3%), in KwaZulu-Natal (3.1%) after isiZulu (80%) and English (14.4%), and in the Northern Cape (4.5%) after Afrikaans (54.6%) and Setswana (35.7%).

isiZulu

Also known as: Zulu; Zoeloe, Zoeloetaal, Zulutaal (Afrikaans)
First-language users: 14,613,202 (24.4% of total population)
Most often spoken in: KwaZulu-Natal (home to 65.7% of isiZulu speakers), Gauteng (23%) and Mpumalanga (9.5%)
Largest language in: KwaZulu-Natal (80% of provincial population) and Gauteng (23.1%)

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

IsiZulu is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, the first language of close to a quarter of the population. It is the dominant language of KwaZulu-Natal. Like isiNdebele, isiXhosa and siSwati, isiZulu is an Nguni language.

The 14,613,202 people who speak isiZulu make up 24.4% of the country’s population. Almost all (99.4%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, isiZulu is spoken by 29.9% of black people – more than any other language – as well as by 0.7% of coloured people, 0.6% of Indian/Asian people, 0.1% of white people and 1.6% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Almost two-thirds (68.2%) of isiZulu-speaking people live in KwaZulu-Natal and nearly a quarter (23%) in Gauteng. A tenth (9.5%) live in Mpumalanga, which borders KwaZulu-Natal to the northwest.

Small minorities of isiZulu speakers (0.7% to 0.03%) are scattered across the remaining six provinces.

IsiZulu is the majority language in KwaZulu-Natal, spoken by 80% of the provincial population, and the largest in Gauteng (23.1%).

It’s the second-largest language (27.8%) in Mpumalanga after siSwati (30.5%).

Sepedi (Sesotho sa Leboa)

Also known as: Northern Sotho
First-language users: 5,972,255 (10% of total population)
Most often spoken in: Limpopo (home to 59.1% of Sepedi speakers), Gauteng (30.7%) and Mpumalanga (8.6%)
Largest language in: Limpopo (55.5% of provincial population)

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

Sesotho sa Leboa or Sepedi?
The 1993 interim Constitution named the language Sesotho sa Leboa. It was then changed to Sepedi in the final Constitution of 1996. Debate on the name continues.

Sepedi is South Africa’s third-largest African language after isiZulu and isiXhosa, mainly spoken in Limpopo. Like Sesotho and Setswana, it belongs to the Sotho-Tswana subfamily of languages.

The 5,972,255 people who speak Sepedi make up 10% of the total population. Almost all (99.7%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, Sepedi is spoken by 12.2% of black people, 0.2% of coloured people, 0.2% of Indian/Asian people, 0.1% of white people and 0.3% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Most (59.1%) Sepedi speakers live in Limpopo, almost a third (30.7%) in Gauteng and 8.6% in Mpumalanga.

Small minorities of Sepedi speakers (1.3% to 0.02%) are scattered across the remaining six provinces.

Sepedi is the majority language in Limpopo, spoken by 55.5% of the provincial population. It’s the third-largest language in Gauteng (12.6%) after isiZulu (23.1%) and Sesotho (13.1%).

Sesotho

Also known as: Southern Sotho, Sesoeto (Afrikaans)
First-language users: 4,678,964 (7.8% of total population)
Most often spoken in: Free State (home to 44.2% of Sesotho speakers) and Gauteng (40.6%)
Largest language in: Free State (72.3% of provincial population)

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

Sesotho is the language of the Free State, a bean-shaped province whose inner curve fits around the northwest border of Lesotho, a country where it is the dominant language.

It is one of South Africa’s three Sotho-Tswana languages, with Sepedi and Setswana.

The 4,678,964 people who speak Sesotho make up 7.8% of the total population. Almost all (99.5%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, Sesotho is spoken by 9.6% of black people, 0.3% of coloured people, 0.1% of Indian/Asian people and 2.4% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Most of the Sesotho-speaking population is almost equally divided between the Free State (44.2%) and Gauteng (40.6%). Another 4.6% live in North West, 3.5% in the Eastern Cape and 2.4% in Mpumalanga.

Small minorities of Sesotho speakers (1.6% to 0.3%) are scattered across the remaining four provinces.

It is the majority language in the Free State, where 72.3% of the population are Sesotho-speakers. It’s also the second-largest language (13.1%) in Gauteng after isiZulu (23.1%), and in North West (5.9%) after Setswana (72.8%).

Setswana

Also known as: Tswana, Sechuana, Chuana
First-language users: 4,972,787 (8.3% of total population)
Most often spoken in: North West (home to 53.7% of Setswana speakers), Gauteng (30.5%) and Northern Cape (9.2%)
Largest language in: North West (72.8% of provincial population)

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

The language of North West and its neighbouring country of Botswana, Setswana is the Tswanaic language in the Sotho-Tswana subfamily, which it shares with Sesotho and Sepedi.

The 4,972,787 people who speak Setswana make up 8.3% of the total population. Almost all (99.6%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, Setswana is spoken by 10.2% of black people, 0.4% of coloured people, 0.1% of Indian/Asian people and 0.5% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

More than half (53.7%) of Setswana speakers live in North West, nearly a third (30.5%) in Gauteng, and close on a tenth (9.2%) in the Northern Cape. Both North West and the Northern Cape lie on the border of Botswana, a country where about 77% of the population speak Setswana.

Another 3.1% live in the Free State. Small minorities of Setswana speakers (1.7% to 0.05%) are scattered across the remaining five provinces.

Setswana is the majority language in North West, spoken by 72.8% of the provincial population. It’s the second-largest language in the Northern Cape (35.7%) after Afrikaans (54.6%).

siSwati

Also known as: Swati, Swazi
First-language users: 1,692,719 (2.8% of total population)
Most often spoken in: Mpumalanga (home to 89.7% of siSwati speakers) and Gauteng (30.5%)
Largest language in: Mpumalanga (30.5% of provincial population)

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

SiSwati is mostly spoken in Mpumalanga, whose curved eastern border almost encircles Eswatini, a country where it is the major language. It is an Nguni language, like isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.

The 1,692,719 people who speak siSwati make up 2.8% of the total population. Almost all (99.6%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, siSwati is spoken by 3.5% of black people, 0.1% of coloured people, 0.1% of Indian/Asian people and 0.2% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

The vast majority of siSwati speakers (89.7%) live in Mpumalanga, with the remaining third (30.5%) in Gauteng. Small minorities (1.1% to 0.02%) are scattered across the other seven provinces.

It’s also the largest language in Mpumalanga, spoken by 30.5% of the provincial population.

Tshivenda

Also known as: Venda, Chivenda
First-language users: 1,480,565 (2.5% of total population)
Most often spoken in: Limpopo (home to 75.6% of Tshivenda speakers) and Gauteng (23.2%)
Minority language in all provinces

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

Tshivenda is something of a standalone among South Africa’s major African languages, falling into the broader Sotho-Makua-Venda subfamily but not part of the Sotho group. It is mostly spoken in the far northeast of Limpopo.

The 1,480,565 people who speak Tshivenda make up 2.5% of the total population. Almost all (100%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, Tshivenda is spoken by 3% of black people and by 0.2% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Close to three quarters (74.6%) of Tshivenda speakers live in Limpopo and almost a quarter (23.2%) in Gauteng. Small minorities (0.95% to 0.04%) are scattered across the other seven provinces.

Tshivenda is the second-largest language in Limpopo, spoken by 17.4% of the provincial population. The largest is Sepedi (55.5%).

Xitsonga

Also known as: Tsonga, Shangaan, Shangana, Vatsonga
Most often spoken in: Limpopo (home to 39.4% of Tshivenda speakers), Gauteng (36.6%) and Mpumalanga (19%)
Minority language in all provinces

All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language – the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older.

Xitsonga is a minority language concentrated along South Africa’s northeast border with the country of Mozambique, where it is also spoken.

It is part of the broader Nguni-Tsonga language subfamily, which it shares with isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu and siSwati. But it alone falls into the Tswa-Ronga group, while the others are Nguni.

The 2,784,279 people who speak Xitsonga make up 4.7% of the country’s population. Almost all (99.7%) are black.

Among South Africa’s population groups, Xitsonga is spoken by 5.7% of black people, 0.1% of coloured people, 0.1% of Indian/Asian people and 1.2% of people who describe themselves as “other”.

Data from Statistics South Africa’s Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (March 2025), based on Census 2022.

Nearly two-fifths (39.4%) of Xitsonga-speaking people live in Limpopo, over a third (36.6%) in Gauteng, 19% in Mpumalanga and 4% in North West. Small minorities (0.44% to 0.03%) are scattered across the other seven provinces.

Xitsonga is the third-largest language in Limpopo (spoken by 17.3% of the provincial population) after Sepedi (55.5%) and Tshivenda (17.4%). It’s also the third-largest in Mpumalanga (10.6%) after siSwati (30.5%) and isiZulu (27.8%).

Sources and notes

• Statistics South Africa: Cultural Dynamics in South Africa (2025)
• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
• Statistics South Africa Census 2022
• Statistics South Africa Census 2011
• Adrian Frith: Census 2011
• Glottolog – Comprehensive reference information for the world’s languages, especially the lesser known languages.
• Ethnologue: Languages of South Africa, 20th edition data (2017)
• Pharos South African Multilingual Dictionary (2014) ISBN 9781868901975
• Language in South Africa: The role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development (2002) by Victor Webb. ISBN 9789027297631
• “The twelve modern Khoisan languages” (2013) by Matthias Bretzinger. In Khoisan languages and linguistics, Proceedings of the 3rd international symposium. ISBN 9783896458735

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander
Updated July 2025
Comments? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The graphics on this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

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Detail of the cover of Kippie Moeketsi’s solo album Hard Top (1976), with artwork by Mafa Ngwenya. (Image courtesy of As-Shams Archive)

Gwen Ansell • 31 July 2025

It’s a century since the birth of reedman Jeremiah Morolong “Kippie” Moeketsi on 27 July 1925. He was one of the most influential saxophonists shaping South Africa’s modern jazz style.

Kippie Moeketsi’s short-run recordings are now being reissued. (Image: Ian Bruce Huntley/Africa Media Online)

He died in poverty aged 57, in 1983, when black jazz in South Africa remained undervalued outside its community. His cultural legacy is only just coming into the light and there is still no definitive biography. As a researcher and commentator on South African jazz history, I’ve written about the biographical landmarks of his life.

A hundred years ago, South Africa was a British-ruled colonial state. Many of the race-based socioeconomic inequalities, and prejudices against and restrictions on the free movement of people of colour, were already in place.

It was apartheid, imposed by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party in 1948, that formalised them into a punitive legal framework. This was just as just as Moeketsi was beginning his career as a freelance musician.

Many of Moeketsi’s recordings, as was usual for black jazz at the time, were published only in short-run releases. But thanks to a wave of reissues from independent labels – the most recent, Hard Top from As-Shams this year – it is newly accessible.

The playing will knock your socks off.

Reedmen I’ve talked to say they can still hear the clarinet – his first instrument – in his sax sound: fluid, gravity-defying runs, mastery of space and dynamics, and plaintive, soul-stirring sustains – one of the characteristics that gives him a unique voice.

A musical family

Tshona! by Pat Matshikiza and Kippie Moketsi was reissued in 2022, nearly half a century after its 1975 release. (Image courtesy of As-Shams Archive)

Although his exact birthplace in Johannesburg isn’t recorded, when he was a child Moeketsi’s family settled in George Goch location, a rundown “African township” in the era before Soweto was established. He was the youngest of a musical family: his father, a municipal clerk, was also a church organist, his mother sang, and all four of his older brothers played an instrument.

Unlike his studious brothers, school bored Moeketsi. He would regularly truant, caddying for local golfers and getting up to all kinds of minor mischief. His mother, determined to return him to class, hunted among the mine dumps, calling “kippie, kippie, kippie” to locate her wayward chick. The nickname stuck.

Moeketsi left after junior school and did a variety of casual jobs: cleaner, delivery boy and others. His brother Lapis had gifted him a clarinet; on that he discovered how much music fascinated him. He had occasional lessons from his brothers Jacob — who had played piano for the pioneering Jazz Maniacs — and Andrew, both of whom played classical music and jazz.

But there were plenty of music books in the Moeketsi home and from those he mainly taught himself, after finishing his boring day jobs. Sometimes he would practice through the night, provoking angry complaints from neighbours. He learned to read music, and switched from clarinet to saxophone.

“Once you know a clarinet,” he said, “the saxophone is a boy.”

Recordings: from Clarinet Kwela to King Kong

Not much of Moeketsi’s early clarinet playing is currently available. There’s the 1958 Clarinet Kwela with the Marabi Kings, which demonstrates his interesting ideas about ornament and timing, even on an opportunistic pop single. And then there’s the heartbreaking Sad Times, Bad Times from the recording of the 1959 all-black jazz opera King Kong, filled with dark foreboding up to its wailing, beautifully sustained final note.

Moeketsi recorded prolifically in the fifties, with big-name local bands such as the Harlem Swingsters, the Jazz Maniacs and the Jazz Dazzlers, leading various small groups of his own, playing support for the likes of Manhattan Brothers, Dolly Rathebe and Dorothy Masuka and in multiple formations from trio to septet with the band name Shanty Town. He featured on visiting US pianist John Mehegan’s two Jazz in Africa albums and as part of the legendary Jazz Epistles Verse One.

Kippie Moeketsi at piano with, from left, musicians Basil Coetzee, Pat Matshikiza, Selby Ntuli, producer Rashid Vally, Sipho Mabuse and Alec Khaoli. (Image courtesy As-Shams Archive)

Tragedy in London

In 1961 King Kong secured a short London run. For many cast members such as Hugh Masekela this provided the opportunity to escape into exile. Moeketsi was also part of the cast, but what happened to him in London is more tragic.

He’d been mugged and beaten during a Johannesburg robbery, which delayed his arrival in London, and was still taking medication (probably for concussion) when he arrived. Fellow cast members remember him disagreeing violently with the London producer about changes to the score and arrangements and what he considered exploitative treatment of musicians.

There was heavy drinking behind the scenes and, despite his medication, Moeketsi joined in. Eventually, theatre management had him committed to a psychiatric hospital where he was given electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT.

The 2025 rerelease of Hard Top. (Image courtesy of As-Shams Archive)

The British doctors believed his obsession with music was unbalancing him. They’d never seen creative Africans trying to survive under apartheid. Every black musician of that era I’ve interviewed names music-making as the only thing keeping them sane; it was life offstage (plus too often getting paid in alcohol) that was maddening.

The ECT left a lifelong legacy of intermittent depression, crippling brain fog and memory lapses.

Back in South Africa, when many of his peers were settling down and reining in the habits of their shared wild youth, those frustrations drove Moeketsi to drink harder. He continued to play, but the depression dogged him. Eventually, after customs officers confiscated his sax following a gig in then-Rhodesia, and he couldn’t afford to replace it, he stopped playing altogether for a while.

Artist and rebel – not ‘sad man of jazz’

These frustrations were the origin of Moeketsi’s soubriquet “sad man of jazz”. But, like much written about the jazz life of black musicians, it embodies a pervasive racist stereotype that both exoticises and diminishes the truth about creative black musicianship.

Photos of Moeketsi on the stand show an artist caught in the intensity of making music. (Image courtesy of As-Shams Archive)

Moeketsi was no unschooled, mad, untameable “natural” genius sprung from squalor. He came from a home filled with music books. He studied and practiced devotedly to master his craft. His irresponsible youth had been no different from many of his peers’. It was having been, in his words, “made stupid” by ECT that fuelled his subsequent despair and alcoholism.

That, plus the chilling frustrations of daring to be an artist and rebel under apartheid.

Fans know the story of Scullery Department, his composition protesting that black musicians were good enough to entertain white club patrons, but not to eat in the same room. Less well-known is that at the venue provoking that anger, Moeketsi declared the band would strike unless the manager served them at a club dining table. They were the top jazz outfit of their time, and the manager eventually gave in, apartheid rules or not.

Look at photos of Moeketsi on the stand, caught in the intensity of making music: he was by no means always sad.

Dismissing the caricature

South African musicians I have interviewed all dismissed the caricature of a sad and occasionally mean drunk as irrelevant to the Moeketsi they’d known. They remembered him as a proud nationalist, a brilliant player, and a stern but empathetic mentor.

Bassist Victor Ntoni recalled:

He defied all the rules of apartheid, because he was a son of the soil.

Singer Sophie Mngcina:

Wherever he played, he was a wonder to listen to.

Vocalist Thandi Klaasen:

He was my brother. He taught me … he was really concerned for me to do my best.

And pianist Pat Matshikiza:

He was a perfectionist … you had to learn at a high level working with him.

And from 1971, when he got a new instrument, Moeketsi played triumphantly and beautifully again for another seven years, as a peer of the country’s other jazz legends, including Dollar Brand (later Abdullah Ibrahim, whom Moeketsi had mentored), Allen Kwela, Dennis Mpale, Matshikiza, Mike Makhalemele and visiting US star Hal Singer.

Rest in power and music, Morolong. I hope your prayer for a better world has been answered.

Gwen Ansell is an associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science at the University of Pretoria.
This article was originally published by The Conversation on 28 July 2025 under a Creative Commons licence.

The post Kippie Moeketsi at 100: the soul-stirring story of a South African jazz legend appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Lemogang Tsipa plays the legendary – and often misunderstood – Zulu king Shaka kaSenzangakhona in the South African TV series Shaka iLembe. (Mzansi Magic/Bomb Productions)

22 July 2025 • Bongephiwe Dlamini-Myeni, University of Zululand

Shaka Zulu is one of the most storied figures in South African history. Believed to have been born around 1787, the man also known as uShaka kaSenzangakhona is regarded as the founder of the country’s Zulu nation.

Shaka has been the subject of numerous novels, poems, films and TV series. Many have offered distorted versions of Zulu culture.

But the award-winning 2023 drama series Shaka iLembe seems different. It has been lauded by both critics and viewers for its epic storytelling and cultural authenticity. A second season is now streaming.

As scholars of isiZulu (the Zulu language) and Zulu culture we decided to analyse the first season of uShaka iLembe to see how faithful it is to aspects of Zulu culture.

Zulu people are the country’s largest ethnic grouping, with almost a quarter of South Africans speaking isiZulu as a mother tongue. Shaka’s legacy remains significant in South Africa’s history, symbolising both strength and controversial authority. His story and customs are a marker of Zulu culture.

Read more: Shaka Zulu is back in pop culture – how the famous king has been portrayed over the decades

So can a series like Shaka iLembe serve as a way of preserving this rich culture and language? We found it used various aspects of Zulu language and dress in a way that’s not only authentic, but could be effective for preserving Zulu culture, especially for a new generation.

The series

The series traces the origins of its main character, King Shaka, and the various extraordinary events and experiences that characterised his life. Other important characters include his mother Nandi, his brother King Dingiswayo and their rival King Zwide, all authentic historical figures.

Although Shaka iLembe is designed for entertainment, the producers have always emphasised that it’s a true reflection of the era and of Zulu culture, even though some scenes are fictional. Even historians are unclear on many details of Shaka’s early life and character.

Shaka iLembe features popular local stars and high production values and is filmed in rich natural landscapes in KwaZulu-Natal province, where many Zulu people live. It took about six years to make and the writers consulted widely with cultural and historical experts (including the late King Goodwill Zwelithini and Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi).

What really caught our interest was Shaka iLembe’s use of language and costumes.

Language

Nomzamo Mbatha plays Queen Nandi kaMbengi, Shaka’s mother. (Mzansi Magic/Bomb Productions)

Language is not just a means of communication, it’s an organiser of knowledge and a mirror of culture. As a social behaviour it reflects people’s cultural, political, economic, religious and ethnic backgrounds. So language is an important tool of identity for any nation. The Zulu nation takes great pride in its language, demonstrated by the use of a wide range of techniques in both oral and written forms.

What’s particularly visible in the growth and spread of isiZulu is the richness of figures of speech – the artistic use of the language through things like proverbs and idioms.

In Shaka iLembe proverbs, idioms and respectful language are not just linguistic flourishes – they are powerful tools of cultural expression, storytelling and characterisation. They enrich the series and ground it in the traditions of the Zulu people.

Proverbs

A proverb is a wise saying that’s generally thought to be true. Many hands make light work. Or, in isiZulu, Izandla ziya gezana (Hands wash each other). Proverbs are common in African languages, passed on by word of mouth through oral traditions.

Zulu proverbs preserve traditional wisdom, beliefs and lessons. They can do many things – advise people on how to behave and treat one another to live well and harmoniously; what to do in good or bad situations; warnings about things to be careful of.

We found that proverbs are often used in Shaka iLembe and these add authenticity to the series while also keeping traditional wisdom alive for modern audiences.

In one episode, for example, Shaka is having a conversation about his father rejecting him. His aunt, Mkabayi, tries to console him by telling him to persevere and using a proverb: “insimbi ibunjwa ngokugazingwa” (difficulties are meant to make you strong).

The series shows how proverbs are deeply rooted in cultural contexts and cannot be fully grasped outside them. For example, Shaka tells of an upcoming war and his mother Nandi says, “Ayihlome ihlasele. (Let it arm itself and attack.)” This saying means that his warriors should go ahead. She’s encouraging and supporting her son so he can be brave in battle.

Idioms

Dawn Thandeka King plays Mkabayi kaJama, a princess, politician and kingmaker of the Zulu. (Mzansi Magic/Bomb Productions)

An idiom is a figure of speech that has a meaning of its own that can’t be understood from its individual words.

Wishing someone will “break a leg”, for example, is used in the theatre to wish someone good luck. There isn’t an isiZulu equivalent because idioms are bound by their culture and language.

But there are many isiZulu idioms and Shaka iLembe makes use of these too.

A narrator, for example, calls the land of the nearby Ndwandwe people a place “izwe elingafelwa nkonyane (where even a calf does not die)”. A fertile, bounteous place. “Siyinkukhu nempaka (we are chicken and wild cat)” is how the relationship between Zulu and Qwabe people is described. They are enemies because they are so different: predator and prey.

Hlonipha language

In Zulu culture, hlonipha refers to a system of respectful behaviour. Respect was of great importance during the reign of Shaka and still holds value today. It takes different forms – it can be expressed in dress, behaviour or the way people speak. Those who were particularly expected to show respect included brides or women.

Shaka iLembe taps into this system. When it comes to language, certain words are spoken in a respectful manner rather than being bluntly stated. Chief Mayinga, for example, refers to alcohol as amankwebevu (grey hair) instead of the more blunt word utshwala.

Attire

Nations have their own unique ways of dressing and Shaka iLembe has done everything possible to accurately showcase how Zulu people used to dress. Married women and maidens, for example, decorated themselves differently, allowing others to easily distinguish between the two.

The use of traditional Zulu clothing in the series also provides an opportunity to demystify colonial perspectives. Leopard skin attire, for example, was not worn by just anyone, as colonial depictions of the Zulu might show. Indeed, in Shaka iLembe, only King Shaka adorns himself with leopard skin because only royalty was allowed to. It distinguished a king from ordinary people.

Why this matters

Since television is especially popular in urban areas and particularly among young people, it can play an important role in preserving culture for future generations.

TV has an impact on social behaviour – what is seen and heard on screen is often copied in real life. A series like Shaka iLembe helps to preserve isiZulu in a time of social media, shifting language use and the marginalisation of many indigenous African languages in social, economic and educational spaces.

Our study recommends an increased use of indigenous languages like isiZulu in the entertainment space, where Shaka iLembe shows that it can be a source of preservation and pride.

Bongephiwe Dlamini-Myeni is a senior lecturer at the University of Zululand. Postgraduate students Sibusiso Xhakaza, Nontobeko Ngqulunga and Lungile Mkhwanazi contributed to this research.
This article was originally published by The Conversation on 12 June 2025 under a Creative Commons licence.

The post Shaka iLembe: finally, a TV series on the Zulu king that’s true to language and culture appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

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English has been spoken in South Africa for more than 200 years, at least since the British military seized the Cape of Good Hope settlement from the Dutch in 1795 to keep the Cape out of the hands of revolutionary France, then a Dutch ally.

Since then South Africa’s everyday English has gradually absorbed many words from African languages.

These influences include Afrikaans, a South African language that grew out of a variety of Dutch spoken in the 1500s. South African English also borrows from African languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho and Setswana, and the indigenous languages of the Khoesan and Nama people.

Here and there are words imported by people from British, Portuguese and Dutch colonies: India, Mozambique, Malaysia and Indonesia. Later immigrants – people from Greece, Lebanon, Hungary, and European Jewish communities – added new words to local English.

English is the language of public life: government, business and the media. It’s estimated that half of South Africa’s people have a speaking knowledge of the language.

This glossary explains some of the words used when English is spoken in South Africa.

A: aardvark to aweh

aardvark (noun) – African burrowing mammal Orycteropus afer, with a tubular snout and long tongue which it uses to feed on ants and termites. From the Afrikaans aard (earth) and vark (pig).

aardwolf (noun) – African burrowing mammal Proteles cristatus, a member of the hyena family, which feeds mainly on termites. From the Afrikaans aard (earth) and wolf (wolf)

An aardwolf in the Hamerton Zoo in the UK. (Spencer Wright / CC BY 2.0)

abakwetha (noun, plural) – Young Xhosa men being initiated into manhood at initiation school. From the isiXhosa umkwetha, plural abakwetha.

abba (verb) – Carry an infant secured to your back with a blanket. From the Khoesan.

accrual (noun) – South African legal principle whereby a person going through a divorce may, if the value of their property has increased less than that of their spouse, claim at half of the difference in the accumulated value of their joint property.

Africanis (noun) – Indigenous African dog, thought to be related to other landrace dogs such as the dingo. Known for its intelligence, disease resistance and adaptation to its environment, the dog evolved in association with humans, instead of being artificially bred. The name was coined by University of KwaZulu-Natal expert Johan Gallant, from “Africa” and “canis”, the Latin for dog.

Afrikaans (noun) – South African language, developed out of the Dutch spoken in the country since the first Dutch East India Company settlement in the Cape, established in 1652. Afrikaans was considered a dialect of Dutch – known as “Cape Dutch” – until recognised as a language in the late 19th century. From the Dutch for “African”.

Afrikaner (noun) – Afrikaans-speaking South African. From the Dutch Afrikaan (an African).

Afrikaner (noun) – Indigenous South African Bos indicus breed of long-horned beef cattle.

ag (exclamation) – Expression of frustration, outrage, impatience or resignation: “Ag no! I spilled coffee on my keyboard again!”

Amakhosi (noun) – Affectionate term for the Kaizer Chiefs football club. From the isiZulu for “chiefs”.

amakhosi (noun, plural) – Traditional leaders; chiefs (plural). From the isiZulu.

amasi (noun) – Thick curdled milk, also known as maas; similar to yoghurt. A traditional drink, amasi is now produced commercially. From the isiXhosa and isiZulu.

Anglo-Boer War (noun) – War between the British and the Boers, the forebears of today’s Afrikaners, from 1899 to 1902. While strictly the Second Boer War – the first being fought from 1880 to 1881 – it was by far the more significant conflict. Today the Anglo-Boer War is better known as the South African War. This recognises that while the declared war was ostensibly between the British and Boers, other people – Africans and Indians – also took part, and were victims of the conflict.

Anglo-Zulu War (noun) – War between the British and the Zulus, fought in 1879. Most famous for the battle of Isandlwana, in which the British colonial army suffered their greatest single military defeat ever.

apartheid (noun) – Literally “apartness” in Afrikaans, apartheid was the policy of racial segregation implemented by the National Party from 1948 to 1994. It continued British colonial labour exploitation of South Africa’s black majority, and their exclusion from the country’s mainstream economic, educational and social life.

askies (exclamation) – Sorry, excuse me, I apologise. From the Afrikaans “ekskuus” (excuse me).

atchar (noun) – A spicy relish of Indian origin, much like a mix between chutney and a pickle and usually made from green mangoes. From Persian.

aweh (exclamation) – Enthusiastic yes, absolutely.

B: babbelas to bushveld

babbelas (noun) – Hangover. From the isiZulu ibhabhalazi (hangover).

bagel (noun) – Overly groomed materialistic young man, and the male version of a kugel. From the Yiddish word for the pastry.

bakgat (exclamation and adjective) – Fantastic, cool, awesome. From the Afrikaans.

bakkie (noun) – Utility truck, pick-up truck. Diminutive of the Afrikaans bak (container).

Basotho (noun, plural) – The South Sotho people, principally those living in Lesotho. The singular is Mosotho.

Downtown Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The demonym for the country’s citizens is Basotho. (Stefan Krasowski / CC BY 2.0)

berg (noun) – Mountain. From the Afrikaans.

bergie (noun, derogatory) – Originally referred to homeless people who sheltered in the forests of Cape Town’s Table Mountain. It’s now a derogatory word for homeless people, generally. From the Afrikaans berg (mountain).

big five, the (noun) – Africa’s famous five wildlife species: lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino.

biltong (noun) – Dried and salted meat, similar to beef jerky, although it can be made from ostrich, kudu or any other red meat. The privations of early white colonialism made drying and salting, often with vinegar and spices, an essential means of preserving meat. From the Afrikaans, originally from the Dutch bil (rump) and tong (strip or tongue).

bioscope (noun, dated) – Cinema or movie theatre, originally a word widespread in Commonwealth countries such as South Africa and Australia that, although generally out of use, has survived longer in South Africa because of the influence of the Afrikaans bioskoop.

biscuit (noun) – Both a cookie and a term of affection for a person.

bittereinder (noun) – Bitter-ender or diehard; Boer who refused to surrender and continued to resist after defeat at the end of the Anglo-Boer War.

blesbok (noun) – South African antelope Damaliscus dorcas phillipsi, with a reddish-brown coat and prominent white blaze on the face. From the Afrikaans bles (blaze) and bok (buck).

bliksem (verb and noun) – To beat up, hit or punch – or a mischievous person. From the Afrikaans for “lightning”. See donder.

blooming (adjective and adverb) – Very, extremely, used with irritation: “My laptop’s a blooming mess after I spilled coffee on the keyboard.”

bobotie (noun) – Dish of Malay origin, made with minced meat and spices, and topped with an egg sauce. The recipe arrived in South Africa during the country’s Dutch occupation, via slaves from Dutch East India Company colonies in Jakarta, in today’s Indonesia. From the Indonesian bobotok.

boekenhout (noun) – The Cape beech tree Rapanea melanophloeos, or its wood. From the Afrikaans beuk (beech) and hout (wood).

boep (noun) – Pot belly, paunch; generally associated with the conformation of older – or beer-drinking – men. Shortened form of the Afrikaans boepens (paunch), from the Dutch boeg (bow of ship) and pens (stomach).

boer (noun) – Farmer. From the Afrikaans and Dutch.

Boer (noun) – Member of a nation descended from the Dutch settlers who arrived in South Africa in 1652, with some intermingling with French Huguenots, German immigrants, indigenous people and others. The Boers trekked by oxwagon from the Cape into the South African hinterland, formed short-lived republics, and went on to fight a major war with the British empire, the Anglo-Boer War. Today’s white Afrikaners are the descendants of the Boers. From the Afrikaans and Dutch for “farmer”.

Boer Goat (noun) – Hardy and productive South African goat breed, a cross between indigenous and European goat types. From the Afrikaans boer (farmer).

Boerboel, Boerbul, Boerbul (noun) – Large and powerful South African breed of dog, crossbred from the Mastiff and indigenous breeds such as the Africanis and Ridgeback, originally for farm work. From the Afrikaans boer (farmer) and Dutch bul (Mastiff).

boerewors (noun) – Savoury sausage developed by the Boers, the forebears of today’s Afrikaners, some 200 years ago, and still popular at braais across South Africa. Also known as wors. From the Afrikaans boer (farmer) and wors (sausage, Dutch worst).

Boerperd (noun) – South African horse breed, the product of cross-breeding indigenous horses with breeds introduced by early European settlers. From the Afrikaans boer (farmer) and perd (horse).

boet (noun) – Term of affection, from the Afrikaans for “brother”.

bok (noun) – Buck. From the Afrikaans.

bokkom, bokkem (noun) – South African salted fish hung on an outdoor rack for wind-drying – a kind of fish biltong. From the Dutch bokking, bokkem (smoked herring).

Bokkom for sale in a Western Cape farm shop. (Andy Carter / CC BY 2.0)

boma (noun) – In South Africa, an open thatched structure used for dinners, entertainment and parties. Originally a form of log fortification used to keep livestock in or enemies out. The word is used across Africa and is of uncertain origin.

bonsella (noun) – Bonus, surprise gift, something extra, or bribe. From the isiZulu bansela (offer a gift in gratitude).

Bonsmara (noun) – South African breed of beef cattle, cross-bred for both hardiness in local conditions and high production from Shorthorn, Hereford and indigenous Afrikaner cattle. The name comes from Professor Jan Bonsma, who developed the breed, and the Mara research station where it was first produced.

bontebok (noun) – African antelope (Damaliscus dorcas dorcas) with a white-and-brown hide, related to the blesbok. From the Afrikaans bont (pied) and bok (buck).

boom (noun) – Marijuana, dagga. From the Afrikaans for “tree”.

bosberaad (noun) – Strategy meeting or conference, usually held in a remote bushveld location such as a game farm. From the Afrikaans bos (bush) and raad (council).

brah (noun) – Brother, friend, mate. Shortening of “brother”.

braai (noun) – Meat cooked outside; equivalent of barbeque. From the Afrikaans for “roast”.

bredie (noun) – Originally mutton stew, introduced by Malay slaves brought to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company. It now refers to any kind of stew. Tomato bredie – stewed tomato and onions served with pap at a braai – is a favourite. From the Afrikaans, originally perhaps from the Portuguese bredo.

broekie lace (noun) – Ornate wooden or metal fretwork found on the verandahs of Victorian and Edwardian houses, mainly in the Western Cape. “Broekie” is Afrikaans for panties.

bru (noun) – Term of affection, shortened from Afrikaans and Dutch broer, meaning “brother”.

Buccaneers (noun) – Affectionate term for the Orlando Pirates football team. From the historical word for “pirate”.

bunny chow (noun) – Curry served in a hollowed-out half-loaf of bread, with the hollowed-out piece of bread placed on top. The dish originated in Durban’s immigrant Indian community, who arrived in what was then the colony of Natal from 1860 onwards.
It is believed that bunny chow was a convenient food on the go for Indian labourers working in the colony’s sugarcane plantations.
“Chow” is a South African informal for food, perhaps from “chow-chow”, a relish that gets its name from the French chou (cabbage). The origin of “bunny” in bunny chow is, according to one theory, that the meal was first sold at a Durban restaurant run by Banias, an Indian caste. Also see “kota“.

Bushman (noun) – Member of a population group indigenous to southern Africa, with a far deeper history than any other settlers in the region. Bushmen are also known as San. There is some debate on the political correctness of the use of “San” versus “Bushman”.

bushveld (noun) – South Africa’s tropical savannah ecoregion, a terrain of thick scrubby trees and bush in dense thickets, with grassy ground cover between. From the Afrikaans bos (bush) and veld (field).

C: café to cousin

café, caffee (noun) – Convenience store, similar to a bodega. See spaza shop.

A Casspir armoured vehicle on display at Ysterplaat Air Force Base in Cape Town. (Bob Adams / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Casspir (noun) – South African armoured vehicle, infamously deployed in townships during the anti-apartheid uprisings of the 1980s. Originally designed as a landmine-proof vehicle for use in South Africa’s border war with Angola, in the same era. Casspir is an anagram of SAP and CSIR: the customer was the South African Police (SAP), and the developer the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

chakalaka (noun) – a spicy vegetable dish traditionally served as a sauce or relish with bread, pap, samp, stews or curries

check you (exclamation) – Goodbye, see you later.

china (noun) – Friend, mate. From the Cockney rhyming slang “china plate” = “mate”.

chiskop, chizkop, cheesekop, kaaskop (noun) – Bald person, particularly one with a shaved head. Kop is Afrikaans for head; the origin of the chis part is unclear. Otherwise known as kaaskop; kaas is Afrikaans for “cheese”.

chommie (noun) – Friend, mate. From the UK English chum, with the Afrikaans diminutive “ie”.

chop (noun) – Fool, idiot; often used affectionately.

Clever Boys, the (noun) – Affectionate term for the University of the Witwatersrand football club, Wits FC.

cooldrink, colddrink (noun) – Sweet fizzy drink such as Coca-Cola.

cousin, cuzzy (noun) – Friend, mate.

D: dagga to dwaal

dagga (noun) – Marijuana. From the Khoesan dachab.

dagha (noun) – Building mortar or plaster traditionally made with mud mixed with cow-dung and blood. Today it also refers to regular cement mortar and plaster. From the isiZulu and isiXhosa udaka (clay, mud).

dassie (noun) – Rock hyrax or Cape hyrax (Procavia capensis), a small herbivore that lives in mountainous habitats. From the Afrikaans das (badger).

deurmekaar (adjective) – Confused, disorganised or stupid, from the Afrikaans word of the same meaning.

dinges (noun) – Thing, thingamabob, whatzit, whatchamacallit, whatsizname or person with a forgotten name: “When is dinges coming around?” From the Afrikaans and Dutch ding (thing).

An unnamed man is photographed with his dompas in 1985. (UN Photo / CC BY-NC-ND)

doek (noun) – Woman’s head scarf. From the Afrikaans.

dolos (noun) – Blocks of concrete in an H-shape, with one arm rotated through 90º. The dolos is a South African invention, with the interlocking blocks piled together to protect harbour seawalls and preserve beaches from erosion. The word comes from the Afrikaans for the knuckle bones in a sheep’s leg. The plural is dolosse.

dompas (noun) – Passbook black South Africans were required by law to carry at all times in “white” urban areas during the apartheid era. From the Afrikaans dom (dumb, stupid) and pas (pass).

donga (noun) – Ditch or deep fissure caused by severe soil erosion. From the isiZulu and isiXhosa udonga.

donner (verb) – Hit, beat up. From the Afrikaans donder (thunder). See bliksem.

dop (noun and verb) – Small tot of alcoholic drink. Also failure: “I dopped the test.” From the Afrikaans.

dorp (noun) – Small rural town. From the Afrikaans and Dutch dorp (village).

droë wors (noun) – Dried boerewors, similar to biltong. From the Afrikaans droe (dry) and wors (sausage).

Durbs (noun) – The city of Durban.

dwaal (noun and verb) – Lack of concentration or focus: “Sorry, I was in a bit of a dwaal. Could you repeat that?” Or, as a verb: “I was dwaaling down the street, going nowhere.” From the Afrikaans for err, wander or roam.

E: Egoli to ekasi

Egoli (noun) – Johannesburg, and the title of a local soap opera set in the city. From the isiXhosa and isiZulu for “place of gold”; Johannesburg is historically South Africa’s primary gold-producing area, and the country’s richest city.

eina (exclamation and adjective) – Ouch! or Ow! Can also mean “sore”. Example (exclamation): “Eina! I just cut my finger.” Example (adjective): “That cut was eina.” From the Khoesan /é + //náu.

eish (exclamation) – Expression of surprise, wonder, frustration or outrage. Example: “Eish! That cut was eina!” From the isiXhosa and isiZulu.

ekasi See kasie

F: Fanagolo to fynbos

Black, white and Chinese labourers in a South African gold mine some time between 1890 and 1923. The pidgin language Fanakolo developed to allow communication between the many different people brought to work on the mines. (Carpenter Collection, US Library of Congress)

Fanagolo, Fanakolo (noun) – Pidgin language that grew up mainly on South Africa’s gold mines to allow communication between white supervisors and African labourers during the colonial and apartheid era. It combines elements of the Nguni languages, English, and Afrikaans. From the Nguni fana ka lo, from fana (be like) and the possessive suffix -ka + lo (this).

fixed up (exclamation) – That’s good, yes, sorted. Example: “Let’s meet at the restaurant.” The reply: “Fixed up.”

flog (verb) – Sell. “I’ve had enough of this laptop. I think it’s time I flogged it.”

for sure, sure, sure-sure (exclamation) – Yes; general affirmative.

frikkadel (noun) – Meatball or rissole. From the Afrikaans, originally from the French fricandeau (fried sliced meat served with sauce).

fundi (noun) – Expert. From the Nguni umfundisi (teacher, preacher).

fynbos (noun) – “Fine bush” in Afrikaans, fynbos is a vegetation type unique to the Cape Floral Region – a Unesco World Heritage Site – made up of some 6 000 plant species, including many types of protea.

G: gatvol to Griqualand

gatvol (adjective) – Fed up. From the Afrikaans.

gemsbok (noun) – Large African antelope (Oryx gazella) with long, straight horns. From the Afrikaans gems (chamois, a European goat-antelope) and bok (buck).

gogga, goggo (noun) – Insect, bug. From the Khoikhoi xo-xon.

A gogga. (Pimthida / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

gogo (noun) – Grandmother or elderly woman. From the isiZulu.

gramadoelas (noun) – Wild or remote country. From the Afrikaans, perhaps originally from the isiXhosa and isiZulu induli (hillock).

grand apartheid (noun) – The most systematic and rigid implementation of apartheid, such as the creation of the “homelands” under the policy of “separate development”, during the 1960s and 1970s.

graze (verb) – Eat.

Griqua (noun, plural and singular) – South African population group, or a member of that group, descended from a mix of early (from 1652) European blood with that of the indigenous Khokhoi, San and Tswana. They generally speak Afrikaans, and have their own church, the Protestant Griqua Church. “Griqua” is a Nama word.

Griqualand (noun) – Two South African regions historically occupied by the Griqua. Griqualand East, on the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal frontier, was settled by Adam Kok III and over 2 000 Griquas after a trek across the Drakensberg mountains in 1861. Today the region is centred around the town of Kokstad (Kok’s city). Griqualand West is the area around Kimberley, the capital of the Northern Cape. “Griqua” is a Nama word.

H: hamerkop to howzit

Howzit Kitty! (JD Hancock / CC BY 2.0)

hamerkop (noun) – South African marsh bird (Scopus umbretta), related to the storks, with a prominent crest on the head. From the Afrikaans hamer (hammer) and kop (head).

Hanepoot (noun) – Sweet wine made from the muscat blanc d’Alexandrie grape cultivar, and an alternate name for this cultivar.

hang of a (adjective) – Very or big, as in: “It’s hang of a difficult” or “I had a hang of a problem”.

hey (exclamation) – Expression that can be used as a standalone question meaning “pardon?” or “what?” – “Hey? What did you say?” Or it can be used to prompt affirmation or agreement, as in “It was a great film, hey?”

homelands (noun) – The spurious “independent” states in which black South Africans were forced to take citizenship under the policy of apartheid. Also known as bantustans.

howzit (exclamation) – Common South African greeting that translates roughly as “How are you?”, “How are things?” or just “Hello”. From “How is it?”

I: imbizo to isiZulu

imbizo (noun) – Gathering called by a traditional leader, or any meeting or workshop. From the isiZulu biza (call, summon)

imbongi (noun) – Traditional praise singer. From the isiXhosa and isiZulu.

indaba (noun) – Conference or expo. From the isiZulu and isiXhosa for “matter” or “discussion”.

inyanga (noun) – Traditional herbalist and healer. From the Nguni.

is it (exclamation) – Is that so?

Iscamtho, isiCamtho (noun) – Tsotsitaal (gangster language), a widely-spoken township patois made up of an amalgam of words from isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans and some English. From the isiZulu camto (speak).

isiNdebele (noun) – Nguni language of the Ndebele people.

isiXhosa (noun) – Nguni language of the Xhosa people.

isiZulu (noun) – Nguni language of the Zulu people.

J: ja to just now

Johannesburg, a city also known as Joeys, Jozi and Egoli. (South African Tourism / CC BY 2.0)

ja (exclamation) – Yes. From the Afrikaans.

jawelnofine (exclamation) – Literally, “yes (ja in Afrikaans), well, no, fine”, all in a single word. An expression of resignation or puzzlement similar to “How about that?”

jislaaik (exclamation) – Expression of outrage, surprise or consternation: “Jislaaik, I spilled coffee on my laptop!” From the Afrikaans.

Joburg (noun) – Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city. Once informal, it is now used on the City of Johannesburg logo.

Joeys (noun) – Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city

jol (noun, verb and adjective) – Celebration, fun, party (noun); celebrate, have fun, party, dance and drink (verb). A person who does these things is a joller. From the Afrikaans for “dance” or “party”; perhaps related to “jolly”. Occasionally spelled “jawl” or “jorl”.

Jozi (noun) – Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city

just now (adverb) – Soonish, not immediately.

K: kaaskop to kwela-kwela

kaaskop, chiskop, chizkop, cheesekop (noun) – Bald person, or person with a shaved head. “Kop” is Afrikaans for head. “Kaas” is the Afrikaans for cheese. Why “cheese head” means bald person is not clear.

kasie (noun) – Shortened form of the Afrikaans lokasie (location), the older word for township – the low-income dormitory suburbs outside cities and towns to which black South Africans were confined during the apartheid era.

Kasie street scene. (Jason Sayer / CC BY-ND 2.0)

khaya (noun) – Home. From the Nguni group of languages.

Khoekhoe (noun) – Standardised spelling of “Khoikhoi” in the Khoekhoe Nama languages.

Khoikhoi [also Quena] (noun) – Indigenous Khoesan people living in southwestern South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, including the Nama, and their languages. From the Nama for “people people” or “real people”.

Khoisan (noun) – Collective term for the Khoi and San people of South Africa. Also Khoesan.

kiepersol (noun) – Cabbage tree. From the Afrikaans, originally perhaps from the obsolete Indian English kittisol (parasol). The tree has some resemblance to an umbrella.

kif (adjective) – Cool, good, enjoyable. From the Arabic kayf (enjoyment, wellbeing).

kikoi (noun) – Patterned cotton cloth. From the Kiswahili.

Kiswahili (noun) – Swahili, the language.

knobkierie (noun) – Fighting stick with a knob on the business end. From the Afrikaans knop (knob) and the Khoesan kirri or keeri, (stick).

koeksuster (noun) – Also spelled koeksister. Traditional Malay and Afrikaner sweet, made from twisted yeast dough, deep fried and dipped in syrup. The right-wing enclave of Orania in the Northern Cape even has its own statue to the koeksister. The word comes from the Dutch koek (cake) and sissen (to sizzle).

koki (noun) – Coloured marker or felt-tip pen. From a local brand name.

kombi (noun) – Minibus taxi. From the Volkswagen proprietary name Kombi, from the German Kombiwagen. Volkswagen minibuses were the first used in the initial stages of South Africa’s minibus taxi transport revolution of the early 1980s, although today other vehicle makes are used.

konfyt (noun) – Sweet fruit preserve. From the Afrikaans, originally from the Dutch konfit.

koppie (noun) – Small hill. From the Afrikaans.

korhaan (noun) – Group of species of long-legged African bird (genus Eupodotis) found in open country. From the Dutch korhaan (black male grouse), from korren (too coo) and haan (cock).

A korhaan in the Kruger National Park. (Bernard Dupont / CC BY SA 2.0)

kota (noun) – A quarter loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with combinations of atchar, polony (Bologna), Russian sausages, slap chips, cheese, eggs, chilli sauce and more. A street food variant of the more suburban bunny chow. From the English “quarter”.

kraal (noun) – Enclosure for livestock, or a rural village of huts surrounded by a stockade. The word may come from the Portuguese curral (corral), or from the Dutch kraal (bead), as in the beads of a necklace – kraals are generally round in shape.

krans (noun) – Cliff; overhanging wall of rock. From the Afrikaans.

kudu (noun) – Large African antelope (Tragelaphus strepsiceros and Tragelaphus imberbis). From the Afrikaans koedoe, originally from the isiXhosa i-qudu.

kwaito (noun) – Music of South Africa’s urban black youth, which first emerged in the 1990s. Kwaito is a mixture of South African disco, hip hop, R&B, ragga, and a heavy dose of house music beats. From the Tsotsitaal or township informal amakwaitosi (gangster).

kwela (noun) – Popular form of township music from the 1950s, based on the pennywhistle – a cheap and simple instrument used by street performers. The term kwela comes from the isiZulu for “get up” or “climb on”, also township slang for police vans, the kwela-kwela. It is said that the young men who played the pennywhistle on street corners also acted as lookouts to warn those drinking in illegal shebeens of the arrival of the cops.

kwela-kwela (noun) – Police van, or minibus taxi. From the isiXhosa and isiZulu for “climb on”.

L: laatlammetjie to loerie

Central Johannesburg at night, without loadshedding. (Pascal Parent / CC BY NC-ND)

laatlammetjie (noun) – Youngest child of a family, born to older parents and much younger than their siblings. The word means “late lamb” in Afrikaans.

laduma! (exclamation) – A yell to celebrate a goal scored in a football match, from the isiZulu for “it thunders”.

lapa (noun) – Open-sided enclosure, usually roofed with thatch, used as an outdoor entertainment area. From the Sesotho for “homestead” or “courtyard”.

lappie (noun) – Cleaning cloth. From the Afrikaans, originally from the Dutch for “rag” or “cloth”.

lekgotla (noun) – Planning or strategy session. From the Setswana for “meeting” or “meeting place”.

lekker (adjective and adverb) – Nice, good, great, cool or tasty. From the Afrikaans.

load-shedding (noun) – Planned electricity blackout in a specific area, to relieve pressure on South Africa’s national power grid.

location (noun) – South African township; lokasie or kasie in Afrikaans.

loerie (noun) – Number of species of large fruit-eating African bird (genus Tauraco and others). From the Afrikaans, originally from the Malay luri (parrot).

loskop (noun) – A ditz, a scatterbrain. Afrikaans for “loose head” or “lost head”.

M: maas to Mzansi

maas, amasi (noun) – Thick curdled milk, similar to yoghurt. Maas is both made at home and can be bought ready-made. From the isiXhosa and isiZulu.

Madiba (noun) – Affectionate name for Nelson Mandela, and the name of his clan.

madumbe (noun) – South African potato-like tuber (Colocasia esculenta and Colocasia antiquorum), cultivated mostly in KwaZulu-Natal, greyish in colour and rather tasty. From the isiZulu amadumbe.

makarapa (noun) – A plastic miner’s helmet cut, moulded and painted to make headgear worn by fans at football matches. From isiXhosa.

mal (adjective) – Mad. from the Afrikaans.

mama (noun) – An affectionate or polite name for older women.

mamba (noun) – Species of large and venomous African snake – the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis), the green mamba (Dendroaspis angustipecs), and other species. From the isiZulu imamba.

mampara (noun) – An idiot; a stupid or silly person. The Sunday Times newspaper shames wrongdoers in public life with its Mampara of the Week award. From Fanagolo.

mampoer (noun) – Strong brandy made from peaches or other fruit, similar to moonshine. An Afrikaans word with uncertain etymology; perhaps from the Pedi chief Mampuru. See witblitz.

A mampoer still in the town of Groot Marico, North West province. (South African Tourism / CC BY 2.0)

marula, maroela (noun) – South African woodland tree (Sclerocarya birrea caffra) with sweet yellow fruit. The fruit is now used in a locally produced commercial liqueur marketed as Amarula. From the Sesotho morula.

Matabele (noun) – Nguni-language-speaking people of Zimbabwe, and the majority population group in that country.

mbube (noun) – Style of South African township music developed in the 1940s by Zulu migrants to urban areas. The first example of the style was the song Mbube by Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds. The song was copied as Wimoweh by Pete Seeger in 1952, and as The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens in 1961. It also featured in Disney’s hit animated film The Lion King. Solomon Linda died in 1962 with less than R100 in his bank account. His family couldn’t afford a headstone for his grave. The song is said to have generated some US$15-million in royalties. Linda’s descendants were only compensated for seven decades of copyright infringement in 2007, for an undisclosed amount. “Mbube” is isiZulu for “lion”.

mealie (noun) – Maize or corn. A mealie is a maize cob, and mealie meal is maize meal, mostly cooked into pap, South Africa’s staple food. From the Afrikaans mielie.

melktert (noun) – “Milk tart”, a traditional Afrikaner dessert. From the Afrikaans.

MK (noun) – Abbreviation of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the African National Congress army in exile.

mlungu (noun) – White person. From the Nguni. The plural is abelungu.

moegoe (noun) – Fool, buffoon, idiot or simpleton. From Afrikaans and Tsotsitaal.

moer (verb) – Hit, punch, beat up. From the Afrikaans “murder”.

mokoro (noun) – Dugout canoe used in Botswana.

mopani, mopane (noun) – South African tree of the northern bushveld, Colophospermun mopane, and the bioregion associated with the tree.

mopani worm (noun) – Moth caterpillar that feeds on the leaves of the mopani tree. Fried, the caterpillar is also a traditional dish.

morogo (noun) – Spinach; more specifically African spinach. From the Setswana and Sesotho “wild spinach” or “vegetables”.

Mosotho (noun) – A South Sotho person. The plural is Basotho.

mossie (noun) – Cape sparrow or house sparrow, but sometimes used to refer to any small undistinguished wild bird. From the Afrikaans, originally from the Dutch mosje, a diminutive of mos (sparrow).

mozzie (noun) – mosquito.

muti, muthi (noun) – Medicine, typically indigenous African medicine, from the isiZulu umuthi.

Mzansi (noun) – South Africa. From the isiXhosa for “south”.

N: naartjie to now-now

An Nguni cow showing the breed’s distinctive patterned hide, on a beach in Morgan’s Bay on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape. (GarethPhoto / CC BY NC-ND 2.0)

naartjie (noun) – Tangerine (Citrus reticulata). From the Afrikaans, originally from the Tamil nārattai.

Nama, Namaqua, Namaqualander (noun) – Khoikhoi people of South Africa’s Northern Cape province and southwest Namibia, one of those people, and the language they speak. From the Nama word for themselves.

Namaqualand (noun) – Arid region of South Africa’s Northern Cape province and southwestern Namibia, inhabited largely by the Nama people and known for its annual explosion of desert flowers.

Namaqualand daisy (noun) – South African daisy Dimorphotheca sinuate, with bright yellow, orange or white flowers, which once a year carpets the arid northwest region of Namaqualand with colour.

Ndebele (noun) – Two groups on Nguni people, one found in southwest Zimbabwe and the other in northeast South Africa, or a member of one of these groups. Their language is isiNdebele.

nê (exclamation) – “Really?”, “Oh yeah?” or “Is that so?”. Used sarcastically or as an invitation to agreement, similar to “yes?”, as in: “This is a lekker kota, nê?” From the Afrikaans.

Nguni (noun) – Breed of indigenous South African long-horned cattle (Bos indicus) long associated with the Zulu and Xhosa people, with beautiful and varied black, brown, white and tan patterns on their hide.

Nguni (noun) – Wide and diverse group of people who speak Bantu languages, or one of these languages, living mainly in southern Africa. Nguni peoples include the Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi (also known as Swati), with the corresponding languages of isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiNdebele and siSwati.

Nkone (noun) – Breed of indigenous long-horned Zebu (Bos indicus) beef cattle, with a piebald hide.

now-now (adverb) – Shortly, in a bit: “I’ll be there now-now.”

O: oke to oribi

oke, ou (noun) – Man, similar to guy or bloke. The word ou can be used interchangeably. From the Afrikaans ou (old).

ola (exclamation) – Hello, greetings, how are you.

oribi (noun) – Small African antelope (Ourebia ourebi) with a reddish tan back and white underparts.

P: pap to protea

pap (noun) – Porridge made from mealie meal (maize meal) cooked with water and salt to a fairly stiff consistency – “stywepap” being the stiffest. The staple food of South Africa. “Pap” can also mean weak or tired. From the Afrikaans.

papsak (noun) – Cheap box wine sold in its foil container, without the box. From the Afrikaans pap (soft) and sak (sack).

pasop (verb) – Beware or watch out. From the Afrikaans.

Perlé (noun) – Semi-sweet, slightly sparkly and somewhat cheap South African wine. From the German Perlwein (slightly sparkling wine).

The flat land of the platteland. A misty road in the Karoo. (Johann Barnard / CC BY NC-ND 2.0)

perlemoen (noun) – Abalone (Haliotis midae), a large shellfish much like a giant mussel. A delicacy, perlemoen fetch a high price internationally, putting the species under constant threat from poachers.From the Middle Dutch perlemoeder, mother of pearl: perl means pearl, moeder means mother.

phuza (noun) – Alcohol, liquor. “Phuza face” describes a person with a face puffy and bloated from drinking. From the isiXhosa and isiZulu, “drink”.

piet-my-vrou (noun) – The red-chested cuckoo (Cuculus solitarus). The name, mimicking the bird’s call, means “Peter my wife” in Afrikaans.

platteland (noun) – Farmland, countryside. Literally “flat land” in Afrikaans (plat means flat), it now refers to any rural area in which agriculture takes place.

potjie (noun) – Rounded and three-legged cast-iron pot, with a lid, used for cooking stew over an open fire. From the Afrikaans diminutive for “pot”.

potjiekos (noun) – Food – mostly long-stewed meat and vegetables – cooked in a potjie. A potjie, in Afrikaans, is a three-legged cast-iron pot used for cooking over an open fire; kos is Afrikaans for “food”.

protea (noun) – Group of South African fynbos plant species (genus Protea) with distinctive cone-like flower heads. The king protea is the country’s national flower.

Q: quagga to quiver tree

quagga (noun) – Extinct South African zebra (Equus quagga), with stripes only on its forequarters and a reddish-brown hide behind its stripes, native to South Africa’s Cape provinces. The species was indiscriminately hunted in the colonial era, until its last living specimen died at the Amsterdam zoo on 12 August 1883.

Quena (noun) – Khoikhoi

quiver tree (noun) – Tree-like aloe plant (Aloe dichotoma), mostly found in the desert regions of Namibia and South Africa’s Northern Cape province. The plant’s branches were used by the San Bushmen to make quivers for their arrows.

R: rand to rooinek

Red ants remove people’s belongings during a mass eviction at Fatti Mansions in Hillbrow, Johannesburg in July 2017. (YouTube)

rand (noun) – South Africa’s currency, made up of 100 cents. The name comes from the Witwatersrand (Dutch for “white waters ridge”), the region in Gauteng province in which most of the country’s gold deposits are found.

ratel (noun) – Honey badger, (Mellivora capensis). Found throughout Africa, as well as in the Middle East and Asia, the ratel is one of the world’s smallest but fiercest carnivores. The animal has been classed the world’s most fearless animal for many years. “Ratel” is also the name given to the basic infantry fighting vehicle of the South African military’s mechanised infantry battalions.

red ants (noun) – Security forces used by the Johannesburg city council to evict people from shacks, flats and other dwellings. The name comes from the red overalls they wear.

Ridgeback (noun) – Formerly Rhodesian Ridgeback, a breed of southern African dog developed from a mix indigenous dogs such as the Africanis and sturdy working European breeds. The Ridgeback has short reddish fur, rising to a distinctive ridge on its back.

robot (noun) – Traffic lights.

rock up (verb) – Arrive somewhere, often unannounced or uninvited. Example: “I was going to go out but then my china rocked up.”

rooibos (noun) – Afrikaans for “red bush”, this popular South African tea made from the Cyclopia genistoides bush is gaining worldwide popularity for its health benefits.

rooinek (noun) – English-speaking white South African, from the Afrikaans for “red neck”. It was first coined by Afrikaners to refer to immigrants from England, whose white necks were particularly prone to sunburn. See soutpiel.

S: samoosa to Swazi

samoosa (noun) – Small, spicy, triangular-shaped savoury pie deep-fried in oil, introduced to South Africa by the Indian and Malay communities. In the UK they are called “samosas”. From the Persian and Urdu.

San (noun) – Southern African Bushmen, a member of that group, or their language. From the Nama sān (meaning “aboriginals”, “settlers” or gatherers). There is some debate on the use of “San” versus “Bushman”.

sangoma (noun) – Traditional healer or diviner. From the isiZulu isangoma.

sarmie (noun) – Sandwich.

scale, scaly (verb and adjective) – To scale something means to steal it. A scaly person is not to be trusted.

separate development (noun) – Grand apartheid euphemism for segregation and the “homelands” policy. The argument was that the different races, separated in a single country, would be allowed to develop according to their own ability and culture. The reality was gross exploitation and poverty for black South Africans, and undeserved and unbalanced prosperity for the country’s white people.

Sepedi (noun) – Another name for Sesotho sa Leboa, the Northern Sotho language of the Basotho people.

Sesotho (noun) – Southern Sotho language of the Basotho people.

Sesotho sa Leboa (noun) – Northern Sotho (literally “Sotho of the north”) language of the Basotho people. Identified in Founding Provisions of the South African Constitution, which deals in part with language rights, as “Sepedi”.

Setswana (noun) – Bantu language of the Tswana people.

shame (exclamation) – Broadly denotes sympathetic feeling or pleasure. Someone admiring a baby, kitten or puppy might say: “Ag shame!” to emphasise its cuteness. Also used to express sympathy. As writer Jacob Dlamini says: “Only in South Africa would people use the word shame when a baby is born (“Shame, what a beautiful baby!”); when that baby falls and hurts itself (“Shame, poor thing!”) and when that baby dies (“Ag shame, what a shame!”). To us, shame is just one of those words that have become something of an omnibus. We use it to mean whatever we want it to mean.”

sharp (exclamation) – Often doubled up for effect as “sharp-sharp!”, the word is used as a greeting, a farewell, for agreement or just to express enthusiasm.

shebeen (noun) – Township tavern, illegal under the apartheid regime, often set up in a private house. Similar to a US prohibition-era speakeasy. From the 18th-century Anglo-Irish síbín, from séibe, “mugful”.

Shona (noun) – A member of a Bantu-language-speaking group of people found in northern parts of South Africa, but mostly in southern Zimbabwe, and their language.

Songololo. (Marco Zanferrari / CC BY SA 2.0)

shongololo, songololo (noun) – Large brown millipede, from the isiXhosa and isiZulu ukushonga (to roll up).

shot (noun) – Good, yes, it’s been done.

shweet (noun) – Good, yes.

siSwati (noun) – Nguni language of the Swazi people.

sjambok (noun and verb) – Stout leather whip made from animal hide. As verb, to hit someone or something with the whip. From the Dutch tjambok, from the Urdu chābuk.

skelm (noun and adverb) – Shifty or untrustworthy person; a criminal. As an adverb, to do something on the sly. From the Afrikaans, from the Dutch schelm.

skinner (noun and verb) – Gossip, to gossip. A person who gossips is known as a skinnerbek (gossip mouth). From the Afrikaans.

skollie (noun) – Gangster, criminal, from the Greek skolios, crooked.

skop, skiet en donner (noun) – Action movie. Taken from Afrikaans, it literally means “kick, shoot and beat up”.

skrik (noun) – Fright: “I caught a big skrik” means “I got a big fright”. From the Afrikaans.

skrik vir niks (adjective) – Scared of nothing. From the Afrikaans.

slap chips chips) (noun) – French fries, usually soft, oily and vinegar-drenched. Slap is Afrikaans for “limp”.

smokes (noun) – Cigarettes.

snoek (noun) – A fish (Thyrsites atun) of the southern oceans. From the Afrikaans.

snotsiekte (noun) – Malignant catarrhal fever, a disease to which wildebeest are prone, characterised by excessive production of nasal mucous, or snot. From the Afrikaans snot (snot) and siekte (sickness).

sosatie (noun) – Kebab on a stick. Afrikaans, from the South African Dutch sasaattje, from the Javanese sesate. Java, like the Cape, was a Dutch East India Company colony.

Sotho (noun) – Member of a group of people living mainly in Lesotho, Botswana and the northern parts of South Africa, and their languages.

South African War (noun) – Modern term for the Anglo-Boer War of 1880 to 1881, to more accurately reflect that while the named combatants were the British and Boers, other communities – such as Africans and Indians – also took part.

soutpiel (noun) – English-speaking white South African, literally “salty penis” in Afrikaans. The idea is the soutpiel has one foot in South Africa, the other in England, with the penis dipped in the ocean between. See rooinek.

Soweto (noun) – South Africa’s largest township, in the south of the City of Johannesburg municipality. From the abbreviation of South Western Townships.

Base jumping off the Orlando Towers in Soweto. (Annette Lyn O’Neil / CC BY NC-ND)

spanspek (noun) – Cantaloupe, an orange-fleshed melon. The word comes from the Afrikaans Spaanse spek, meaning “Spanish bacon”. The story goes that Juana Smith, the Spanish wife of 19th-century Cape governor Harry Smith, ate melon instead of bacon for breakfast, and her Afrikaans-speaking servants coined the word.

spaza shop (noun) – Convenience store, similar to a bodega. From slang for “camouflaged”. See cafe.

spookgerook (adjective) – Literally, in Afrikaans, ghost-smoked – mad, paranoid or high.

springbok (noun) – South African gazelle Antidorcas marsupialis, known for leaping in the air (“pronking”) when disturbed, under predator attack or as display. The springbok is South Africa’s national animal. From the Afrikaans spring (jump or spring) and bok (buck).

Springboks (noun) – South African national rugby team, known affectionately as the Bokke. From the springbok, South Africa’s national animal.

stoep (noun) – Porch or verandah. From the Dutch (via Afrikaans) stoep, steps or a raised elevation in front of a house, related to “step”.

stokvel (noun) – Informal savings club, where members make a regular equal payment very week, fortnight or month. Every month or year a single member is then given the entire pot.

stompie (noun) – Cigarette butt. From the Afrikaans stomp (stump). The term “picking up stompies” means intruding into a conversation towards its end, without knowing what had been discussed.

stroppy (adjective) – Difficult, uncooperative, argumentative or stubborn. Originated in the 1950s, perhaps as a shortening of obstreperous.

struesbob (exclamation) – “As true as Bob”, as true as God, the gospel truth.

sure, sure-sure, for sure (exclamation) – Yes; general affirmative.

Swallows (noun) – Moroka Swallows, a South African Premier Soccer League football team with a home base in the Soweto suburb of Moroka.

Swazi, siSwati (noun) – The Swazi people, and their language.

T: takkie to tune

takkie, tekkie (noun) – Basic running shoe or sneaker. Possibly from “tacky”, meaning “cheap” or “of poor quality”.

tannie (noun) – “Auntie” in Afrikaans, but used for any older woman.

The long morning wait for a ride in a taxi. (Rafiq Sarlie / CC BY ND 2.0)

taxi (noun) – Generally a minibus used to transport a large number of people, and the most-used form of transport in South Africa.

to die for (adjective) – Wonderful, beautiful, coveted: “That lipstick is to die for.”

tokoloshe (noun) – Evil imp or spirit, thought to be most active at night. Part of South African folklore and today often the subject of tabloid journalism. From the isiZulu utokoloshe and isiXhosa uthikoloshe (river-spirit).

tom (noun) – Money. Uncertain origin.

toppie (noun) – Middle-aged or elderly man, or father. From either the isiZulu thopi (growing sparsely, a reference to thinning hair), or the Hindi topi (hat).

township (noun) – Low-income dormitory suburb outside a city or town in which black South Africans were required by law to live, while they sold their labour in the city or town centre, during the apartheid era.

toyi-toyi (noun) – A knees-up protest dance. From the isiNdebele and Shona.

trek (noun) – Long and often arduous journey. Best known from the Great Trek, the long journey by oxwagon the forebears of the Afrikaners took from the Cape Colony into the South African interior to escape British colonialism, beginning in the 1820s.

tsessebe (noun) – African antelope (Damaliscus lunatus) found in southern and eastern Africa.

Tshivenda (noun) – Language of the Venda people.

tsotsi (noun) – Gangster, hoodlum or thug – and the title of South Africa’s first Oscar-winning movie. Perhaps a corruption of “zoot suit”, the type of flashy clothing worn by township thugs in the 1950s.

Tsotsitaal (noun) – Township patois, derived from 1950s gangster slang, made up of a mixture of Afrikaans and isiZulu, and largely spoken in Gauteng. From the Tostsitaal tsotsi (gangster) and Afrikaans taal (language).

Tswana (noun) – Member of a group of people mainly found in Botswana and northern South Africa, and their language.

tune, tune me, tune grief, tune me grief (verb) – Cause trouble; challenge me.

U: ubuntu to uMkhonto weSizwe

ubuntu (noun) – Southern African humanist philosophy of fellowship and community, based on the notion that a person is a person because of other people: “I am who I am because of you”. From the isiZulu for “humanity” or “goodness”.

Umkhonto (noun) – Short form of Umkhonto we Sizwe.

uMkhonto weSizwe (noun) – Army of the exiled African National Congress during the struggle against apartheid; since 1994 amalgamated into the South African National Defence Force. From the isiZulu for “spear of the nation”. Not the same as the new uMkhonto weSizwe Party, a political party.

V: veld to vuvuzela

Vetkoek for sale at a food stall in Cape Town. (Gavin Bloys / CC BY NC-ND 2.0)

veld (noun) – Open grassland. From the Afrikaans, from the Dutch for “field”.

veldskoen, velskoen (noun) – Simple unworked leather shoes. From the Afrikaans veld (field) or vel (skin or hide) and skoen (shoe).

Venda (noun) – South African population group largely found in Limpopo province, who speak the Tshivenda language.

verkramp (adjective) – Extremely politically conservative or reactionary. From the Afrikaans for “narrow” or “cramped”.

vetkoek (noun) – Doughnut-sized bread roll made from deep-fried yeast dough, often served with savoury mince-meat. From the Afrikaans vet (fat) and koek (cake).

voema (noun) – Variant spelling of woema.

voetsek (exclamation) – Go away, buzz off. From the Afrikaans, originally from the 19th-century Dutch voort seg ik (be off I say).

voetstoets (adjective) – “As is” or “with all its faults”. A legal term, used in the sale of a car or house. If the item is sold voetstoets the buyer may not claim for any defects, hidden or otherwise, discovered after the sale. From the Afrikaans, originally from the Dutch met de voet te stoten (to push with the foot).

vrot (adjective) – Rotten or smelly. From the Afrikaans.

vuvuzela (noun) – Large, colourful plastic trumpet with the sound of a foghorn, blown by crowds at football matches. From the isiZulu for “making noise”.

W: walkie-talkie to wors

walkie-talkie (noun) – South African delicacy made from the heads and feet of a chicken.

wildebeest (noun) – Gnu; large African antelope of two species (the blue or black wildebeest, genus Connochaetes) with a long head and sloping back. From the Afrikaans wilde (wild) and beest (beast).

windgat (noun) – Show-off or blabbermouth. From the Afrikaans wind (wind) and gat (hole).

witblitz (noun) – Potent home-made distilled alcohol, much like the American moonshine. From the Afrikaans wit (white) and blitz (lightning).

woema (noun) – Speed or power, oomph. From the Afrikaans.

woes (adjective) – Angry, irritated or aggressive. From the Afrikaans.

wonderboom (noun) – Wild fig (Ficus salicifolia), native to southern Africa. Also the name of a suburb of the city of Pretoria, and a South African pop group. From the Afrikaans wonder (wonder or marvel) and boom (tree).

wors (noun) – Short for “boerewors”, a savoury sausage developed by the Boers, the forebears of today’s Afrikaners, some 200 years ago, and still popular at braais across South Africa. Also known as wors. From the Afrikaans boer (farmer) and wors (sausage, Dutch worst).

XYZ: Xhosa to Zulu

Xhosa (noun) – Nguni-language-speaking people of South Africa, found mainly in the Eastern Cape province.

Xitsonga (noun) – Nguni language of the Tsonga people.

yellow rice (noun) – Rice cooked with turmeric and raisins, often served with curry.

zamalek (noun) – Carling Black Label beer.

Zebu (noun) – Long-horned and often hump-backed varieties of cattle (Bos indicus), originally from India but now found in a large number of breeds across Africa. South African breeds include the Nguni and Afrikaner.

zol (noun) – Hand-rolled cigarette or marijuana joint.

Zulu (noun) – Nguni-language-speaking South African population group found mainly in KwaZulu-Natal. Their language is isiZulu.

Sources

Additional information sourced from:

• A Dictionary of South African English by Jean Branford, Oxford University Press USA (1980). ISBN 0195701771
• A Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles, Rhodes University Dictionary Unit for South African English
• Glossary of South African English Regionalisms, Wiktionary
• List of South African slang words, Wikipedia

Researched and written by Mary Alexander.
Updated June 2025
Questions? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The post The online dictionary of South African English appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

An Africanis in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, showing the dog’s typical long snout, elegant medium-sized build, short coat, pointed ears and springy, upturned tail. (Johan Gallant, © Africanis Society)

You’ll see them in the villages and on the dirt roads of rural South Africa, and in the country’s townships. They’re ordinary-looking medium-sized dogs, sometimes scrawny, with long snouts, pointed ears, short brownish coats and springy upcurled tails.

They’ve been dismissed as mongrels, strays, curs and street dogs. Racists have euphemistically labelled them “township” dogs and, without euphemism, “k*****” dogs.

But the dogs are a distinct breed, endemic to southern Africa. And they have a proven lineage going back at least 7,000 years.

They are the Africanis, the original dog of Africa.

Africanis are clever and attentive to people, as shown in the face of this dog photographed in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (Johan Gallant, © Africanis Society)

Africanis dogs were long valued in precolonial South Africa for their hardiness, intelligence, loyalty and hunting ability. But it was only in the 21st century that they began to lose the Western stigma of “mongrel”, thanks to the work of two men: dog experts Johan Gallant and Joseph Sithole.

For years Gallant and Sithole roamed rural KwaZulu-Natal, studying and photographing the dogs they came across in kraals and homesteads. They concluded that these animals were not a mess of mongrels but members of coherent breed of dog, with a distinct behaviour and appearance.

Gallant came up with a name for the breed: “canis” (Latin for dog) and “Africa” – the Africanis. He later wrote up his and Sithole’s work in The Story of the African Dog, published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press in 2002.

“The Africanis is the real African dog – shaped in Africa, for Africa,” Gallant and Sithole say in the book. “It is part of the cultural and biological heritage of Africa.”

The Africanis is descended from dogs pictured in ancient cave art and on Egyptian murals. The earliest remains of the domesticated dog in Africa was found in the Nile delta and dated to 4,700 BC.

Today, Africanis dogs are found all over southern Africa.

Rock art in Algeria’s Tassili n’Ajjer plateau has been dated at 7,000 to 10,000 years before present. The dog at the top right of this hunting scene shows typical Africanis traits – long snout, pointed ears, elegant build and curled-up tail. (Alberto Bertelli)

A carved limestone mural of a dog from Giza, Egypt, dated to about 4,400 years ago. Again, the dog has the snout, ears, build and tail seen in today’s Africanis. (Wikimedia Commons, via the Walters Art Museum)

An 1805 aquatint by Samuel Daniell shows Kora Khoekhoe pastoralists in the southern Cape region of South Africa, breaking camp to move to new pastures. Note the dog at lower left. (Museum Africa, via Wikimedia Commons)

Natural – not human – selection

What makes the Africanis unique is that the dog is a mainly a result of natural, not human, selection. Unlike Western dog breeds, whose bodies have been artificially shaped by the arbitrary and sometimes cruel standards of the Kennel Clubs, Africanis dogs are healthy and valued only for their usefulness and loyalty.

As Gallant and Sithole point out:

The Africanis is the result of natural selection and physical and mental adaptation to environmental conditions. It has not been “selected” or “bred” for appearance.

For centuries, the fittest and cleverest dogs survived to give us one of the rare remaining natural dog races in the world.

Also unlike Western breeds, the Africanis does not have a rigidly uniform appearance, although Gallant and Sithole have identified the common traits that define the breed.

Africanis dog and puppies in Limpopo, South Africa. (Johan Gallant, © Africanis Society)

“The beauty of this dog is embodied in the simplicity and functionality of its build,” they say.

The Africanis is of medium size and well muscled. It is agile and supple and can run at great speed. The coat is generally short, in a range of colours and with or without markings. A ridge of hair is sometimes be seen on the back – one of the Africanis’s genetic contributions to the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

The head is wedge-shaped, and the face expressive. Its slender build is sometimes wrongly attributed to starvation. When in good condition, the animal’s ribs are just visible.

Because the Africanis has roamed freely in and around rural settlements for centuries, it has a need both for space and for human companionship.

Gallant and Sithole:

Traditionally it is always close to humans, other dogs, livestock and domestic animals.

Africanis is well disposed without being obtrusive: a friendly dog, showing watchful territorial behaviour. The dog displays unspoiled social canine behaviour with a high level of facial expressions and body language. Its nervous constitution is steady, but the dog is always cautious in approaching new situations.

In other words: it displays a high survival instinct.

Africanis are crafty. Watch:

How did the Africanis get here?

Genetic evidence has shown that dogs are descended from an ancient species of wolf, the ancestor of both today’s dogs and wolves. Dog evolution was slow and uneven, but generally determined by one thing: their association with people. Over millennia they evolved from wild hunters to scavengers looking for scraps around human settlements until, finally, they became our domesticated best friend.

More Africanis-like hunting dogs shown in the rock art of Algeria’s Tassili n’Ajjer plateau in North Africa, art dated at 7,000 to 10,000 years ago. (Alberto Bertelli)

But how did the Africanis land up on the southern tip of the continent?

It is known that the domestic dog migrated with Mongol people to the Americas, arrived in Japan with early Jomo immigrants, later making its way with Eastern seafarers all along the archipelagos in the Pacific and finally reaching Australia, where these dogs became the feral dingo – making the Africanis a distant dingo relation.

Dogs arrived in Africa via a similar route, according to Gallant’s research. The earliest record of domestic dogs – Canis familiaris – on the African continent are fossils found in the Nile estuary and dated to 4 500 BCE. The animals, descended from wild wolf packs of Arabia and India, probably arrived from the East with Stone Age traders exchanging goods with the people of the Nile valley.

Even before the time of the Egyptian dynasties, domestic dogs spread quickly along the Nile River. Seasonal migrations and trade also took them into the Sahara and Sahel. Iron-using people brought their domestic dogs along when they left the grasslands of Cameroon in a massive migration which eventually led to their settlement in southern Africa.

Dogs presumably accompanied these Bantu-speaking people in their long migration from West Africa down south to South Africa, an expansion that started in about 3,000 BCE and continued to around 1,000 CE. Once here, the dogs were acquired by San hunter-gatherers and Khoekhoe pastoralists.

Africanis and owner in rural Namibia. While rural dogs roam freely through the community during the day, they always return to a single home for food, care and sleep at night. (Johan Gallant, © Africanis Society)

The earliest evidence of domestic dogs in South Africa is remains found near the Botswana border and dated at 570 CE. By 650 CE the dog is found in the lower Tugela valley, and by 800 CE in a Khoesan settlement at Cape St Francis, indicating that contact between the Bantu and Khoesan had been established.

The evidence that the Africanis is a distinct breed, and not a mongrel of Western types, is increasingly clear. A good thousand years before any possible serious Western influence, the people of southern Africa were hunting with dogs that had become endemic to the region.

The Africanis Society

Africanis dogs in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. (Johan Gallant, © Africanis Society)

Foreign influence on the breed came only with the colonisation of Trankei and Zululand in the 19th century. Later, migrant labourers brought Western dogs back from the cities, where they bred with local dogs.

Particularly favoured was the Greyhound, which migrants would have come across at the dog races popular at the time. Their speed would have made them ideal hunting dogs. In Zululand, crosses between Greyhound and Africanis are called Ibhanzi. They are not considered to be traditional dogs.

Today, the true Africanis is mostly found in rural areas. A fast-changing South Africa, urbanisation and disdain for the traditional dog poses a threat to the breed’s survival.

The Africanis Society was established to conserve this ancient and valuable canine gene pool. The society is strictly a conservation body, launched in 1998 by Gallant and Dr Udo Küsel, director of the National Cultural History Museum.

Africanis dog in Botswana. Note the similarity in colour and shape to the dogs’ distant feral relative, the Australian dingo. (Johan Gallant, © Africanis Society)

Gallant said:

The Africanis is part of Africa’s unique heritage and biodiversity, and deserves recognition and protection.

Unique in the world, the society’s purpose is to conserve a natural dog – not to “develop” the breed, or artificially breed dogs for selective characteristics.

It maintains a code of ethics, guidelines for breeding, regulations and a procedure for registration, and a register of inspected and approved Africanis dogs. Advanced DNA testing is standard.

The society also helps members obtain true Africanis puppies. So if you’re looking for a dog, this hardy and intelligent breed may be for you.

Visit the Africanis Society website.

Researched and written by Mary Alexander.
Updated 10 September 2024.
Questions? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com.

The post Africanis, the original dog of Africa appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

The main languages of each province are:

• Eastern Cape – isiXhosa (78.8%), Afrikaans (10.6%)
• Free State – Sesotho (64.2%), Afrikaans (12.7%)
• Gauteng – isiZulu (19.8%), English (13.3%), Afrikaans (12.4%), Sesotho (11.6%)
• KwaZulu-Natal – isiZulu (77.8%), English (13.2%)
• Limpopo – Sesotho sa Leboa (52.9%), Xitsonga (17%), Tshivenda (16.7%)
• Mpumalanga – siSwati (27.7%), isiZulu (24.1%), Xitsonga (10.4%), isiNdebele (10.1%)
• Northern Cape – Afrikaans (53.8%), Setswana (33.1%)
• North West – Setswana (63.4%), Afrikaans (9%)
• Western Cape – Afrikaans (49.7%), isiXhosa (24.7%), English (20.3%)

READ MORE:

• The 11 languages of South Africa
• The nine provinces of South Africa
• What languages do black, coloured, Indian and white South Africans speak?
• South Africa’s population

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 11 June 2021.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The graphic on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post What languages are spoken in South Africa’s nine provinces? appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Waterberg star trails

Star trails curve over the massif of the Waterberg Mountains in a time-lapse night shot taken from the Tlopi Tented Camp in Marakele National Park, Limpopo province. The surface of Tlopi Dam can be seen in the foreground. (Martin Heigan, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Street art on the mountain

Graffiti captured by a trail runner on Table Mountain’s Tafelberg Road near Cape Town. (JB Dodane, CC BY-NC 2.0)

The Grootdraai Dam in torrent

Water floods through the opened sluice gates of the Grootdraai Dam near Standerton in Mpumalanga. (Jan Truter, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

21 March: From Sharpeville to Langa to Human Rights Day

The coffins of those slain in the Langa Massacre of 21 March 1985. Twenty-five years to the day after the infamous Sharpeville Massacre, in which 69 people were killed, police opened fire on a crowd of people on their way to attend a funeral in Langa, Uitenhage, in the Eastern Cape. At least 20 people were killed. Today the 21st of March is commemorated as Human Rights Day, a public holiday. The United Nations marks 21 March as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In Namibia, South Africa’s northern neighbour, it’s Independence Day.   (UN Photo, CC BY-NC-ND)

Regina Mundi Church in Soweto

Stained glass in the famous Regina Mundi Church in Soweto shows scenes from the township’s – and South Africa’s – liberation history. (Willem van Valkenburg, CC BY 2.0)

The Cosmopolitan in Maboneng

The Cosmopolitan building and a mural of Jan van Riebeeck in the Maboneng inner-city regeneration precinct in downtown Johannesburg. The Cosmopolitan was built in 1899, when the mining town was just 13 years old. (Adamina, CC BY 2.0)

Nguni cow on the Wild Coast

An Nguni cow on the beach at Morgan’s Bay in the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape. Ngunis, a breed of Zebu cattle, are famous for their uniquely patterned colourful hides. (Gareth Photo, CC BY-NC-ND)

Quiver trees at sunrise

Quiver trees – “kokerboom” in Afrikaans – at sunrise in the Richtersveld National Park, in the far north of the Northern Cape. The Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape is one of South Africa’s nine Unesco World Heritage Sites. (Appalachian Dreamer, CC BY-NC 2.0)

Eastern Free State farmland

An aerial view of circular crop fields watered by centre-pivot irrigation systems near the small farming town of Jacobsdal in the western Free State, near the Northern Cape border. (Jean Boris Hamon, CC BY-NC-ND)

The San Bushman masterpiece

A section of the Linton Panel, one of the richest examples of Stone Age San Bushman rock art, in South Africa’s Iziko National Museum in Cape Town. (H Bechen, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Big kittens in Bloemfontein

Big cat kittens but heads over a toy at the Cheetah Experience carnivore sanctuary near Bloemfontein in the Free State. At left is a caracal kitten, and at right a leopard kitten. Things will change. Grown caracals weigh, at the most, 18 kilograms. Adult male leopards can be as large as 60 kilograms. Adult domestic cats are only four to five kilograms. (Chris Parker, CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Cradle of Humankind

A replica of a human skull on display at the Sterkfontein Museum in northeastern Gauteng, in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Important fossils of hominin species going back millions of years – the relatives and possible ancestors of modern humans – have been found in the nearby Sterkfontein Caves and other sites in the region. (Andrew Moore, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Summer clouds and lightning over Joburg

The clouds and lightning of a summertime thunderstorm over Johannesburg. The Brixton Tower is at right, and the buildings of the city’s old central business district towards the left. (Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0)

Cape Town’s Theewaterskloof dries out

A satellite image of Cape Town’s Theewaterskloof Dam in early February 2018 shows the seriousness of the city’s drought. After three successive dry years, the dam, which supplies half of Cape Town’s water, was at only 13% capacity. (Antti Lipponen, CC BY 2.0)

Young Vaal Eagles

The Young Vaal Eagles under-14 football team train on a field near Deneysville, a town on the banks of the Vaal Dam in the Free State. (John Hogg, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Off to the beach in Strand

Holidaymakers on the way to the beach in the seaside resort of Strand (Afrikaans for “beach”) on the eastern shore of False Bay in the Western Cape in December 2018. (Steve Crane, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Children work the mines in 1988

A 1988 image of young South African coal miners, little more than children, taken by legendary photographer Peter Magubane for the United Nations. (Peter Magubane, CC BY-NC-ND)

A sky view of South Africa

South Africa and the island of Madagascar are the only landmasses visible on the planet in this composite image captured by six orbits of the Nasa-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership spacecraft on 9 April 2015. Tropical cyclone Joalane can be seen over the Indian Ocean. (Nasa, CC BY 2.0)

Read more: Gallery: Africa from space

Pieces of beauty

Beauty Maswanganyi is the shop manager and a contributing artist at Piece, an enterprise in Johannesburg specialising in indigenous art and craft objects from around southern Africa. (John Hogg, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Honey badger and pup

A lucky shot of a honey badger carrying her pup, in the Kgalagadi Tranfrontier Park region of the Northern Cape. The honey badger is one of the most fearless and intelligent carnivores on the planet. They live in fiercely defended underground burrows, so their young are rarely seen. (Derek Keats, CC BY 2.0)

Saldanha Bay fisherman in 1960

Snapped in 1960 and rare in its record of black people’s daily lives during apartheid, this archive photo shows a fisherman in Saldanha Bay on the west coast moving his sun-dried snoek indoors as rain approaches. (Dr Mary Gillham Archive Project, CC BY 2.0)

Power stations against the sky

Coal-fired power stations outside Emalahleni, a town previously known as Witbank, in Mpumalanga. Emalahleni means “place of coal” in South Africa’s Nguni languages. According to European Union research, the Emalahleni region has some of the most polluted air in the world, with chromium and barium levels higher than instruments could record. (Jane Flowers, CC BY 2.0)

Aerial view of Kleinmond

Houses and gardens in Kleinmond, a small town in the Kogelberg Nature Reserve on the Atlantic coast some 90 kilometres east of Cape Town. (Kevin Rechts, CC BY-NC 2.0)

More Sweetly Play the Dance

A still from More Sweetly Play the Dance, a large-scale 14-minute video projection by acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge, at the Zeitz Mocca museum of contemporary African art in Cape Town. (Hans Olofsson, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Written, researched and compiled by Mary Alexander.
Comments? Email info@southafrica-info.com

The post Creative Commons images of South Africa appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

But it’s a multilingual country

These statistics are first-language speakers only, so they don’t show the full picture. The data is from Census 2011, which gathered its information by asking South Africans which language they spoke most often at home.

Almost all South Africans speak more than one language, even at home. But there aren’t yet census statistics on how many of the country’s people are fluent in a second (or third, or more) language.

• READ MORE: The 11 languages of South Africa

Home languages of black South Africans

Census 2011 recorded South Africa’s black population as 40.4-million people. (The full number is 40,413,408.)

According to the census, a third of black South Africans speak isiZulu at home, making it the largest language among black people. A total of 11.5-million black South Africans speak isiZulu as a first language, or about three in 10 (28.5%) black people.

Next up is isiXhosa, the first language of 8.1-million black South Africans, spoken at home by two in every 10 (20.1%) black people.

The third most common home language in South Africa’s black population is Sesotho sa Leboa, also known as Sepedi. It’s the first language of 4.6-million black people – around one in 10, or 11.4%.

Black South Africans are the country’s most linguistically diverse community.

Here’s the breakdown of black South Africans’ home languages, from the largest to the smallest:

• isiZulu: 11,519,234 black speakers (28.5% of all black South Africans speak isiZulu as a first language)
• isiXhosa: 8,104,752 (20.1%)
• Sesotho sa Leboa (Sepedi): 4,602,459 (11.4%)
• Setswana: 3,996,951 (9.9%)
• Sesotho: 3,798,915 (9.4%)
• Xitsonga: 2,257,771 (5.6%)
• siSwati: 1,288,156 (3.2%)
• Tshivenda: 1,201,588 (3.0%)
• English: 1,167,913 (2.9%)
• isiNdebele: 1,057,781 (2.6%)
• Other languages: 604,587 (1.5%)
• Afrikaans: 602,166 (1.5%)
• Sign language: 211,134 (0.5%)

Home languages of coloured South Africans

Census 2011 recorded South Africa’s coloured population as 4.5-million people. (The full number is 4,541,358.)

According to the census, over three-quarters of the coloured population speaks Afrikaans as a home language. Afrikaans is first language of 3.4-million coloured South Africans, or about seven to eight in every 10 (75.8%) coloured people.

Next up is English, the first language of 946-thousand (945,847) coloured South Africans. This means about two in 10 (20.8%) coloured people speak English at home.

Here’s the breakdown of coloured South Africans’ home languages, from the largest to the smallest:

• Afrikaans: 3,442,164 coloured speakers (75.8% of all coloured South Africans speak Afrikaans as their first language )
• English: 945,847 (20.8%)
• Setswana: 40,351 (0.9%)
• isiXhosa: 25,340 (0.6%)
• isiZulu: 23,797 (0.5%)
• Sesotho: 23,230 (0.5%)
• Sign language: 11,891 (0.3%)
• isiNdebele: 8,225 (0.2%)
• Other languages: 5,702 (0.1%)
• Sesotho sa Leboa (Sepedi): 5,642 (0.1%)
• siSwati: 4,056 (0.09%)
• Tshivenda: 2,847 (0.06%)
• Xitsonga: 2,268 (0.05%)

Home languages of Indian South Africans

Census 2011 recorded South Africa’s Indian population as 1.3-million people. (The full number is 1,271,158.)

According to the census, almost all Indian South Africans speak English at home. English is the first language of 1.1-million Indian people, or nearly nine in 10 (86.1%) Indian South Africans.

The balance of languages spoken by the Indian population is negligible, making this community South Africa’s least linguistically diverse.

Here’s the breakdown of Indian South Africans’ home languages, from the largest to the smallest:

• English: 1,094,317 Indian speakers (86.1% of all Indian South Africans speak English as their first language)
• Other languages: 65,261 (5.1%)
• Afrikaans: 58,700 (4.6%)
• isiZulu: 16,699 (1.3%)
• isiNdebele: 9,815 (0.8%)
• isiXhosa: 5,342 (0.4%)
• Sesotho: 5,269 (0.4%)
• Setswana: 4,917 (0.4%)
• Sign language: 3,360 (0.3%)
• Sesotho sa Leboa (Sepedi): 2,943 (0.2%)
• Xitsonga: 2,506 (0.2%)
• siSwati: 1,217 (0.1%)
• Tshivenda: 810 (0.06%)

Home languages of white South Africans

Census 2011 recorded South Africa’s white population as 4.5-million people. (The full number is 4,461,409.)

According to the census, about a two-thirds of white people speak Afrikaans as their first language, and the other third speak English.

Afrikaans is home language of 2.7-million white South Africans, or about six in every 10 (60.8%) white people.

Next up is English, the first language of 1.6-million white South Africans. Three or four (35.9%) of every 10 white South Africans speak English at home.

Here’s the breakdown of white South Africans’ home languages, from the largest to the smallest:

• Afrikaans: 2,710,461 white speakers (60.8% of all white South Africans speak Afrikaans as their first language)
• English: 1,603,575 (35.9%)
• Other languages: 50,118 (1.1%)
• Setswana: 18,358 (0.4%)
• Sesotho: 17,491 (0.4%)
• isiZulu: 16,458 (0.4%)
• isiXhosa: 13,641 (0.3%)
• isiNdebele: 8,611 (0.2%)
• Sign language: 7,604 (0.2%)
• Sesotho sa Leboa (Sepedi): 5,917 (0.1%)
• Xitsonga: 3,987 (0.09%)
• Tshivenda: 2,889 (0.06%)
• siSwati: 2,299 (0.05%)

Read more:

• The 11 languages of South Africa
• The nine provinces of South Africa
• What languages are spoken in South Africa’s nine provinces?
• South Africa’s population

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander
Updated 10 June 2019

The graphic on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

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