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.

The post The languages of South Africa appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Young men taunt police photographers in Soweto in June 1976. (Doing Violence to Memory: The Soweto Uprising)

Mary Alexander

By 1976 the frustration had been building for a generation. Young black South Africans had become aware that the apartheid plan was to deny them a real education.

Education for ‘Bantus’

Hendrik Verwoerd on the cover of Time magazine, 26 August 1966. (Time)

In 1953, five years after the National Party was elected on the platform of apartheid, the government passed the Bantu Education Act. This gave the central government total control of the education of black South Africans, and made independent schools for black children illegal.

The aim was simple: ensuring a stable and plentiful source of cheap labour. Black people would be educated only to the point where they were a useful but unthreatening (to white workers) workforce at the foundation of an economy built to only benefit white people.

A notorious quote by Hendrik Verwoerd, a National Party prime minister known as the “architect of apartheid”, makes the intention of the Act clear.

“There is no place for [the black person] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour,” Verwoerd said in a 1954 speech, when he was still Minister of Native Affairs.

“For that reason it is of no avail for him to receive a training which has as its aim absorption in the European community while he cannot and will not be absorbed there. Up till now he has been subjected to a school system which drew him away from his own community and partically [sic] misled him by showing him the green pastures of the European but still did not allow him to graze there.”

Before the Act, South Africa had a rich tradition of independent mission schools. The education enjoyed by Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe, Oliver Tambo, Govan Mbeki and many others allowed them to become some of the best minds in the country.

The apartheid government wanted cheap labour, but it also wanted to end the threat posed by bright African minds. Mission schools were closed, and universities such as Fort Hare had their high academic standards chopped to a stump.

A 1976 student’s poster on a fenced-in Soweto school reads: “Afrikaans is a sign of oppression, discrimination. To hell with Boere.” (Doing Violence to Memory: The Soweto Uprising)

No education – in three languages?

By 1976 young black people’s frustration with their education, and the bleak future it offered, was ready to explode. The fuse was lit when the government proposed to introduce Afrikaans as the language of teaching.

Black South Africans spoke their own languages. These had already been ignored in their education. English had long been the medium of instruction – their second language – and was a language most urban young black people were at least familiar with. Now the authorities wanted the people they had denied an education to learn a third language.

Two of the many placards produced by students during the uprising (later confiscated and photographed by the police) highlight their antagonism to Afrikaans. The placards were written in English, the students’ second language. (Doing Violence to Memory: The Soweto Uprising)

People who speak three languages are considered to be highly educated. These young people, given a rudimentary government education, were getting by in English. But almost none of them knew Afrikaans well enough to be taught in it, let alone write exams in the language.

Afrikaans was also the language of the oppressor. Today most of the people who speak Afrikaans aren’t white, but in the 1970s the language was still associated with Afrikaner nationalism, the ideology of the National Party, the nationalism of white Afrikaans-speaking people.

16 June 1976: 07h00

It’s a winter Wednesday morning, 16 June 1976. The Soweto Students Action Committee has organised the township’s high school pupils to march to Orlando Stadium to protest against the government’s new language policy.

The student leaders come mainly from three Soweto schools: Naledi High in Naledi, Morris Isaacson High in Mofolo, and Phefeni Junior Secondary, close to Vilakazi Street in Orlando.

The protest is well organised. It is to be conducted peacefully. The plan is for students to march from their schools, picking up others along the way, until they meet at Uncle Tom’s Municipal Hall. From there they are to continue to Orlando Stadium.

07h30

A photographer in a police helicopter captured this view of the students’ march, before the shooting started. (Doing Violence to Memory: The Soweto Uprising)

Students gather at Naledi High. The mood is high-spirited and cheerful. At assembly the principal gives the students his support and wishes them good luck.

Before they start the march, Action Committee chairperson Tebello Motopanyane addresses the students, emphasising that the march must be disciplined and peaceful.

At the same time, students gather at Morris Isaacson High. Action Committee member Tsietsi Mashinini speaks, also emphasising peace and order. The students set out.

On the way they pass other schools and numbers swell as more students join the march. Some Soweto students are not even aware that the march is happening.

“The first time we heard of it was during our short break,” said Sam Khosa of Ibhongo Secondary School. “Our leaders informed the principal that students from Morris Isaacson were marching. We then joined one of the groups and marched.”

There are eventually 11 columns of students marching to Orlando Stadium – up to 10 000 of them, according to some estimates.

09h00

There have been a few minor skirmishes with police along the way. But now the police barricade the students’ path, stopping the march.

Tietsi Mashinini climbs on a tractor so everyone can see him, and addresses the crowd.

“Brothers and sisters, I appeal to you – keep calm and cool. We have just received a report that the police are coming. Don’t taunt them, don’t do anything to them. Be cool and calm. We are not fighting.”

It is a tense moment for police and students. Police retreat to wait for reinforcements. The students continue their march.

09h30

The marchers arrive at today’s Hector Pieterson Square. Police again stop them.

Here everything changed. There have been different accounts of what started the shooting.

The atmosphere is tense. But the students remain calm and well-ordered.

Suddenly a white policeman lobs a teargas canister into the front of the crowd. People run out of the smoke dazed and coughing. The crowd retreats slightly, but remain facing the police, waving placards and singing.

Police have now surrounded the column of students, blocking the march at the front and behind. At the back of the crowd a policeman sets his dog on the students. The students retaliate, throwing stones at the dog.

A policeman at the back of the crowd draws his revolver. Black journalists hear someone shout, “Look at him. He’s going to shoot at the kids.”

The only picture we have of Hastings Ndlovu is from his tombstone. Here it is used on the information board at the Hastings Ndlovu memorial site in Orlando West in Soweto.

A single shot rings out. Hastings Ndlovu, 17 years old (other sources say 15), is the first to be shot. He dies later in hospital.

After the first shot, police at the front of the crowd panic and open fire.

Twelve-year-old Hector Pieterson collapses, fatally injured. He is picked up and carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo, a fellow student, who runs towards Phefeni Clinic. Pieterson’s crying sister Antoinette Sithole runs alongside. The moment is immortalised by photographer Sam Nzima, and the image becomes an emblem of the uprising.

There is pandemonium in the crowd. Children scream. More shots are fired. At least four students have fallen to the ground. The rest run screaming in all directions.

10h00

Dr Malcolm Klein, a coloured doctor in the trauma unit at Baragwanath Hospital, is on his break when a nurse summons him, distress on her face.

“I followed her and was met by a grisly scene: a rush of orderlies wheeling stretchers bearing the bodies of bloodied children into the resuscitation room,” he recalled later. “All had the red ‘Urgent Direct’ stickers stuck to their foreheads …

“I stared in horror at the stretcher bearing the body of a young boy in a neat school uniform, a bullet wound to one side of his head, blood spilling out of a large exit wound on the other side, the gurgle of death in his throat. Only later would I learn his name: Hastings Ndlovu.”

12h00

Anger at the killings sparks retaliation.

Buildings and vehicles belonging to the government’s West Rand Administrative Buildings are set alight. Bottle stores are burned and looted.

More students are killed by police, particularly in encounters near Regina Mundi Church in Orlando and the Esso garage in Chiawelo. As students are stopped by the police in one area, they move their protest action elsewhere.

By the end of the day most of Soweto has felt the impact of the protest.

Schools close early, at about noon. Many students, so far unaware of the day’s events, walk out of school to a township on fire. Many join the protests. The uprising gains intensity.

21h00

Fires continue into the night. Armoured police cars, later known as “hippos”, start moving into Soweto.

Official figures put the death toll for 16 June at 23 people killed. Other reports say it was at least 200.

Most of the victims are under 23, and many shot in the back. Many more survive with disabling injuries.

The aftermath

The uprising spreads across South Africa. By the end of the year about 575 people have died across the country, 451 at the hands of police.

The injured number 3 907, with the police responsible for 2 389 of them. During the course of 1976, about 5 980 people are arrested in the townships.

International solidarity movements are roused as an immediate consequence of the revolt. They soon give their support to the students, putting pressure on the apartheid government to temper its repressive rule. Many students leave South Africa to join the exiled liberation movements.

This pressure is maintained through the 1980s, until resistance movements are finally unbanned in 1990. Four years later, on 27 and 28 April 1994, South Africa holds its first democratic elections.

Sources and more information

See the South African History Online feature The June 16 Soweto Youth Uprising.

Additional information – particularly the memories of Baragwanath Hospital trauma doctor Malcolm Klein – sourced from “The Soweto Uprising – Part 1” by Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu, in chapter 7 of The Road to Democracy in South Africa Volume 2, published by the South African Democracy Education Trust. Many events omitted from this timeline are to be found in this comprehensive and moving account. The chapter can be downloaded in PDF.

Researcher Helena Pohlandt-McCormick has made a wealth of testimony, photos and documents about the 1976 student uprising available online. Browse her outstanding archive Doing Violence to Memory: The Soweto Uprising.

Researched and written by Mary Alexander
Updated 26 December 2024

The post The 16 June 1976 Soweto students’ uprising – as it happened 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.

MARY ALEXANDER • 21 JUNE 2024

Drinking hot water can save your life, claims an Afrikaans message circulating on Facebook.*

“Dokters het bevestig dat warm water effektief is om gesondheidsprobleme te help verminder,” it reads. This translates as: “Doctors have confirmed that hot water is effective in helping reduce health problems.”

The message then lists the “health problems” drinking hot water can supposedly “reduce”. They include life-threatening conditions such as high and low blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia, epilepsy, high cholesterol, asthma and blocked arteries.

The message also claims that drinking cold water can cause heart attack, liver disease and cancer.

But is it sound health advice?

‘A palpable display of folly’

The claim has been circulating online for years.

A 2016 Instagram post, in English, begins with almost the same wording. “MEDICAL ALERTNESS. Dr. D. Mensah Asare BENEFITS OF WARM WATER. A group of Japanese Doctors confirmed that warm water is 100% effective in resolving some health problems.”

The claim was also posted online in 2017 and 2018. And it has been repeatedly debunked.

A 2020 report on health disinformation by Nigeria’s University of Lagos had this conclusion about the claim: “Although water in itself is not harmful to the body, claiming that water is effective in resolving the listed diseases is misleading and may prevent people from seeking necessary medical attention.”

And a 2020 fact-check by Nigeria’s Centre for Investigative Reporting quoted Dr Femi Ajose of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital with a less polite opinion.

“This is a palpable display of folly,” he said.

“How will just one remedy be a panacea to various ailments? This is highly non-scientific and hence doesn’t hold water, at all. These are just some myths they sell to people to collect their hard-earned money.”

Drinking water is healthy. But there’s no evidence that drinking water of any temperature will cure or cause serious disease.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 27 June 2024

The post False claim about life-saving benefits of drinking hot water resurfaces in Afrikaans appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Most tourist guides to South Africa give you only basic phrases – hello, goodbye, how much? But our languages are richer and more complex than that.

Get the flavour of South Africa’s languages, and learn to speak them a little, with these animations.

Read more: The languages of South Africa

Afrikaans

isiNdebele

isiXhosa

isiZulu

Sesotho

Sepedi (Sesotho sa Leboa)

Setswana

siSwati

Tshivenda

Xitsonga

… and English

Finally, when you’re in South Africa

… learn to say the name of the country you’re in.

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander

More infographics

The post Animations: South Africa’s many languages 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.

The post What languages do black, coloured, Indian and white South Africans speak? appeared first on South Africa Gateway.