Language has always been used as a political football in South Africa. This can be traced back to the competing English and Dutch colonisers, from the 17th to the early 20th centuries, each group trying to assert linguistic as well as economic and social control.
Later, language was used to divide and rule under apartheid. For instance, the racist regime created “homelands” – areas of self-determination for Black South Africans – that were linguistically bounded; all isiXhosa speakers, for example, were relegated to the same area where they were forced to live and study.
