Evolution of Language Rights in South Africa
Language rights occupy a unique and often contested space within South Africa’s constitutional framework. As a diverse and multilingual society emerging from a deeply racialised and exclusionary past, South Africa’s constitutional commitment to linguistic diversity, most notably through sections 6 and 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution), has played a central role in advancing transformation and substantive equality.
Yet the realisation of these rights during the last 30 years has proved to be complex in practice, particularly where issues of language intersect with questions of access to education, institutional transformation, cultural sensitivity and historical redress.
In Volume 15 of the Constitutional Court Review Roxan Laubsher has published an article titled, “Evolution of Language Rights in South Africa: Reflections on AfriForum v University of the Free State and recognition of Official Languages over 30 years.”
The article explores the evolving jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of South Africa on language rights, beginning with the landmark judgement in AfriForum vs University of the Free State in 2018. In this case, the Constitutional Court upheld the University of the Free State’s shift from a dual-medium Afrikaans-English policy to an English dominant model aimed at fostering inclusivity and dismantling the racial segregation associated with Afrikaans. Interpreting section 29 (2) of the Constitution, the Court emphasised the need to balance the right to a language of choice in education with the imperatives of equity, non-racialism and broader access to education.
The recent constitutional amendment recognizing South African Sign Language as the 12th official language has further highlighted the need for coherence between legislative developments and judicial interpretations.
This article critically examples the trajectory of the Court’s language rights jurisprudence, assesses its alignment with statutory frameworks, and proposes a forward-looking approach to official language policy that promotes inclusivity, linguistic diversity and constitutional harmony.
“Language rights in South Africa are not a zero-sum game. The challenge is not to choose between equality and language, or between transformation and diversity, but to recognize that these values are constitutional intertwined,” noted a recent blog post which included an abridged version of Laubsher’s article.
“If South Africa is serious about its constitutional commitment to multilingualism, the next chapter of language rights must move beyond symbolic recognition and towards genuine, practical inclusion,” noted the blog post.
The Open Access article can be read here, while the blog post can be found here.