South Africa has 12 official languages and a multilingual population fluent in at least two. IsiZulu and isiXhosa are the largest languages. English is spoken at home by under 9% of the population, two-thirds of them not white.
Only introduced in 1976, long after most countries, TV in South Africa has evolved from an apartheid propaganda tool into a powerful force for public storytelling, cultural identity and democratic debate.
Mixed with over a dozen African languages for over two centuries, spiced by imports from British, Dutch and Portuguese colonies, South African English has its own rich, varied and sometimes weird flavour.
He’s been dismissed as the “sad man” of South African jazz, but the musicians who knew him remember Kippie Moeketsi as a brilliant player and stern mentor, fiercely defiant of his racist world.
Though little is actually known about the 19th century Zulu king, Shaka has long been a fantastical figure in popular culture. The acclaimed TV series Shaka iLembe, however, gets a lot right – especially the language and culture.
They’ve been dismissed as mongrels, “township dogs”, and worse. But as a breed they are smart, tough, athletic, loyal – and ancient. They are the Africanis, the dog of Africa.
The home language of most people in KwaZulu-Natal is, unsurprisingly, isiZulu. In the Eastern Cape it’s isiXhosa. Around half the people of the Western Cape and Northern Cape speak Afrikaans. In Gauteng and Mpumalanga, no single language dominates.
Creative Commons is a licensing system that frees creative works for others to publish and transform. The commons drives some of the best projects on the internet, including Wikipedia and South African History Online. Here’s a selection of free and open images of South Africa.
Nearly a third of black South Africans speak isiZulu as a first language, and 20% speak isiXhosa. Three-quarters of coloured people speak Afrikaans, and 86% of Indian South Africans speak English. Sixty percent of white people speak Afrikaans, and 30% speak English.
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