The role of Afrikaans in Namibia: A rejoinder

This is a rejoinder to an opinion piece that was published by Professor Andree-Jeanne Tötemeyer in Namibian Sun newspaper on 20 December 2023 under the same heading.

That rich opinion piece needs to be highly appreciated by all who care about social cohesion in Namibia. I want to start with the issues on which I am in agreement with the good professor before I discuss those issues on which I beg to differ with her.

She states that “...many Namibians whose proficiency in English is poor can speak, read and write Afrikaans very well.”

I would give her the benefit of the doubt here, although it is a problematic statement because, in my opinion, this will only apply to those who were educated before independence.

She further states that “...Afrikaans is the mother tongue of Coloured people, the Rehoboth Basters and some of the whites, but it is spoken by the majority of white people. It is also the writing and reading language of most Khoekhoegowab speakers. Next to Oshiwambo and Khoekhoegowab, it is the most widely-spoken [mother tongue] in Namibia.” I fully agree with that.

Quoting Klaus Dierks, she also argues that since 1796, when the Oorlam Afrikaners (a Nama sub-ethnic group) crossed the border from South Africa to Namibia, Afrikaans has served as the language of interracial and inter-ethnic communication in Namibia for the last 227 years.

This is a strong point, contrary to popular opinion that Afrikaans was introduced by white Afrikaners in Namibia. One could also add that Afrikaans is used by most Khoekhoegowab speakers, not only as their reading and writing language but also as their de facto second language.

Lingua franca

A few years ago, I published a piece in New Era under the heading: 'Afrikaans, the language we love to hate'.

In it, I made a strong case for Afrikaans as a possible lingua franca in Namibia. I also went on to argue that Afrikaans had resurfaced as a street language employed by young black Namibians and is associated with 'street wisdom'.

Given the ethnic rivalry caused by identity politics amongst black Namibians, I fully agree with the professor that Afrikaans could be the best option for a lingua franca.

The argument by the professor that “...the majority of Afrikaans speakers in Namibia were not white racists, but were part of the oppressed” is a solid one as well. It is therefore very parochial for people to categorise Afrikaans as the language of the former oppressor.

Now that I have laid the framework on the issues with which the professor and I agree, I want to touch on those issues I beg to differ with her.

Effective communication tool

Referring to high school dropouts, the good professor argues: “Most of them do their best to learn to speak understandable English, but it often sounds more like Namlish.”

The question is, how does Namlish sound and what is wrong with that? If by Namlish, as a perceived shortcoming, the professor means incomprehensible grammar, then I would not have a problem with that. If, however, she means comprehensible Namibian sentence construction of the English language or Namibian accent, then I would have a serious problem with that. If we can deliver effective and comprehensible communication in Namlish, especially in an informal setting, then, in my opinion, that should do.

For any person to expect Namibians to speak English with a British accent, for example, borders on a Eurocentric approach to the language debate. This is a general statement and I am not implying that this was what the professor meant. Namlish is developing into a distinct variant of English and one does not have to speak British English to communicate effectively.

The good professor further argues that “...Namlish may develop into a kind of Swahili, eventually spoken by all the Namibian ethnicities.”

There is nothing wrong with the Swahili example, but in my opinion, Pidgin English, which is spoken in West Africa, especially in Nigeria, would be a better example. Pidgin English, just like Namlish, is regarded as a variant of English, whereas Swahili is not.

The professor’s argument that Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone African countries “...will never achieve more than 50% proficiency” in these European languages is, in the absence of empirical evidence, very sweeping. And it is therefore, with all due respect, not good scholarship.

To refute the professor’s sweeping statement, Angola would be a good example. Between 70 and 80% of Angolans speak Portuguese fluently (https://www.quora.com, accessed on 25 December 2023) and most young Angolans that I know, especially those who have grown up in the Luanda area, do not speak any African language.

*Gerson Uaripi Tjihenuna is a commissioner of elections, however, the views expressed in this opinion piece are entirely his and not those of Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN).