CHRISTO VAN DER RHEEDE'S CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS AND LINGUISTIC RIGHTS REPORT CARD LAUNCH CONCLUDING ADDRESS

Thank you, Daniela. Ladies and gentleman, as is clear from the Constitutional Rights Programme’s team presentations, one of the principal developments affecting CRL Rights between September 2024 and 2025 was the opportunities presented by Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) technologies offers an unprecedented chance to give effect to the linguistic rights enshrined in the Constitution.

For example, the launch of IRIS, an AI-powered teaching robot capable of delivering lessons in all 11 official languages, is a breakthrough for multilingual education. As a former educator and school principal myself, I find it important to point out the absolute vitality of being taught in one’s mother tongue, especially in the foundation phase. As pointed out by the Constitutional Rights Programme team, 81% of grade 4 learners could not read with understanding.

As a first-language Afrikaans speaker I am passionate about all of South Africa’s indigenous languages and am concerned by our failure as a nation to celebrate our multilingualism in all spheres of life and government.

The survival of Afrikaans and other indigenous African languages is concerning in light of all that has been said about South Africa’s constitutional mandate of multilingualism in all spheres of society, I must point out that the recent report on the state of Afrikaans released by the Afrikaans Language Council is a cause for concern. The use of Afrikaans in society, in schools and especially among young people is declining. But it is especially the decline in language transfer between generations and the use of Afrikaans’ higher functions at tertiary level that is causing the red lights to flash.

A plan is needed to save what can be saved. Such a plan must add value to the different facets of Afrikaans. Because if something has no value, why use it?

Adding value and unlocking it in terms of the different links of the Afrikaans value chain is therefore critical for the survival of Afrikaans. The value chain of Afrikaans must therefore be better understood, adapted and developed to unlock value for its speakers.

However, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The exercise of identifying weak links must be taken to the proverbial stake like any ‘sacred cow’. And should be rethought, reimagined and redesigned so that generation after generation finds Afrikaans valuable and useful, attractive and also sentimental. The latter stems from the personal and emotional associations with the language rather than the material value it offers.

This brings me to the different links that form the value chain of Afrikaans: In my opinion, the first link is the ideological underpinnings of Afrikaans. The second link, the country’s constitution and the values contained therein. The third link, identity formation. The fourth link, education from pre-school to tertiary level. This lays the foundation for the fifth link, creativity. Creativity is the driver of wealth creation, the sixth link. Afrikaans as a driver of economic activities creates the capital and capacity that is desperately needed for the seventh link, information technology.

The latter link is busy reshaping industries, social relations and economies at an astonishing speed. It is characterized by the convergence of physical and digital worlds through artificial intelligence, leading to unprecedented levels of efficiency and innovation, and is fundamentally changing the way we live and work as we know it.

Afrikaans speakers find themselves in the midst of a digital era and one can rightly ask why an Afrikaans ‘silicon village’ has not yet been established. An Afrikaans digital sphere that can unlock Afrikaans’ cultural, social, spiritual, educational, transactional and economic value on a large scale.

To achieve this ideal, the links in the Afrikaans value chain must be rethought, reimagined, redesigned and rearranged. To launch such a comprehensive project, it is important to first place the extensive ecosystem of Afrikaans under the magnifying glass.

At first glance, one quickly realizes that it is a creative and resilient ecosystem. Furthermore, it spans a wide spectrum of sectors, including education, media, arts festivals, publishing and advertising. Each of the sectors involves a myriad of services, products, activities, transactions, you name it, which provide hundreds of thousands of Afrikaans speakers with job opportunities.

The core driver or lifeblood of this ecosystem, the Afrikaans language, is under siege, however. The statistics prove it. So it is necessary to examine the links of the Afrikaans value chain.

The first link, the ideological underpinnings of Afrikaans still carries the burden of forced separation on the basis of race and class. That much has been done to reconcile brown, black and white Afrikaans speakers is certain, but the past remains a haunting one. And this has a lot to do with the politics of the day. Mistrust is the order of the day. People are suffering economically. Confidence in the country’s future is at an all-time low. Marginalization on the basis of race fuels polarization. Where is the Afrikaans ‘Moses’ who can create a non-racial and integrated Afrikaans society that leverages diversity as a key to community building and nation building? As opposed to diversity that is hidden behind closed doors and manipulated to achieve narrow ethnic outcomes? It only brings division and mistrust! Inclusivity is the key to Afrikaans’ future.

The second link, the country’s constitution and the values contained therein, provide the blueprint for leveraging Afrikaans’ intellectual content, which it has built up over more than a century, on a large scale to help realise the rights contained in the bill of human rights. An approach based on human dignity, equality and justice stands a greater chance of success than an approach based on superiority, inequality and injustice. Goodwill changes perceptions about Afrikaans.

The third link, identity formation, is not based on outdated racial classification and racial views, nor is it based on assimilation, but rather on the centripetal power of Afrikaans. This involves the personal and emotional associations with the language, mutual interaction and recognition as equals as well as the shared values and rich diversity of its speakers. Identity formation in Afrikaans is not static in nature, but rather fluid given the broad Afrikaans community’s diverse and shared origins. And therein lies the opportunity. To build a common Afrikaans identity based on shared values, rather than skin colour. Commonality is the glue that binds Afrikaans and its speakers together.

The fourth link, education from pre-school to tertiary level, builds the future of Afrikaans. Growing inequality between communities, the many socio-social challenges and inadequate support from the state to schools, have an extremely negative impact on the quality of education. Not only in Afrikaans, but also in other indigenous languages. At tertiary level, the equal employment policy based on racial targets to which universities are subjected will have an extremely negative impact on the few institutions where Afrikaans is still used as a medium of instruction. If the appointment of staff is not managed judiciously, but rather pursues racial targets, it is a dead end for Afrikaans.

A more nuanced political strategy will therefore have to be devised to help establish a new socio-political order that can bring about a change in thinking and attitude towards Afrikaans and the Afrikaans community. Placing hope in the Trump administration to bring about change may offer short-term relief. However, this is reactionary and only provokes further resentment among black Afrikaans speakers. The solution lies in the fact that South Africans across racial lines are increasingly realising that elite captured black economic empowerment and the pursuit of racial targets are costing our country dearly. Strategically, however, it is a mistake to position this as a white versus black struggle.

White and black will have to find each other on South African soil. Because all South Africans across borders are sick and tired of the country’s decline. The value of local dialogues and the creation of local leadership networks to help black, brown and white overcome the challenges that face them offers the long-term solution.

Similarly, the repositioning of Afrikaans and the broader Afrikaans community as fellow citizens who pursue solution-driven citizenship rather than victimhood is crucial to the country’s future. Afrikaans and Afrikaans communities are inextricably intertwined with the poverty and many other challenges that plague all other South Africans and cannot be untied. Afrikaans will only survive if other language communities also have a future.

Quality education lays the foundation for creativity. It is the brainpower to bring about services and products in Afrikaans through investment and wealth creation. Afrikaans as a driver of economic activities provides the capital and builds capacity that is desperately needed for the development of information technology. This is where the greatest opportunity for Afrikaans lies.

The creation of a digital sphere or ‘silicon village’ that uses Afrikaans and other indigenous languages as drivers to process and develop educational material from pre-school to tertiary level. At the same time, it must be used to develop a workforce that has the skills and knowledge to build a sustainable future. While English plays a critical role as a common communication medium, Afrikaans must stand in relationship with other indigenous African languages. Therefore, the digital potential of indigenous languages must be unlocked together with Afrikaans.

The report by the Afrikaans Language Council raises concerns, but is also a wake-up call for decisive action and innovative thinking. Actions and thinking aimed at building the future of Afrikaans and unlocking value with vision, intelligently and inclusively. And also joining hands with other African language speaking communities and unlocking the value of African languages. Afrikaans’ survival is intertwined with the future of African languages.

Esteemed guests, dignitaries, board members, members of the media and those joining us online, the time has come to end the Foundation’s presentation of its Rights Report Card 2024. We hope that it has achieved its purpose, namely, to enable you to pause and reflect on the bigger picture of how we as a nation are doing in our endeavour to advance the human rights and freedoms in the Constitution. To question how we are doing as a nation in building a future of freedom and justice. To discuss these vital issues with others in your daily dialogue and to think about them as you work to report the news.

We will now open the question-and-answer session and encourage you to participate. The session will conclude at 13:00, after which drinks and refreshments will be served. Again, we encourage you to undertake a self-tour of the CCTSA once the serving of drinks and refreshments has commenced.

I thank you.