Afrikaans 'fights for survival'

100 YEARS: LANGUAGE CAN DISAPPEAR WHEN IT LOSES ITS HIGHER FUNCTIONS - FF+ LEADER

- Marizka Coetzer

As many South Africans celebrated the 100th year of existence of the Afrikaans language, some doubt it would be around another year, or exist in a significant way. But EFF MP Carl Niehaus loves Afrikaans.

"I grew up speaking Afrikaans; it's my mother language. I like the word mother tongue because the first language I learned was Afrikaans from my mother," he said.

Niehaus added: "We should be careful not to use Afrikaans for political and racial purposes because it damages the language".

"The whole idea of sovereignty and exclusivity in the far-right community was downright wrong," he said.

"Afrikaans shouldn't be used in schools to keep a school white or create whites-only areas. The majority of Afrikaans-speaking people are not even white."

Niehaus said Afrikaans should be recognised as one of the 12 official languages in South Africa and "must be respected and used in that sense, not for exclusivity".

Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations (FAK) spokesperson FC Pelser said Afrikaans is the "language of the Afrikaner ancestors and, if they did their duty, it would be the language our children speak for hundreds of years to come".