THE Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) has slammed comments made by South African-born Hollywood star Charlize Theron. This is after the actress said Afrikaans was a dying language spoken by 44 people in the country.
“There is about 44 people still speaking it… It is definitely a dying language. It not a very helpful language,” the Monster actress said.
Theron was speaking during an interview on the Armless podcast hosted by Sean Hayes, Will Arnett and Jason Bateman early this week.
PanSALB spokesperson Ntombenhle Huluhulu said the board was concerned over Theron’s disparaging comments.
“PanSALB notes comments made by South African-born actress, Ms Charlize Theron, wherein she disregards the Afrikaans language as ‘dying out’ and ‘not very useful’ and only spoken by 44 people. The comments are not only disheartening, but are disturbing as they are inaccurate and misleading,” Huluhulu said.
She said according to Stats SA’s Community Survey of 2018, Afrikaans was the third most spoken language in the country, making up 12.2% of the population.
“These comments made by Ms Theron perpetuate the persistent misconception that Afrikaans is only spoken by white ‘boere’ South Africans, which could not be farther from the truth as 60% of the people that speak the language are black.
“Furthermore, Afrikaans maintains its official status in terms of the Constitution, is utilised in several cross-governmental communications, and is used as a medium of instruction in South African schools. By her own admission, Ms Theron was taught through our schooling system in her mother tongue, which built the foundation of her rather illustrious career,” she said.
Huluhulu said the Oscar-winning actress’ comments were irresponsible for someone of her stature and influence in society. “Ms Theron is held in such high regard by the country of her birth, and as the Pan South African Language Board, we implore her to pay due regard to the constitutional imperatives that promote social cohesion and continue the commendable work of using her platform to highlight some of the critical socio-economic issues that affect the continent, including the importance of participating in public life using one’s mother tongue,” she said.