English Is Also the ‘Language of the Oppressor’
From his remarks in The Mercury of June 11, it would seem that Thyagaraj Markandan has not read the Preamble of the Constitution which exhorts respect, healing and acceptance of diversity.
While he is entitled to dislike Afrikaans and Afrikaners and what he calls their “harsh” language, his condemnation of it as “the language of the oppressor” needs to be contextualised. Having stated that he is “really proud to be an Indian,” how does his use of the English language square with the oppression the British inflicted on India and on Indians in Natal, starting with indenture?
It was under British rule and recorded in English that the basis of apartheid was laid by Shepstone with his native locations in Natal – a mini forerunner of the bantustans. It was Lord Alfred Milner whose 1905 Native Commission endorsed residential segregation of Africans from whites, a policy the National Party fine-tuned as the Group Areas Act from 1950.
Successive British colonial administrations progressively oppressed Indians in Natal. The £3 tax was one of the most onerously oppressive policies imposed on Indians despite their entitlement as British subjects to equal treatment with white colonists.
The Preamble also asks for respect for those who have worked to build and develop South Africa. Next time he puts a pot on the stove and uses electricity, Mr. Markandan might want to consider the role of Dr. Hendrik van der Bijl, an Afrikaner, who was instrumental in establishing Iscor and Eskom.
Much of what is taken for granted today was established by the initiative and enterprise of people who spoke Afrikaans. Yet Afrikaners do not disparage English-speaking South Africans despite the oppression the British inflicted on their forebears in the Anglo-Boer War.
