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The creation of false homelands or Bantustans (based on dividing South African Bantu language speaking peoples by ethnicity) was a central element of this strategy, the Bantustans were eventually made nominally independent, in order to limit South African Bantu language speaking peoples citizenship to those Bantustans.
Zulu is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, where it is an official language. More than half of the South African population can understand it, with over 13.78 million first-language and over 15 million second-language speakers. [8] Many Zulu people also speak Xitsonga, Sesotho and others from among South Africa's 12 official ...
The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each ethnicity generally having their own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic , Khoisan , Niger-Congo , and Nilo-Saharan populations.
Their language, isiXhosa, is one of South Africa's most populous languages. The pre-1994 apartheid system of Bantustan assigned them to have self-governing "homelands" (native reserves), namely; Transkei and Ciskei , both a part of the Eastern Cape Province where most Xhosa remain.
Almost all South Africans speak English to some degree of proficiency, in addition to their native language, with English acting as a lingua franca in commerce, education, and government. [1] [2] South Africa has twelve official languages, but other indigenous languages are spoken by smaller groups, chiefly Khoisan languages. [3]
This population is dispersed across South Africa with 34 under the age of 15, 21,6% from 15 to 2428,3% from 25 to 44, 11.8% from 45 to 64 and 4,3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age of a 'Black' South African is 21 years. For every 100 females there are 91,1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86,2 males. [14]
At least thirty-five languages are spoken in South Africa, twelve of which are official languages of South Africa: Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, South African Sign Language, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, and English, which is the primary language used in parliamentary and state discourse, though all official languages are equal in legal status.
Other major Bantu languages include Lingala with more than 20 million speakers (Congo, DRC), followed by Zulu with 13.56 million speakers (South Africa), Xhosa at a distant third place with 8.2 million speakers (South Africa and Zimbabwe), and Shona with less than 10 million speakers (if Manyika and Ndau are included), while Sotho-Tswana ...