The SABC, as South Africa’s public broadcaster, is mandated to inform, educate, and entertain citizens in all official languages, including Afrikans. Afrikaans is spoken by over 17 million people, and is the third-most spoken language in the country, overshadowing Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga, and other languages whose coverage will not be cut.

The SABC has faced challenges in balancing language representation, and in managing its budget, and so cuts are to be expected. But putting Afrikaans on the chopping block has raised questions and criticism from many quarters.

In a letter to senior management at the SABC, AfriForum demanded an explanation for the cancellation of the Afrikaans TV news bulletin. So far, no explanation has been given. According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, AfriForum already complained in August 2024 to the SABC management about the increasing suppression and cancellation of Afrikaans content. The SABC promised to “investigate”, and “limit disruptions” as much as possible.

Bailey expressed confusion at the choice: “Afrikaans consumers are loyal and financially strong. About a third of the market is Afrikaans. This makes it even more incomprehensible that the SABC is choosing to alienate this market. […] Not only Afrikaans speakers, but also speakers of other, smaller language groups in the country have long been dissatisfied with news bulletins that are broadcasted at inconvenient times.”

The SABC has floated the idea of scrapping Afrikaans content before back in 2015. Until now, pushback has meant that this hasn’t been able to pass, but now with the DA in charge of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, it seems to have finally been implemented.

The DA, neglecting to mention that their minister is in charge of the department, “demanded answers”, with spokesman Willie Aucamp promising to email the head of the SABC, instead of sending their Minister Solly Malatsi to discipline the department and simply getting a public statement from him.

This wouldn’t be the first time the DA had tried to get rid of Afrikaans. In 2016, the local Stellenbosch branch of the DA put pressure on the Elsensberg Agricultural College (part of Stellenbosch University) to abandon Afrikaans, despite 100% of its staff, students and content being in the language, joining in on the pressure from the radical black nationalist student movement protesting against the language in the rest of the university.

Nor would it be the first time the DA Ministers had been undermined. In February, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure published statements praising the possibilities of expropriation without compensation without Minister Dean McPherson’s knowledge.

This lack of oversight comes at a bad time, as the DA is facing tension with Afrikaans civic organisations after their party leader John Steenhuisen attacked them for criticising the government, and blamed them for the tariffs and diplomatic tension between South Africa and the US.

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