The Linguistic Landscape of Post-Apartheid South Africa

Politics and Discourse

Liesel Hibbert

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781783095803
• eBook ISBN: 9781783095827
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Sociolinguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

The appointment of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994 signalled the end of apartheid and transition to a new democratic constitution. This book studies discursive trends during the first twenty years of the new democracy, outlining the highlights and challenges of transforming policy, practice and discursive formations. The book analyses a range of discourses which signal how and by what processes the linguistic landscape and identities of South Africa's inhabitants have changed in this time, finding that struggles in South African politics go hand in hand with shifts in the linguistic landscape. In a country now characterised by multilingualism, heteroglossia, polyphony and translanguaging, the author debates where the discourse practices of those born post-1994 may lead.

1The Release of Nelson Mandela as the Advent of Democracy

This chapter accounts the event that most Westerners remember as the announcement of the end of ‘white-dominated’ rule in South Africa. Momentous happenings occurred when, on 2 February 1990, in Cape Town, F.W. de Klerk announced the unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC) and what was at that time the as-yet unscheduled release of Nelson Mandela. As is generally well known, this occasion set in motion South Africa’s bloodless revolution, culminating in the first democratic elections in 1994 and with the ANC still in power 20 years down the line. President de Klerk of the National Party received international accolades for the event, sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela. President de Klerk appeared in every daily newspaper around the country on that specific day and was hailed as an agent of change. The dynamics behind the scenes, and leading up to the release of Mandela from custody, are evidence of political manoeuvring and last minute plans to save the country from continued economic global sanctions. It may be said that the county was already well overdue for radical changes by then. An analysis of the front page of the Cape Times of 3 February 1990 follows below. What is of interest here is the couching of a momentous message in the most euphemistic and matter-of-fact style, so as to break the news ‘softly’, as it were, anticipating the alarm of supporters of the National Party and perhaps some other ‘liberal conservatives’ in the population.

The front page of the Cape Times on 3 February 1990 signalled a departure from the ‘typical’ front page to which the paper’s readers were accustomed, that is, the newspaper’s usual political or parliamentary reporting. In addition, the overriding tone of the page indicated a dramatic departure from the newspaper’s customary criticism of the government. The tone is celebratory rather than critical. This shift must have come across as both exciting and disturbing to the newspaper’s habitual readers. The front page carried the momentous announcement that President F.W. de Klerk would relinquish the presidency to Nelson Mandela. This was of momentous historical importance to South Africa, and the article was concentrated on one major event and its effects. In terms of discursive analysis, the report presents to its readers a crisis of hegemony in which de Klerk is the primary definer, with other subordinate primary definers – other authority figures – quoted in a definite hierarchical order. de Klerk’s becoming the primary definer in this context is reinforced by the strategy of repetition of definitions through prominent signifiers. The extent to which the newspaper sought to confound its readers is illustrated by its reporting of the approbation of Joe Slovo, head of the South African Communist Party, who was in exile at the time. The Communist Party had been the government’s arch enemy for the preceding four decades. That text is twinned with comment from Helen Joseph, a prominent and outspoken critic of the apartheid government, who was restricted at the time. The effect of the twinning was to strengthen the fact that these people were no longer persona non grata; they were free.

In discursive terms, the addresser is actively seeking to position de Klerk positively within the ideological context of reform. The ideological context of this news item was the sociopolitical climate of reform in South Africa and the tension between the oppressors (namely the National Party at the time, representative of the white population only) and the oppressed (the disenfranchised non-voter constituency of the time, that is, the majority of the population). I argue that the purpose of this news item, presented on the eve of the unbanning of the ANC, was to prepare the ground for winning public support for the ANC.

My discussion of this particular news item will be introduced by commenting on the choice of sign. I demonstrate how a cumulative logic is constructed between the different elements of the news item: between the page layouts, the news photograph, the graphics, the narrative of the story itself and the editorial. This is done through semiotic analysis, mainly following Hartley (1982) and Tomaselli (1987). This approach seeks to highlight the social dimensions of meaning and of the power of human processes of signification and interpretation in the shaping of individuals and societies. Semiotic modes include various multimodal ensembles of a number of modes, that is, verbal, written, visual and auditory (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001). The following analysis shows how the visual components and the text complement each other by a process of strategically constructing the news item as a powerful ‘life-changing’ event.

On this particular front page, there is one major story, largely supported by several smaller pieces on the same theme. The editorial formula used on this page is very similar to that used regularly when publicising government budget announcements, which is important news in that it affects all citizens. However, the reporting of it is complicated and multifaceted, mainly because the announcements affect different classes of wage earners differently. The task faced by the newspaper is to make complicated information meaningful and accessible to a wide range of readers.

In terms of the graphics and logos, using similar ploys to those used in budget reports is indicative of the perceived importance of the news presented. The graphics at the head of the page above the headline summarise the main areas of reform, while two parallel logos, perhaps representing a camera lens or peephole, focus on a receding pathway, labelled ‘FW’s hour...The new politics’. The general layout of the page therefore forges a connection between the graphics, the logos and the photograph (discussed in greater detail below) and the overall positive message, which can be traced syntagmatically in the headlines.

The function of headlines is to tell a story in brief: it must label the story. In addition, the headline must fit the space available, it must conform to the paper’s standards, it must be safe and it should not commit the paper to an opinion. A glance at the headlines of the various reports and at the photograph captions on this page tells the story:

‘NEW ERA FOR SA’

‘On the move’

‘Future’s “good promise”’ ‘Celebrations in the streets’

‘JSE gets boost from Investors’

‘Slovo longing, Joseph happy’

However, they do more than this. The headlines are the most important visual device in an otherwise dull page with a very formal picture. Each headline will be discussed to show how they complement each other.

‘NEW ERA FOR SA’ is a straight label headline without a powerful verb component, but one could say that it works well. The choice of four short words and a total of 11 characters makes it possible to use a deep type-size reserved for momentous, historical events for which there is a lack of dramatic pictorial material. The words have to carry the news. ‘New era’ conjures up a romanticised image of the future of the country, and one of hope.

‘On the move’ presents National Party policy as non-static. It is muted in tone relative to the other headlines, but this is fitting because the headline is for an editorial. The placement of the editorial on the front page will be discussed in detail further along.

‘Future’s “good promise”’ reassures the reader, who may be struggling to digest the quantum leap in thinking she/he has made by the time this part of the page is read. At the same time, the use of parentheses, indicating that de Klerk is being quoted, is a persuasive device aimed at obtaining ‘buy in’ for political change from the Cape Times readership.

‘Celebrations in the streets’ sounds reassuring and redolent with hope, and it denotes widespread support for the reform initiatives announced by de Klerk. There is widespread contention that de Klerk was merely the mouthpiece for an inevitable change necessitated by global economic pressure.

‘JCE gets boost from investors’ is reassuring for financially informed audiences and positively links the reform announcements with a mini boom on the stock exchange.

‘Slovo longing, Joseph happy’ provides a little cameo of what the readers are in for in the future: Leaders and prominent resistance figures who have been personae non gratae for decades (Slovo, Alfred Nzo, Oliver Tambo) are afforded status and prominence overnight and are allowed to be quoted. In the spirit of the page, the political rhetoric to which they undoubtedly treated reporters who telephoned them is given a back seat. Their simple, universally understood emotions are aired instead: ‘Slovo wants to come home’; ‘Joseph calls it a great day of tremendous joy.’

There are two small deviations from the general mood of the headlines: ‘Cops leave cancelled’ strikes a warning, echoing that which was sounded in the editorial, that all might not be peaceful. Also, ‘FW becomes Comrade’ serves a dual function. It adds a touch of wry humour and both bolsters and complements the story above on police leave being cancelled. However, it is the one headline on the page susceptible to misreading. The article is really about police overreaction to crowd celebrations.

The Narrative

The writer of the lead story constructs it as follows:

(1)Tributes pour in. South Africa is on the brink of regaining international acceptance.

(2)The ANC is poised to declare peace.

(3)The ANC leaders are gathering.

(4)Oliver Tambo is quoted and warns of continuing repression.

(5)Wide popular support for radical political change is expressed.

(6)Churches show support.

(7)The Organisation of African Unity (OAU), US President George Bush, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher express support.

At this point, there is a page turn that very few readers will make, so the negative impact of comments by the Conservative Party (CP) and the Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging (the Afrikaner Resistance Movement [AWB]) is largely lost.

‘International acceptance’ is presented as the aim of the ‘NEW ERA’, but, apart from the words ‘watershed speech’, most of the rest of the piece focuses on the ANC. The effect must be to pave the way for acceptance of the ANC by the general readership. A crisis in hegemony is signified here by the conflict embedded in the underlying contradiction between the primary signifier (de Klerk) being cast as ‘nationalist’ and ‘reformist’ simultaneously. Where ideology was previously constructed by the English South African media (including, although in a rather confused way, the Cape Times) in such a way as to polarise these two positions, the contradiction is now abandoned: de Klerk is now only a reformer.

This becomes apparent from the whole treatment of the news event, which is largely uncritical (‘man of the moment’ is used as a label for de Klerk). The way is paved for the ANC by accessing the voices of its officials and by presenting them according to their hierarchical positions within the ANC (‘ANC secretary-general Mr Alfred Nzo’; ‘ANC President Mr Oliver Tambo’). In the reports on the page, ANC officials, previously rarely quoted, are allocated status equal to that of National Party officials. While historically, reference to the ANC would have been associated with defiance, in the light of subsequent political shifts, the only position of defiance on the front page is allocated to right-wing reactionaries, in the prominent boxed ‘teaser’, ‘Wit Wolf may get reprieve’. ‘Wit Wolf’ (White Wolf) refers to a member of the armed wing of the AWB who had been convicted of indiscriminate drive-by shootings of black people. The point of the teaser is to highlight the message of a ‘new era’ in race relations, and the hope is expressed that the good news could be inclusive and be extended to all groups, including far-right elements such as the AWB. Who is not quoted on this page? Opposition parliamentarians suddenly found themselves upstaged by de Klerk’s announcement, clearly reflected in the total absence of comment from opposition groups. This protects the main message from contamination and disruption and reduces the risk to the authority of the primary definer, which might deflect from the strategy of appeal for consent to the reform announcement.

The news photo is used, as mentioned before, as a signifier to present de Klerk as an index of the reform theme in South Africa. Again, the approach is a rare concession to formality, typically reserved for relatively uncontroversial government figures like the minister of finance, who would be pictured on the day of the reading of his bill. The characteristics of the picture of de Klerk are supportiveness and specificity. He is framed by the small-paned windows of the Cape Dutch architecture of the Tuinhuys, which, for some readers, might symbolise white repression, but also provides concrete, reassuring evidence, in black-and-white, of control and authority emanating from the seat of government. The choice of the low-angle shot gives an optical illusion of tallness and stature. The choice of outside location and de Klerk’s friendly facial expression seem to be designed to depict him in the most favourable way possible. His tailoring and calculated, sophisticated model stance are all deliberate PR innovations designed to break with the traditional conservative, reactionary ‘baasskap’ image of South African National Party officials.

De Klerk is depicted coming down the steps, which can be seen behind him, creating the impression of approaching the viewer, bringing with him the reform ‘package’. His field of vision stretches way beyond the camera lens, again reinforcing the image of ‘a man with a vision’, bestowing on him almost clairvoyant qualities.

By choosing to publish a photograph of de Klerk, knowing that most Cape Times readers at the time were not aligned with the rulers of Afrikaner domination, is the addresser’s way of creating commodity value. The photograph therefore signifies objectivity. The truth value, however, is fully underlined by the editorial, which will be explained in the next section. The caption ‘Man of the Moment’ is of a leader (still white) with power (signified by a sheaf of paper and red tie) still uncontestably in his hands. The geometric symmetry of the background architecture adds endless significance to the orderliness and preordained nature of the announcement.

The Editorial

The placement of the editorial opinion on the front page is an indic...

Table of contents

• Cover-Page
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 The Release of Nelson Mandela as the Advent of Democracy
• 2 Shifts in the Linguistic Landscape, post 1994
• 3 Linguistic Changes in Parliament 1994–1998: Paving the Way for Linguistic Democracy
• 4 Reconfigured Features of the African Oral Tradition
• 5 Recontextualised Residues of Rhetoric from the Previous Era
• 6 Historical Explanations for Literacy Backlogs in South Africa
• 7 Black South African English Versus Other African Englishes in the 1990s
• 8 The Rhetoric of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance
• 9 The Debate on African Identity in South Africa
• 10 Expressions of Neo-Traditional Patriarchy in the Speeches of President Zuma
• 11 Return to Self-Censorship in Political Journalism: Echoes of the 1950s and 1960s
• 12 Localisation Initiatives
• 13 The Position of African Languages
• 14 Superdiversity and Translanguaging: A New Discursive Order?
• References
• Index