Indaba focuses on making multilingual policies meaningful

Speakers at the 2026 University of Cape Town (UCT) Language Indaba greeted and occasionally addressed their colleagues in various languages, including South African Sign Language (SASL), to bring home the importance of creating a space for multilingualism.

The third Language Indaba was hosted by the Multilingualism Education Project (MEP) on 28 August in the ZK Matthews Gallery of the Hoerikwaggo Building on upper campus.

The aim of the indaba was for UCT and various institutions to share lessons learned from three years of implementing the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET)-funded Language Development Plan (LDP).

It was attended by representatives of UCT faculties and divisions, national organisations, including the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) and the African Language Association of South Africa (ALASA), as well as entities such as Wikimedia, and language practitioners.

“The languages we recognise, develop and value within our institutions shape who can participate, whose voices are heard and whose knowledge is legitimised.”

Two panel discussions were held with representatives from UCT, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of the Western Cape, Mangosuthu University of Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Rhodes University and Stellenbosch University.

The opening address was given by Lisa de Vos, programme manager of the University Capacity Development Programme, which is located in the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) at UCT and is funded by the DHET. She thanked the DHET for funding that made the indaba possible.

She said language is far more than a medium of communication. “It is a carrier of knowledge, identity, belonging and dignity. The languages we recognise, develop and value within our institutions shape who can participate, whose voices are heard and whose knowledge is legitimised.”

Sharing lessons learned

De Vos said each year the Language Indaba creates an important moment in UCT’s multilingualism journey to reflect on what has been achieved and ask what more can be done to make multilingualism an enduring feature of UCT. She said this is particularly important as 2026 marks the final year of the LDP’s implementation rollout.

“The theme of this year’s indaba, “Sharing Lessons Learned”, reminds us that meaningful transformation is rarely linear. It is built through experimentation, collaboration, challenge, reflection and persistence. Today is an opportunity to celebrate work done to date, learn from one another, and consider how we collectively move forward.”

“The theme of this year’s indaba … reminds us that meaningful transformation is rarely linear.”

In the first indaba in 2024, the UCT community was educated on its language policy process and invited to take part by providing feedback in the drafting stages. By 2025, UCT had an approved multilingual policy and the indaba that year focused on sharing best practice and ideas to implement the language policy.

The UCT multilingual language policy was approved by Council in December 2024 and came into effect in January 2025. The UCT Language Policy Committee, a committee of Senate, chaired by Professor Lolie Makhubu-Badenhorst, was responsible for drafting it and its accompanying implementation framework and taking it through the processes of getting it approved by Council.

Professor Makhubu-Badenhorst is also the director of the MEP, which has been tasked with running the UCT LDP and implementing the multilingual language policy at the university. She gave an overview of the implementation at UCT.

Advancing multilingualism

Dr Keaobaka Seshoka, chief executive officer of PanSALB, focused on how universities can work with them. She said a part of their mandate is to create conditions for the development and use of African languages, including the Khoi, Nama and San languages and SASL.

She said they did not want the university language policies to just be paper-based and wanted to help them create “conducive language ecosystems” and prioritise students’ experience.

“Let’s co-create multilingualism together,” said Dr Seshoka.

Professor Tobie van Dyk who is affiliated with SADiLaR, spoke about their Higher Education Sector Support Programme, which has been designed to advance multilingualism at South African universities.

He said among the reasons why the implementation of multilingualism remains uneven is limited human expertise, digital resources being scarce, and fragmented institutional capacity.

He said there needed to be financial investment into language development to implement multilingual language policies.

He was among many speakers who called for expertise and resources to be shared.

He said multilingualism must become visible in teaching and learning environments. “We have to advance African languages to also be able to participate fully in academia.”

Embedded in institutional culture

Speaking on behalf of UCT’s executive, Juliet Mhango, Executive Director: Human Resources, said language carries culture, history, knowledge systems and a sense of belonging. “It shapes how people experience institutions, participate in learning, contribute to scholarship and engage as members of a community. At UCT, our commitment to multilingualism is therefore not simply a compliance exercise or a policy requirement – it is fundamentally about inclusion, transformation, and creating an environment where people feel seen, valued and are able to participate.”

She said UCT’s executive recognises that language plays a critical role in achieving the university’s aspirations of excellence, inclusivity, social responsiveness and African scholarship.

“We understand that fostering multilingualism is not the responsibility of a single department or a specific project. It requires leadership, institutional resources and collective responsibilities across faculties, departments, among students and staff, and within the country as we are gathered here.”

She said as university leaders, they understand they have a responsibility to ensure that multilingualism remains embedded in institutional culture, decision-making and strategic priorities.

Producing knowledge in African languages

As the board chairperson of ALASA, Dr Simthembile Xeketwana said universities exist within societies and the languages of society must have a place in the intellectual life of the university. 

He said the real test of a language plan is if students can learn, think, debate and write and produce knowledge in African languages. 

He asked the question of what knowledge becomes possible when we think through African languages. “That is where our future work must take us.”

Panellists shared their experiences of multilingualism and the implementation of the language policy at their various institutions and touched on topics such as the role of artificial intelligence in language use. What emerged was a picture that universities are at different levels in terms of language policy and implementation. However, there was a commitment from university management.

Another issue raised was the need for a unified language body or unit to coordinate all language-related matters across universities.

True to the spirit of multilingualism, hearing-impaired delegates had the services of SASL interpreters, Michelle De Bruyn and Beryl Botha, during the indaba.

The Ilingomso Lethu Traditional Dancers from Khayelitsha provided the entertainment. The group specialises in isiXhosa and Setswana dance and music.