The DA has invited SA-born actress Charlize Theron to discuss how to “protect Afrikaans against the ANC” after she trended for expressing her views on the language.
Theron had many South Africans in an uproar after she expressed her views on Afrikaans on the SmartLess podcast with hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.
She joked that “there's about 44 people still speaking it” and called it “a dying language”.
“It's not a very helpful language,” she added.
The DA invited the actress to join it for a parliamentary sitting when she is in the country again.
“Given her apparent concern about the risk of Afrikaans 'dying out', we invite Theron to engage in discussion with the DA on her next visit, so we can work together to protect her mother tongue from the ANC,” it said.
The party said it was proud to be the leading political campaigner for the language rights of all South Africans, including the estimated 7-million speakers of Afrikaans.
“While it is very unfortunate that so much energy is spent by the ANC to slander Afrikaans while our country's economy and infrastructure crumbles, the DA will continue to stand up for language rights, as we did when the ANC tried to change the name of the Afrikaans Language Monument and when they tried to classify Afrikaans as 'foreign'.”
DA invites Charlize Theron to discuss ways to 'protect Afrikaans from the ANC'
Image: PATRICK VAN KATWIJK/GETTY IMAGES
The DA has invited SA-born actress Charlize Theron to discuss how to “protect Afrikaans against the ANC” after she trended for expressing her views on the language.
Theron had many South Africans in an uproar after she expressed her views on Afrikaans on the SmartLess podcast with hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.
She joked that “there's about 44 people still speaking it” and called it “a dying language”.
“It's not a very helpful language,” she added.
The DA invited the actress to join it for a parliamentary sitting when she is in the country again.
“Given her apparent concern about the risk of Afrikaans 'dying out', we invite Theron to engage in discussion with the DA on her next visit, so we can work together to protect her mother tongue from the ANC,” it said.
The party said it was proud to be the leading political campaigner for the language rights of all South Africans, including the estimated 7-million speakers of Afrikaans.
“While it is very unfortunate that so much energy is spent by the ANC to slander Afrikaans while our country's economy and infrastructure crumbles, the DA will continue to stand up for language rights, as we did when the ANC tried to change the name of the Afrikaans Language Monument and when they tried to classify Afrikaans as 'foreign'.”
Pan South African Language Board disheartened by Charlize Theron’s ‘disregard’ for Afrikaans
The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) said Theron's comments were “disparaging and misleading”.
The board shared a 2018 report by Stats SA revealing Afrikaans is the third most spoken language in the country, accounting for 12.2% of the population.
“The comments made by Ms Theron perpetuate the persistent misconception that Afrikaans is only spoken by white ‘boere’ South Africans, which could not be farther from the truth as 60% of people who speak the language are black,” said the board.
“Furthermore, Afrikaans maintains its official status in terms of the constitution and is utilised in several cross-governmental communications and used as a medium of instruction in South African schools. By her own admission, Ms Theron was taught through our schooling system in her mother tongue, which built the foundation of her rather illustrious career.”
Theron has yet to publicly respond to the uproar over her comments or the DA's invitation.
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WATCH | 5 times Charlize Theron spoke 'dying language' Afrikaans in Hollywood
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'Stick to Hollywood & leave us out of it' — Charlize Theron dragged for calling Afrikaans ‘a dying language’
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