#2022GaveUs | Remember when Charlize Theron left ‘44 Afrikaans people’ hot and bothered?

Just when we thought things couldn't get any more tricky in Mzansi in 2022, South African born Hollywood actress Charlize Theron had to go and stir the pots when she came for the Afrikaans language.

She made claims about Afrikaans "dying" in SA and said the language was spoken by 44 people.  

Speaking about her home language in an interview with SmartLess podcast, Charlize said she didn't speak English until she was around 19 and only focused on learning the language when she left home.

Afrikaans is one of SA's official languages and, according to online stats resource Worlddata, is spoken by more than 8-million people around the world.

Referring to Afrikaans, Charlize joked “there's about 44 people still speaking it” and called it “a dying language”.

“It's not a very helpful language,” she added.

Taking to the podcast's Instagram page, South African actor Tim Theron rubbished the suggestion Afrikaans is a dying language.

“It's not a 'dying language', and it's not only spoken by 44 people. It's spoken by millions of people. There are new songs and poems being written every day, movies made etc. It's a language with its roots in several languages and cultures, including Dutch, Malay, Indonesian and our indigenous San languages. Just FYI.”

The actress's remarks shook the tables of politicians, organisations and normal citizens and most people came at her guns blazing.

The Pan South African Language Board

released a statement labelling her comments as disparaging and misleading.

The statement said: “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.

“Furthermore, Afrikaans maintains its official status in terms of the constitution and is used 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.” 

Popular Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr

has been outspoken on issues affecting the Afrikaans community, and speaking to TshisaLIVE, he rubbished Charlize's comments.

“If it managed the first heart transplant it’s a useful enough language for me. Afrikaans is a marginalised language which is alive and well, regardless,” he said.