Marginalized Knowledge: An Agenda for Indigenous Knowledge Development and Integration with Other Forms of Knowledge

2. Background information on South Africa

South Africa is often referred to as the Cradle of Humankind. This is because it is where archaeologists discovered 2.5-million-year-old fossils of our earliest ancestors, as well as 100 000 year old remains of modern man (SA Govt. website, 2007).

According to Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), the population of South Africans was estimated at about 46.9 million in mid-2005. Black Africans were in the majority (about 37.2 million) and constituted about 79%. The white population was estimated at 4.4 million, the coloured population at 4.1 million, and the Indian/Asian population at 1.1 million (SA Govt. website, 2007).

The South African population consists of the following groups: the Nguni (consisting of the Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi people); the Sotho-Tswana, who include the Southern, Northern and Western Sotho (Tswana people); the Tsonga; Venda; Afrikaners; English; Coloureds; Indians; and those who have immigrated to South Africa from the rest of Africa, Europe and Asia, and maintain a strong cultural identity. A few remaining members of the Khoi and the San also live in South Africa (SA Govt. website, 2007).

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), mandates that everyone has the right to use their language and to participate in the cultural life of their choice, but no one may do so in a manner inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights. Each person also has the right to instruction in their language of choice where this is reasonably practicable. It is for this reason that the constitution recognizes eleven official languages, namely Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sesotho sa Leboa, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga (SA Govt. website, 2007).

Recognizing the historically diminished use and status of indigenous languages, the Constitution expects government to implement positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages. According to Census 2001, isiZulu is the mother tongue of 23.8% of the population, followed by isiXhosa (17.6%), Afrikaans (13.3%), Sesotho sa Leboa (9.4%), and English and Setswana (8.2% each). The least-spoken indigenous language in South Africa is isiNdebele, which is spoken by 1.6% of the population (SA Govt. website, 2007).

Although English is the mother tongue of only 8.2% of the population, it is the language most widely understood, and the second language of most South Africans. However, government is committed to promoting all the official languages (SA Govt. website, 2007).

The Constitution gives directives on how local government is structured. The Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act 117 of 1998), contains criteria for determining when an area must have a category A municipality (metropolitan municipalities) and when municipalities fall into category B (local municipalities) or C (district areas or municipalities). The Act also states that category A municipalities can only be established in metropolitan areas (SA Govt. website, 2007).

The Municipal Demarcation Board determined that Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, the East Rand and Port Elizabeth be declared metropolitan areas. Metropolitan councils have a single metropolitan budget, common property rating and service-tariff systems, and a single employer body. South Africa has six metropolitan municipalities, namely Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Ethekwini, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela. There are 231 local municipalities, and 47 district municipalities (SA Govt. website, 2007).

Metropolitan councils may decentralize powers and functions. However, all original municipal, legislative and executive powers are vested in the metropolitan council. In metropolitan areas, there is a choice of two types of executive systems: the mayoral executive system, where executive authority is vested in the mayor; and the collective executive committee, where these powers are vested in the executive committee (SA Govt. website, 2007).

Non-metropolitan areas consist of district councils and local councils. District councils are primarily responsible for capacity-building and district-wide planning (ibid).