The importance of considering African indigenous languages in the decolonisation of legal education and practice

Abstract

Language and culture are intimately connected thus we cannot understand culture without having direct access to its language. Learning a language therefore is equivalent to learning a particular society’s behaviour, culture and custom. Therefore it should be emphasised that language is culture and culture is language. How then can African indigenous law or African customary law be promoted within the law curriculum when South African indigenous languages are marginalised? The issue of the promotion of indigenous languages is a very contentious and crucial issue which also came to the fore during the Fees Must Fall Movement wherein academics were accused of being intellectually colonised. For instance student leaders echoed during their gatherings that “our academics are intellectually colonised; they are academic thugs” (Makelela 2018; 1). Thus the Fees Must Fall Movement as articulated by Makelela (2018; 2) “presents a continuation of an age-old struggle with more focus on the negative effects of corporate African universities, with issues around culture and language not explicitly stated”. This article reflects on the current situation with regard the teaching of African customary law and argues that the subject remains marginalised. The immediate impact of the state of affairs is that a form of injustice takes place when litigants affected by African customary law are before courts. This situation as emphasised in this article emanates from the fact that South African indigenous languages are marginalised thus resulting in the ultimate marginalisation of indigenous culture. The central argument of this article is that in the absence of a commitment to promote South African indigenous languages African customary law as a subject will not be fully beneficial to African indigenous people and various communities.