Xitsonga is one of South Africa's 12 Languages. Photo: File
Heritage Month, celebrated every September in South Africa and culminating in Heritage Day on 24 September, calls on us to reflect not only on the past we have inherited but also on the future we are building together..
Our languages are not only vessels of memory and identity; they are instruments of thought, inclusion and opportunity. For South Africa, a truly inclusive higher education system will only be possible if we embrace multilingualism; not as a symbolic act, but as a fundamental condition of educational justice and social cohesion.
As someone who has served in higher education leadership for many years — across institutions and in roles ranging from deputy vice-chancellor for learning and teaching to my current position as rector and vice-chancellor — I have witnessed first-hand how language can act as a bridge or a barrier. I have seen students thrive when they are able to learn, think and express themselves in their strongest language, and I have seen the opposite when language shuts the door to belonging and participation. This is not an abstract debate. It is a daily reality shaping access, success, and well-being for thousands of young people.
Multilingualism
South Africa’s Constitution enshrines multilingualism, recognising 12 official languages. But heritage is not safeguarded by recognition alone, it must be lived. In our universities, this means more than offering parallel streams of tuition. It means building a campus culture where diverse languages are valued, heard and actively supported.
That support can take many forms: multilingual mentoring in residences so that new students feel at home; student societies that consciously include multiple languages in events; lecture halls where glossaries, interpreting and translanguaging open participation. These are not extras. They are core to creating an environment in which all students can flourish.
Translanguaging
Too often, multilingualism is narrowly understood as duplication — offering separate streams of instruction in different languages. But as scholars such as Professor Mbulungeni Madiba, dean of education at Stellenbosch University (SU) and Professor Leketi Makalela, founding director of the Hub for Multilingual Education and Literacies at the University of the Witwatersrand, have shown, the transformative potential lies in translanguaging: the fluid use of multiple languages in the same communicative space.
Prof Madiba describes translanguaging as a way of creating “epistemic access” by ensuring that knowledge is not trapped in one language but opened to the plurality of voices in the room. Prof Makalela goes further, framing it as a form of “ubuntu pedagogy”, which views multilingual encounters not as fragmentation but as interconnection, an approach that enables students to learn with and through one another.
In practice, translanguaging allows students to access their full linguistic repertoires. A lecturer might introduce a concept in English, invite discussion in isiXhosa or Afrikaans, and then encourage students to write reflections in their preferred language. In tutorial groups, students may switch fluidly between languages, drawing on the richness of their shared resources. Far from creating confusion, translanguaging deepens comprehension, builds confidence and fosters collaboration across difference.
Beyond lecture halls
Multilingual practices are increasingly visible in lecture rooms, where lecturers integrate strategies such as multilingual summaries, parallel slides and group activities in different languages. But they extend well beyond formal teaching. In residences, peer mentorship often happens in hybrid linguistic spaces: Afrikaans interwoven with isiXhosa, isiXhosa alongside English. In student leadership bodies, code-switching enables more inclusive decision-making, ensuring that voices are not muted by linguistic barriers.
Even in research settings, multilingualism enriches inquiry. Studies in cognition confirm what many of us experience daily: multilingualism enhances problem-solving and creativity. One example comes from engineering tutorials, where allowing students to unpack concepts in isiXhosa or Afrikaans alongside English has led to deeper comprehension and retention. In health sciences, multilingual training equips future doctors to work meaningfully with patients across diverse communities, an effect that stretches far beyond the campus gates.
Social justice imperative
We cannot ignore the reality that for many students, language has historically functioned as a gatekeeper in higher education. Excluding students from full participation because of language is to deny them dignity, opportunity, and access. To transform, we must instead see language as a bridge.
That requires deliberate choices: policies that create space for multilingual learning; investment in interpreting and translation technologies; support for lecturers experimenting with new pedagogies; encouragement for residences and societies to cultivate multilingual cultures. And it requires moments of collective reflection, such as SU’s biennial Language Day, which took place on 4 September. Far more than a ceremonial event, it brings together staff, students, and scholars to reflect on how language enriches teaching, research, and belonging. Fittingly, it happens during Heritage Month, a reminder that language is at once a legacy and a horizon.
Global lesson
This is not a uniquely South African conversation. Around the world, universities are grappling with the tension between local languages and global lingua francas such as English. Too often, this tension is framed as a zero-sum choice: embrace English for global competitiveness or preserve local languages at the cost of reach. South Africa offers a different lesson. Multilingualism, especially when informed by translanguaging practices, allows us to do both: to participate globally while remaining rooted locally.
Graduates must be able to operate in global contexts. But they must also be able to serve communities at home — in clinics, schools, courts and boardrooms, where English alone is insufficient. Multilingualism ensures they can do both, with empathy, respect, and cultural competence.
Inclusive future
Heritage Month reminds us that heritage is not static. It is not only what we inherit, but what we choose to build. Language is living heritage. It grows when we use it, teach through it and create knowledge in it. It withers when reduced to nostalgia or sentiment.
To honour our heritage and prepare for our future, we must ensure that every voice finds expression, every student finds access, and every community finds connection. Multilingualism is not simply a matter of policy; it is an ethical imperative for higher education.
Professor Deresh Ramjugernath is the rector and vice-chancellor of Stellenbosch University, South Africa.