South African Languages | Language and media

SOUTH AFRICA: LANGUAGE & MEDIA

Media in South Africa is ever changing and this page is only an indication of what is available per language.

Radio
There are 11 national radio stations in all the official 11 languages and a number of commercial and community radio stations throughout the country.

Afrikaans: one national radio station Radio Sonder Grense (RSG) and some dual medium regional and community stations.
English: national stations: SAfm, Radio 2000, Metro FM, 5FM and many local and community stations
IsiNdebele: national radio station: Ikwekwezi
Sesotho: national radio station: Lesedi
Northern Sotho: national radio station: Thobela
Setswana: national radio station Motswedi; regional station Radio Mmabatho
SiSwati: national radio station: Ligwalagwala
Xitsonga: national radio station: Munghana Lonene
Tshivenda: national radio station: Phalaphala
IsiXhosa: national radio station: Umhlobo Wenene and some local community stations (such as CKI FM)
IsiZulu: national radio station: Ukhozi and some local community stations
!Xu and Khwe: X-K fm local station

Television
The parastatal broadcaster the South African Broadcasting Company (SABC) was established in 1936 with service with the television service starting with test broadcasts in 1975 and the official launch in 1976. Initial broadcasts were only made in English and Afrikaans (the official languages in the country). An additional channel was added in 1982 and it catered for the African languages Northern Sotho, Sesotho, Setswana, isiXhosa and isiZulu. See the language distribution on the SABC-TV for the period of 1996 to 2003 below:

On the commercial satellite service in addition to mainly English programmes, an Afrikaans dedicated channel Kyknet has been established.

Subtitling is used to promote multilingualism in South Africa, yet it is mainly only in English when Afrikaans or any of the other African languages are used.

Print media
Newspapers
Afrikaans: Daily - Beeld, Die Volksblad and Die Burger; Weekly - Rapport; regional papers
English: Daily - Business Day, Cape Argus, Cape Times, City Press, Daily Dispatch, Daily News, Financial Mail, Sowetan, The Star, Mail & Guardian; Weekly - Sunday Times; regional papers.
IsiNdebele: No national
Sesotho: Some regional papers in the Free State (in the former Qwaqwa region for example)
Northern Sotho: No national
Setswana: Multilingual newspaper called Seipone/Mirror
SiSwati: No national
Xitsonga: No national
Tshivenda: No national
IsiXhosa: Imvo
IsiZulu: Isolezwe, Ilanga LaseNatali and UmAfrika

Magazines
Afrikaans: a number of magazines (including: DeKat, Dit, Huisgenoot, Insig, Landbouweekblad, Mense, Sarie, Rooi Rose, etc.)
English: a number of magazines (some published by Naspers for instance)
IsiNdebele: No national
Sesotho: Monthly magazine Bona
Northern Sotho: No national
Setswana: Morongwa and Tswelopele
SiSwati: No national
Xitsonga: No national
Tshivenda: No national
IsiXhosa: Monthly magazine Bona
IsiZulu: Monthly magazine Bona; Drum

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