Standing around a braai the other night, a couple of friends and I started talking rugby, much to the obvious annoyance of our female companions. We all agreed that the Sharks and the Bulls are looking good this season, that Schalk Burger’s new haircut doesn’t do much for his rather large head and that Rassie is sorely missed in the Cheetahs’ camp.

We also agreed that Puke Watson should in future, if ever, wear a bib when donning the Springbok jersey. At the mention of Puke’s cheeky dad a couple of nervous twitches ran around the circle of friends. Politics should never mix with sport, the commercial media and braais.

“Speaking of the media…” one rather doff friend piped up. “What happened to Afrikaans in the general media? Is this further evidence of the marginalisation and subjection of Afrikaans?”

“Ag no, man,” I cut across irritably and set about trying to explain why Afrikaans is a growing, NOT a dying medium. The following is a heavily censored synopsis of what was said that night:

Although Afrikaans has suffered the loss of government support, Ons Taal nevertheless remains more prevalent in the media – newspapers, radio and television – than all the other official languages except for English.

Let’s take the SA Music industry for example. Afrikaans music has been one of the best sellers in the industry for years, outselling most other locally produced genres. Admittedly it is the *cringe* “sokkie jol goue voete stamp treffers ” – it still remains a good indicator of exactly how well Afrikaans is doing in popular media.

It was by this success that Multichoice saw fit to launch a predominantly Afrikaans music channel MK. This was the outlet a new generation of Afrikaans music and the mostly unheard of afrikaans youth needed to emerge from the outer fringes of society and make their indelible mark in todays popular culture. One Afrikaans band even secured an opening spot at this year’s ‘My CokeLite Fest’, sharing the stage with international acts like Oasis, Snow Patrol and Bullet for my Valentine.

Then we come to Afrikaans in print. Now at this point I will be the first one to admit that Afrikaans print has always been either dreadfully boring or painfully mediocre … until now. At no time in its history has Afrikaans been used so cleverly, creatively and accurately to promote and excite. Just looking at last year’s Pendoring and even some Loerie finalists, you get a sense that the market has indeed matured into an Afrikaans-friendly place. For example:

“But what about Afrikaans on TV?”

Sure you don’t get much of it anymore and shows like Orkney Nie Snork Nie, Zet, Mina Moo, Brak-en-Jan and VetkoekPaleis belong to a by-gone era.

But then again, consider the vast audiences programmes like 7de Laan, Binnelanders and Passella pull weekly; not to mention the almost cult-like following the legendary Riaan Cruywagen is enjoying.

Afrikaans TV advertising has never been this amusing or unifying. Take the “Met Eish” Klipdrift ad campaign. Rarely has a catch phrase since “Yes, yes, NBS!” and “It’s not inside, it’s on top!” enjoyed so much public attention; and rarely has an ad inspired such a unifying sense of national pride amongst its target market and beyond.

Marketers have only recently started to appreciate a language thats a truly South African creation, thats not racially exclusive, that embraces so many and excludes only the resentful and narrow minded.

No one then,  who understands this richly descriptive, highly amusing, and often tongue-in-cheek language can deny its worth in advertising and the general media. Afrikaans has endured much in it short history and, although it will undoubtedly continue to endure, I can now say with confidence that: as surely as the Huisgenoot will be printed next week, Riaan’s hair never turn grey and COSATU go on strike, Afrikaans is here to stay! Amen.

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