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In doing justice to the South African constitution?s recognition of all eleven languages, the Department of Defence is faced by immense challenges. Having not been exposed to similar requirements in the past, many of the indigenous languages now recognised in the constitution do not have the technical or tactical vocabulary used in modern military correspondence, training and operations. Crystal-clear communication is a prerequisite for military operations that require the accurate and specific transfer of commands and information as rapidly as possible in a situation that may be life-threatening. Therefore, the concept of a professional military operation being communicated in eleven languages is patently unworkable. Nevertheless, in a joint study regarding public opinion on security issues conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in October 1996, most South Africans (47%) rejected the idea of using a single language for command in the military, while 41% supported it. Uncertain responses amounted to 12%. English-speaking South Africans (67%) clearly supported the use of a single command language in the military, while close to half of respondents from most other language groups were opposed to the idea. In the HSRC/ISS study personal interviews were conducted nationwide with 2 200 South African residents of 18 years and older. All nine provinces were included in the survey, and much care was taken to include both rural and urban areas, as well as people from all socio-economic backgrounds. When responses concerning the use of a single language for military command were sorted according to support for political party, it was found that 63% of DP supporters endorsed this view (32% against), as did 50% of NP supporters (40% against) and 49% of PAC supporters (40% against). Parties whose supporters were mainly opposed to the idea of using a single language for military command were the IFP (55% against and 20% for) and the ANC (49% against and 41% for). Responses broken down according to formal educational qualifications obtained indicated that respondents with a higher qualification than Grade 12 more readily agreed to the idea of using a single language for military command (53%), while the largest proportion of all other respondents with a lower educational qualification rejected this notion. These figures probably indicate that those with a more advanced education are more aware of the practical difficulties posed by military training in different languages. Asian respondents were the only population group who were overwhelmingly (82%) in favour of a single language being used in the military. Whites supported the idea by 49%, while 49% of blacks and 50% of coloureds were opposed to it.
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