07/09/2026
Keeping Nama Alive: A Conversation About Language and Heritage
By Conrad Fortune
Some conversations begin as interviews but quickly become something much more meaningful. My conversation with Mr James Mapanka, founder of the South African Nama Development Association (SANDEVA), was one of those conversations.
Affectionately known to me as Oom James, I sat down with him in a very cold and windy Port Nolloth, where SANDEVA, in collaboration with the Northern Cape Department of Education, the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the Richtersveld Municipality, was hosting a Nama Proficiency Training programme.
I had prepared a number of questions, but as our conversation unfolded, I soon realised that this was no longer a structured interview. We were simply talking – about Nama, identity, culture, heritage, education and the responsibility we have to future generations.
For Oom James, the vision of SANDEVA is clear: to contribute towards a South Africa where people, particularly Nama-speaking communities, can speak, read, write and understand the Nama language. But listening to him, it becomes clear that Nama is about far more than communication.
It is about identity. It is about memory. It is about belonging.
A language carries the stories, traditions, songs, knowledge and experiences of generations. When a language begins to disappear, we therefore lose much more than words. We lose a way of understanding and interpreting the world.
That is why the preservation of Nama is so important.
Languages can disappear quietly. Children may stop speaking them. Parents may increasingly use other languages at home. Young people may feel embarrassed to speak their mother tongue.
Slowly, the language becomes less visible and less frequently used. For Oom James, the answer is not simply to talk about preserving Nama. The language must be used, taught, written, read and celebrated.
This is where libraries become particularly important.
A child walking into a library and finding a book written in their own language receives a powerful message: your language belongs here.
One of the most interesting parts of our conversation was our discussion about young people and the challenge of making an indigenous language relevant to a generation that spends so much of its time in a digital world.
Perhaps the answer is not to pull young people away from technology, but rather to take Nama to them. If young people are watching YouTube, then there should be Nama content on YouTube. If they are listening to podcasts, there should be Nama podcasts. If they are creating videos, music, comedy and stories for social media, then Nama should have a place in those spaces too.
Language needs to be heard where young people are. It needs to become part of their everyday digital experience, not something they only encounter in a classroom, a book or during a Heritage Month celebration.
This is how we ensure that Nama remains relevant to the next generation. It must be spoken, heard, created and shared in the spaces where young people live, connect and express themselves. Because heritage cannot survive if we only celebrate it occasionally.
As Oom James puts it in essence, heritage must be alive.
We cannot preserve a language by placing it in a museum and simply telling future generations that their ancestors once spoke it. We preserve it by speaking it, writing it, reading it, teaching it and allowing young people to make it their own.
Parents and grandparents also have an important role. The first language classroom is the home. Speak Nama to children. Tell them stories. Teach them the words and expressions passed down through generations.
A young person does not have to choose between their heritage and their future. They can learn English, Afrikaans and other languages while still proudly speaking Nama.
The Nama Proficiency Training in Port Nolloth is an example of what can happen when government, communities and organisations such as SANDEVA work together. But ultimately, language preservation belongs to all of us.
If we were to return to Namakwa a year from now, success would perhaps be hearing more people speaking Nama, seeing more children reading it, finding more Nama books in our libraries and witnessing young people creating content in the language.
Most importantly, it would mean people speaking Nama without shame or hesitation. As our conversation came to an end, I was reminded that Heritage Month is not simply about looking backwards. It is about deciding what we want to carry forward. When a language disappears, we lose stories, knowledge, memory and identity.
But when we choose to keep a language alive, we give the next generation a connection to where they come from and something meaningful to carry into the future.
A language survives when people choose to speak it. A heritage survives when people choose to carry it forward.
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