Fanagalo and the Bantu languages in South Africa

Attempts have been made to popularize Fanagalo as ‘Basic Bantu’, (–).This hybrid of Zulu, English and Afrikaans was probably originated by the Indians in Natal, during the latter half of the 19th century (–).Its vocabulary is roughly 70 percent; Nguni (mainly Zulu), 24 percent English, and 6 percent Afrikaans in origin, but it retains hardly any of the (–) characteristics of the Nguni and other Bantm languages. (–) Furthermote, the Bantu themselves do not automatically understand Fanagalo, but must learn it just as the European do. It is therefore not ‘Basic Bantu’ and must not be encouraged. Comment by Patrick Duncan, Origin of Fanagalo, in: African Studies, vol. 13, no. 1 (1954), p. 45.