THE Southern Africa Development Community has adopted Kiswahili as its fourth official language.
Other SADC official languages are English, Portuguese and French.
The decision was announced at a recent summit of 16 southern African heads of state in Tanzania.
Kiswahili is already an official language in Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda and of the African Union. It’s also used in some parts of central and southern Africa.
President John Magufuli, chairman of SADC, made his speech in Kiswahili at the summit, appealing to the heads of state to fast-track the adoption of the language.
According to a summit communiqué, the leaders approved Kiswahili as the fourth SADC official working language, in recognition of the contribution of the former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere’s role in the liberation struggle of southern Africa.
The Pan South African Language Board, which promotes multilingualism, said the inclusion of Kiswahili would help prevent the marginalisation of African languages.