EA Pamoja Watch: Tanzania wants CAF to adopt Kiswahili as one of broadcast languages for 2027 AFCON

The government of Tanzania, alongside Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), will officially request the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to adopt Kiswahili as one of the broadcast languages for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027.

Tanzania, under the EA Pamoja umbrella, will co-host the biennial tournament alongside neighbors Kenya and Tanzania.

Speaking during a recent visit to BAKITA (Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa), an organization dedicated to the development and advocacy of Swahili as a means of national integration in Tanzania, minister for Sports and Culture Dr. Damas Nsumbaro said that the government wants the language to create more employment opportunities.

"We want Kiswahili to create more employment opportunities.

"In the financial year 2024/25, we shall set aside money to promote the language that is already employing 103 million Tanzanians worldwide.

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"We shall also work closely with the private sector to commercialize our noble language," Damas said.

Arabic, French and English are the official languages of CAF.

Yet, Kiswahili, the widely spoken language in Africa with over 150 million speakers majorly in Central and Southern Africa in the Great Lakes region, according to Opti-lingua, has been fighting for its place.

The language is already official in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, and is a minority recognized language in Mozambique, DR Congo and Burundi.

In 2022, the African Union (AU), adopted Kiswahili as one of its official working languages in a bid to find a common language for all Africans.

Countries such as Botswana and South Africa recently started offering Kiswahili in their institutions of learning.

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The language divide in Africa between English (Anglophone) and French (Francophone), and on the other hand Arabic, has been viewed as a barrier to not only integration, but also trade among Africans.

Broadcast of football matches in Kiswahili language is already very popular in Tanzania and Kenya.

Azam TV, Tanzania's pay television giant, which holds the broadcast rights for both Tanzania and Kenya premier leagues, predominantly uses and promotes Kiswahili.