Afrikaans was a colonial language based on Dutch. It was mostly used by white South Africans of Dutch origin known as Afrikaaners. Under Apartheid, a decree was passed giving preference to Afrikaans as the language of public instruction in black schools, despite that most black people did not speak Afrikaans and preferred English if they had to choose a language other than their first language (which might be Zulu, Xhosa, etc)