We explore the relationship between English language proficiency and earnings
among Africans in South Africa, using new data from the first wave of the National
Income Dynamics panel survey of 2008. The dominant language of business,
government and education in South Africa is English although not more than one
percent of the majority African population speaks English as their home language. We
find that there is a large premium to reading and writing English very well, and that
very high and convex returns to education are dampened after controlling for English
language proficiency. Among African men who are not English language proficient,
there is no significant difference in the returns to completed secondary education or
post-secondary education. We also consider the implications of the results for
language and education policy in South Africa in the post-apartheid period.