Is Zulu is the mother tongue of over 20% of which country’s people?

isiZulu is the most common language spoken by around 12 million people in the region; it is the language of the region’s largest ethnic group, the Zulu people.

A tonal language, and one of the country's four Nguni languages, and is closely related to isiXhosa. It is probably the most widely understood African language spoken from the Cape to Zimbabwe.

According to the 2011 census, isiZulu is the mother tongue of about 23% of South Africa's population.  

In comparison, English is the mother tongue of less than 10% of the region's population.  English is a highly influential language in the region with about half of the country's people having a basic knowledge of English.  English is South Africa's primary language of government, business and commerce.  

English is spoken at home language by almost 5 million people. South African English is an established and unique dialect, with strong influences from the country's many African languages.

And what about Nelson Mandela, one of South Africa’s most famous leaders?  Although not Zulu - he is the son of a chief of the Thembus tribe, which was absorbed into the Xhosas tribe, and whose mother tongue is spoken by about 16% of the South African population.  South Africa's second-largest language, isiXhosa, shares much of its words and grammar with isiZulu. 

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