Which is the most widely spoken as a first language/mother tongue of the 11 official languages in South Africa?

There are 11 official languages of South Africa. In order of mother-tongue dominance the official languages are: Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Sotho, Tsonga, Swati, Venda and Ndebele.

English is the dominant language in commerce, media and government. While most South Africans have a speaking knowledge of English, only 9.6% of the total South African population – which exceeds 50 million – call English their first language. As such, most South Africans are bilingual, with many able to speak three or more of the 11 languages.

Zulu is the mother tongue/first language of around 23% of the population. The second-biggest first language of South Africa is Xhosa used as such by 16% of the population. Afrikaans is the first language of 14% of the population.