Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree D.Litt et Phil in the department of Isizulu at the University of Zululand, 2002 / This research study is, inter alia, an attempt to respond to His Excellency, President Mbeki's call and pronouncement of the African Renaissance viz, that there be a reawakening and rebirth of Africa's heritage. This implies, amongst other things, the restoring of an African's dignity and respect, the eractition of poverty and its related disadvantages, re-looking at teh African's rich and lost culture. The research aims at dispelling the fallacy and myth that research output and involvement in research by the departments of African Languages at both historically White and historically Black universities are merely routine activities. to the critics these departments are geared towards survival rather than anything else.