The existence of Indian languages in South Africa is a consequence of the abolition of slavery in the colonies, when Asian migrant labour filled the gap caused by the emigration of freed slaves. The sociolinguistic milieu in which Indians found themselves was particularly complex: Not only did they lack a knowledge of English and Zulu, but they would not always have been able to converse amongst themselves. Under these circumstances a pidgin English might have arisen; the kind of English that stabilized was a very special one, given that the policy of apartheid kept Indian children away from first-language speakers of English descent.