South Africa: dual medium policy?

Harold F. Schiffman haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
Sat Oct 29 14:32:57 UTC 2005


>>From SABC,    October 28, 2005, 16:45

Old flag t-shirts doing rounds in varsities

There is an increasing phenomenon of tertiary students wearing t-shirts
with the old South African flag and other related slogans. Such acts
started at the Potchefstroom Agricultural College and have now escalated
to the University of North West in Potchefstroom and the University of
Pretoria. The controversial t-shirts were sold recently at Aardklop, which
is an annual cultural event, held in Potchefstroom a few weeks ago. The
stall that sold the t-shirts was ordered to close by management of the
event.  The t-shirt are raising tension among students, with others saying
they remind them of apartheid and what it did to their parents.

"What it brings to me, it brings just hatred to my heart, and it is
because of that flag that my mother is illiterate. I think that, that
would imply that a person is not committed to the reconciliation that we
talk about," said North West University students.

Flag related to apartheid

A petition signed by more than 500 students has already been presented to
the mayor of Potchefstroom and the Human Rights Commission to intervene.
"In my own opinion, it is related to apartheid and all the bad things
related to apartheid," says Raymond Mampe, the Potchefstroom mayor.
Furthermore, students are concerned about transformation at this campus,
especially when comes to language policy. Most students believe Afrikaans
should not be completely phased out, but there should be a provision for
dual-medium where English and Afrikaans can be accommodated equally.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

South African Broadcasting Corporation.
http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/education/0,2172,115221,00.html



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