<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">New language policy planned for Elsenburg after protests</h1>
<span id="spnDate" class="">2015-09-03 17:47</span>
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<p class="">Tammy Petersen, News24</p>
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<p class="">(Tammy Petersen, News24)</p>
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<p>Cape Town - Ovayo Zilo says the only Afrikaans she knows is how to greet.</p><p>"I barely understand the language. The only word I know is môre, because they say that every morning," she said.</p><p>She
was one of dozens of students who took part in the protests at
Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch since Monday against the
college’s language policy and alleged rampant racism at the institution.</p><p>Deciphering what is being taught during Afrikaans lectures is a mission, Zilo said.</p><p>"I am completely lost - I am unable to engage at all," she said.</p><p>"I
spend such a lot of time trying to make sense of what was discussed.
The lessons are not translated – part is given in Afrikaans, the other
in English. Combining the two is impossible if you don’t understand the
half of it."</p><p>Calm was restored at the institution on Thursday
after students and institution management met on Wednesday to reach a
compromise.</p><p>It was agreed that separate lessons will be conducted
in both English and Afrikaans and students can decide which lesson they
choose to attend.</p><p>English tutors will be available to assist those
who missed out on classes during the protests, in which some students
demanded lessons be given in English only.</p><p>On Wednesday, before
the agreement was reached between protesters and the institution, an
upset student told News24 he preferred to "figure things out" on his own
as Afrikaans is foreign to him.</p><p>"I am not English. At home, I
speak isiXhosa. But what upset me is that English is a universal
language which all of us understand. Why are we being alienated with
Afrikaans?"</p><p>The college’s 50-50 language policy means that most
black students understand lessons only 50% of the time, student Liphelo
Mpumlwana said.</p><p>She is part of the leadership of Decolonise EIC, which led the protests.</p><p><strong>Language barrier</strong></p><p>There are black students who opted to drop out because of the language barrier, she said.</p><p>"Some can’t cope with the pressure of being taught in a language they don’t understand."</p><p>But Afrikaans students say black students should have considered this before applying to Elsenburg.</p><p>"This school is marketed as an Afrikaans institution," one student said.</p><p>"It is in an Afrikaans town. If you are against Afrikaans, why enrol here in the first place?"</p><p>He described the protests as "a dumb way of getting what you want".</p><p>"Instead
of interrupting everyone else who came here to learn, they should
simply have taken their issues to management. That way our precious
class time wouldn’t have been disrupted."</p><p><strong>New language policy</strong></p><p>But another Afrikaans student said he understood the group’s frustration.</p><p>"I would probably feel exactly the same if classes were given in isiXhosa," he said.</p><p>"However,
I feel that non-Afrikaans speakers should have known what was waiting
when they applied here. It’s not as if Afrikaans classes were introduced
yesterday."</p><p>The college falls under the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.</p><p>Its
spokesperson Petro van Rhyn said a task team, instituted by the College
Council, will engage students and role-players to facilitate the
development of a new language policy.</p><p>"Independent mediators,
which have been on site for three weeks, will continue to facilitate the
transformation process, diversity management training and conflict
resolution involving students, lecturers and administrative personnel,"
she said.</p><p>Mpumlwana said while Decolonise EIC has reached a
compromise with management, the language hurdle is one of many which
need to be overcome.</p><p>Being a black student at Elsenburg is
anything but easy, she said, adding that the group plans to continue
engaging on issues surrounding transformation.</p><p><a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/New-language-policy-planned-for-Elsenburg-after-protests-20150903">http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/New-language-policy-planned-for-Elsenburg-after-protests-20150903</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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