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<span>In defence of Afrikaans</span>
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<span>Does the constitutional court’s support for a university’s
English language of instruction policy deal with what has become a
facilitator of racial tension, or does it hurt multilingualism?</span>
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11 January 2018 - 05:40
<span id="gmail-authors" class="gmail-heading-author">Claudi Mailovich</span>
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<p>Economic Freedom Fighters spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi
tweeted from inside SA’s apex court on the third last day of December:
"Afrikaans just fell here in constitutional court."</p>
<p>In one swift judgment the court relocated Afrikaans to the sidelines of the University of the Free State’s lecture halls.</p>
<p>The university, once an Afrikaans-only institution, adopted a new
language policy in 2016. It made English the sole language of
instruction, and dropped Afrikaans as its partner — except where the
need existed to keep Afrikaans classes, such as in the departments of
education and theology, and in tutorial classes.</p>
<p>This policy was first reviewed and set aside by the high court in
Bloemfontein, but when taken on appeal to the supreme court of appeal in
the city, the court held that the monolingual policy should be
implemented. This led lobby group AfriForum and trade union Solidarity
to take the battle to the constitutional court.</p>
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WHAT IT MEANS
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<p>Afrikaans a language of instruction has been an issue at various universities in SA</p>
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<p>Chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng wrote the majority
judgment, which stated that Afrikaans had, once again — but this time
inadvertently — led to segregation. Mogoeng emphasised the need for
context on an issue that had the potential to divide South Africans on
racial lines or worsen pre-existing divisions.</p>
<p>The context in this matter includes looking into SA’s history:
Afrikaans, as medium of instruction, was forced upon black South
Africans, an event that led to the 1976 student uprisings during
apartheid.</p>
<p>Mogoeng said former education minister Kader Asmal developed a
language policy framework for higher education institutions. It
underscored the need for multilingualism, expressing support for the
retention and development of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction, as
long as it did not unjustly deprive others of access to higher education
and wittingly or unwittingly become an instrument for racial or narrow
cultural discrimination.</p>
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<a class="gmail-image gmail-loaded" href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/education/2017-12-29-top-court-confirms-free-state-universitys-english-only-language-policy/" title="" style="background-image:url("//lh3.googleusercontent.com/sPJmLviw5YCRgSKlW5YmUiDfB9SthyajUhw1yzpD9t3BTL34G63sRrzqIXyuw5uzA4ih0Vwilf-0qolGbxuRDBUgtZ6SvmV5=s300");background-position:50% 50%;background-size:cover">
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<h3>Top court confirms Free State University’s English-only language policy</h3>
<div class="gmail-synopsis">The Constitutional
Court ruling is a setback for Afriforum — though Afrikaans will still
be used in tutorials, and in certain departments</div>
<div class="gmail-section">National</div>
<div class="gmail-timestamp">13 days ago</div>
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<p>This, the court found, was indeed the case. "The
university is in effect saying that President [Nelson] Mandela’s worst
nightmares have come to pass. The use of Afrikaans has unintentionally
become a facilitator of ethnic or cultural separation and racial
tension. And this has been so from around 2005 to 2016. Its continued
use would leave us with the results of white supremacy not being
addressed but kept alive and well," Mogoeng wrote in the majority
judgment, explaining why the university’s policy revision had become
necessary.</p>
<p>Debate about Afrikaans as a language of instruction has not been an
issue at the University of the Free State only. Protests at
traditionally Afrikaans institutions like Stellenbosch and Pretoria
challenged the hegemony of white Afrikaans culture in university
communities.</p>
<p>Only two justices supported a dissenting judgment, penned by Judge
Johan Froneman. He took issue with the fact that the matter was not
heard by oral arguments, but was decided based on the written arguments
filed in court. He contended that factual issues were not cleared up in
the written submissions.</p>
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<blockquote>I sincerely hope I am proved wrong, but I fear the main
judgment’s reasoning and content does not bode well for the
establishment and nurturing of languages other than Afrikaans and
English as languages of higher learning</blockquote>
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<p>"This has enormous implications beyond the confines
of the university’s campus," Froneman said, adding that it sanctions an
approach that deprives speakers of one of SA’s official languages of the
constitutional right to receive education in the language of their
choice. This, Froneman said, had not yet been dealt with authoritatively
by the court. He said it was a novel matter to find that the mere
exercise of a language can amount to unfair racial discrimination that
would justify taking away that right. And for Froneman, this was a clear
situation of merely taking it away.</p>
<p>The court was split across racial lines in this judgment.</p>
<p>Afrikaans took a significant through the judgment, but Froneman
warned the collateral damage of the judgment could be to the development
of the other official languages. "I sincerely hope I am proved wrong,
but I fear the main judgment’s reasoning and content does not bode well
for the establishment and nurturing of languages other than Afrikaans
and English as languages of higher learning. It may well be that it is
better for the country to concentrate on the inclusiveness that English
might bring as the sole language of instruction — but that is a choice
that ought to be made by the public rather than this court," Froneman
said.</p>
<p>Rakwena Monareng, CEO of the Pan SA Language Board, established to promote multilingualism, lamented the judgment.</p>
<p>It "doesn’t speak well when it comes to the development of official
languages other than English", and was contrary to the national agenda
of multilingualism, Monareng said. "We need to decide whether we want
multilingualism or not.</p>
<p>"If we want to scrap it, let’s say it."</p>
<p><a href="mailto:mailovichc@businesslive.co.za">mailovichc@businesslive.co.za</a></p>
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</div></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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