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<header><h1>AfriForum loses Unisa court battle</h1><p class="gmail-meta"><a href="https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news">Pretoria News</a><span> / </span><span>2 May 2018, 08:06am</span><span> / </span><span><strong>ZELDA VENTER</strong></span></p><div><div class="gmail-social-icons"><ul><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iol.co.za%2Fpretoria-news%2Fafriforum-loses-unisa-court-battle-14737574" title="Share on Facebook"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/facebook-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Share on Facebook" id="gmail-article-facebook-share"></a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?via=IOL&text=AfriForum%20loses%20Unisa%20court%20battle&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iol.co.za%2Fpretoria-news%2Fafriforum-loses-unisa-court-battle-14737574" title="Share on Twitter"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/twitter-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Share on Twitter" id="gmail-article-twitter-share"></a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&title=AfriForum%20loses%20Unisa%20court%20battle&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iol.co.za%2Fpretoria-news%2Fafriforum-loses-unisa-court-battle-14737574" title="Share on LinkedIn"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/linkedin-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Share on LinkedIn" id="gmail-article-linkedin-share"></a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/afriforum-loses-unisa-court-battle-14737574#email-share" class="gmail-show-popup" title="Share via Email"><img src="https://www.iol.co.za/assets/images/social-icons/email-rnd-ico.svg" alt="Tell a Friend" id="gmail-article-email-share"></a></li></ul></div></div></header><div class="gmail-article-body"><figure><div class="gmail-sixteen-nine"><img class="gmail-imgLandScape" src="https://image.iol.co.za/image/1/process/620x349?source=https://inm-baobab-prod-eu-west-1.s3.amazonaws.com/public/inm/media/2018/03/16/iol/110/3151608.jpg&operation=CROP&offset=0x0&resize=2362x1311" alt="" title="Unisa. picture: Thobile Mathonsi/ANA"></div><figcaption><span class="gmail-imageCaption">Unisa. picture: Thobile Mathonsi/ANA</span></figcaption></figure><div class="gmail-articleBodyMore" id="gmail-article-more-body">LOBBY
group AfriForum has yet to decide on whether it will appeal against
last week’s Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, judgment that English remains
the only language of tuition at Unisa.
<p>AfriForum chief executive Alana Bailey said the judgment came as a great disappointment.</p>
<p>“The verdict is not in line with developments in the field
of language rights currently taking place nationally and
internationally,” Bailey said.</p>
<p>“Worldwide there is an increasing need for the promotion of more
mother languages and the development of multilingual environments
wherein greater social cohesion and better academic achievements are
attained. </p>
<p>"However, South African government departments and most universities
unfortunately do not take note of this, but continue rushing ahead along
a monolingual path.”</p><div id="gmail-ad-inarticle-middle"><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/116466607/IOL/pretoria-news/afriforum-loses-unisa-court-battle-14737574_4__container__" style="border:0pt none;display:inline-block;width:300px;height:250px"></div></div>
<p>According to Bailey, the Draft Revised Language Policy for Higher
Education recently published for public comment, displayed an
encouraging understanding of the complexity of the language situation in
South Africa - and the need for the use of more languages for teaching
and administration purposes at universities.</p>
<p>AfriForum earlier turned to court to review and set aside Unisa’s English-only policy.</p>
<p>According to the language policy, English has since the start of last
year been the only language of instruction at the institution. Unisa
made it clear that it was doing away with Afrikaans as a study medium as
part of its policy and for practical reasons.</p>
<p>AfriForum, however, said this left between 25000 and 30000
Afrikaans-speaking students without the option to conduct their studies
in their mother tongue.</p>
<p>Unisa’s administration went ahead with the implementation of its new
language policy last year after the court, in 2016, turned down an
application by AfriForum to suspend the implementation of the
English-only language policy, pending the review proceedings.</p>
<p>Judge Roland Sutherland at the time concluded that first-year and
other Afrikaans students would not suffer irreparable harm if English
remained the only medium until the court had spoken the last word on
review.</p>
<p>Unisa vice-chancellor Professor Mandla Makhanya issued a circular in
June 2016 in which he announced that the university’s new policy was
that learning was now restricted to English.</p>
<p>Advocate Johan du Toit SC for AfriForum argued that this decision was
made without Unisa’s Senate calling for any public participation. </p>
<p>But Judge Raylene Keightley, in turning down AfriForum’s application,
said while Unisa was free to call for public participation, it was not
bound to do so.</p>
<p>Du Toit also argued that the case of Unisa was different to that of
the University of the Free State, where the Constitutional Court held
that it had to continue teaching in English. </p>
<p>The Constitutional Court last December said the use of Afrikaans
unintentionally became a facilitator of ethnic or cultural separation
and tension.</p>
<p>Judge Keightley found that Unisa’s Senate acted in accordance with the rules when it adopted the English-only language policy. </p>
<p>She said the new language policy has been in place since last year -
more than a full academic year and at least three semesters.</p>
<p>She referred to arguments on behalf of Unisa, in which it said that
if the court now ruled against it, it would not be practically possible
to revert back overnight to the position it was in at the start of the
2016 academic year.</p>
<p>The judge commented that there has been a natural decline in the
demand for Afrikaans tuition in recent years. “It is inevitable that
there would be a further reduction of demand as a consequence of Unisa
having offered English-only tuition since the start of 2017. </p>
<p>“To turn back the clock would have obvious practical, resource and
cost implications for Unisa for the benefit of an ever diminishing small
number of students.” </p>
<p>The judge said the English-only policy furthered equity and is a significant step towards addressing the wrongs of the past. </p>
<p>However, she said unfortunately English still retained a privileged status at the institution for purely pragmatic reason</p></div></div>
<br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="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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