South Africa: Cape police forced to lift ban on use of Afrikaans

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Cape police forced to lift ban on use of Afrikaans

February 26, 2007, 18:45

Western Cape police top brass have been forced to revoke an interim
language policy which barred the use of Afrikaans by police officers in
the Boland area. The policy prompted an outcry from some Afrikaans
speaking officers claiming it infringed on their language rights. Today's
decision to rescind the controversial policy follows intervention by FW de
Klerk, the former president. It has been more than a month now since the
controversial language policy was put in place at stations in the Boland.
It was the brain child of Ganief Daniels, one of the deputies of the
Western Cape police commissioner.

Daniels felt that because police members in the Boland reflected the
diverse nature of the country, English should be the only official
language used at police stations. Some officers felt this infringed on
their language rights. De Klerk foundation takes up issue The FW de Klerk
Foundation took up the issue with provincial government authorities last
week. The foundation also apparently threatened to take the police to
court over the issue of Afrikaans. "One of the deputies issued a language
policy which was not in line with the constitution in a province where
more than 60% of the population speaks Afrikaans," said Dave Steward, the
executive director of the FW de Klerk Foundation.

The provincial police top brass subsequently changed their stance and in a
memo issued today the language policy was reversed. Neither Daniels nor
Mzwandile Petros, the Western Cape police commissioner, were available for
comment.

http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/crime1justice/0,2172,144425,00.html

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