[lg policy] South Africa: Language dispute at agriculture college not resolved

[Harold Schiffman]

Language dispute at agriculture college not resolved - SRC 2015-08-19 14:27

Thomas Hartleb, News24
[image: (<a href=www.shutterstock.com>Shutterstock</a>)]
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Cape Town – A dispute over language policy at the Elsenburg Agricultural
Training Institute in the Western Cape is ongoing, despite claims that
"progress" has been made.

While AfriForum Youth said they felt "positive" about the way forward, the
college's Student Representative Council (SRC) said they felt that
non-white, non-Afrikaans speaking students were still being victimised.

The dispute relates to the language of instruction at the institution.

Classes were disrupted on Thursday and Friday last week by students unhappy
with the implementation of the institution's dual English/Afrikaans
language policy. SRC chairperson Sabelo Ngcobo said Afrikaans was being
prioritised. They wanted classes to be in English only.

The Western Cape agriculture department is looking at the institution’s
language policy and has started mediation efforts between students and
management.

AfriForum Youth chairperson Henk Maree said discussions had been held
yesterday with management.

*Positive about way forward*

"We really do feel positive about the way forward," he said, adding that
the dispute was between English and Afrikaans and not between black and
white students. There were black and coloured Afrikaans-speaking students
on campus, said Maree.

He said about 70% to 80% of students were Afrikaans speaking, citing
statistics he said management had provided.

Maree said the teaching method currently employed was for a lecturer to go
through the material, page by page, first in English, then in Afrikaans. He
said this was time-consuming and proposed that trained translators be
employed.

But Ngcobo objected to the intervention of "outsiders" like AfriForum in
the dispute.

“If you are not Afrikaans and white, you are made to feel like an
outsider,” he said.

Ngcobo said if AfriForum was getting involved, the SRC too would look at
getting the help of other structures to back their cause.

“We will call in any other formations, be it political, be it taxi owners,
that sympathise with our cause. We find ourselves facing outsiders. This is
not an English-Afrikaans matter.”

Western Cape agriculture department spokesperson, Petro van Rhyn, said in a
statement that in the meantime the 50/50 English Afrikaans medium policy
would stay in place.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Language-dispute-at-agriculture-college-not-resolved-SRC-20150819


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