[lg policy] South Africa: Are some groups really acting in best interest of Afrikaans and Afrikaners?

Thu Feb 25 16:22:12 UTC 2016

 Are some groups really acting in best interest of Afrikaans and Afrikaners?

Picture: THE TIMES
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THIS piece was originally written in Afrikaans. This is important not only
to make clear who my target audience is, but also to show that I am proud
of my language and the culture I associate it with.

Somebody recently asked me whether Afrikaners have a future in SA. While I
cannot answer the question, my biggest fear is that, with our current
attitude, we won’t have a future anywhere in the world. I often stand and
watch, with shock and disbelief, how people like Steve Hofmeyr and groups
like AfriForum appoint themselves as representatives of an entire group of
people, my people, in SA.

But it is only then that I realise that these actions are condoned by the
silence of Afrikaners with a different view. The #AfrikaansMustFall
protests at the University of Pretoria raise several issues, and it is time
for a different Afrikaans perspective to see the light of day.

Over the past few days we have witnessed Afrikaans and
nonAfrikaans-speaking students making statements on social media, attacking
one another on campuses across the country, and how a situation that
initially focused on a language policy of one university inevitably
escalated into the racial segregation that goes along with it.

A few years ago, as a new (Afrikaans) student at the University of
Pretoria, I asked myself how the institution managed to have only two
languages of instruction — Afrikaans and English. Arguments in favour of
this approach included that the University of Pretoria was traditionally an
Afrikaans institution, and should surely have the right to protect its
heritage.

I was further told that Afrikaans is the third ‘biggest’ language in SA,
and therefore deserved its place as a language of instruction.
Notwithstanding the fact that this argument would probably only hold up in
the Western Cape, I wasn’t convinced that a public institution could
justify giving Afrikaans special treatment in a tertiary setup.

As an Afrikaans student, with a love for my language, I was very worried
about the future of Afrikaans. Ironically, it was one of my Afrikaans
lecturers who convinced me that a language was not preserved through formal
applications such as using it as a language of instruction, but rather
within the home, in the arts and in literature. There is a fine line
between preservation and enforcement in this context, and often it is only
a matter of perspective.

Where Afrikaans-speakers view the language policy at the University of
Pretoria as a well-intended attempt to preserve the language, the other 90%
of our population asked themselves why they did not have the option or
privilege to receive a tertiary education in their mother tongues.

I want to make one thing very clear, that would explain my constant
emphasis on the difference between "public" and "private". There are many
differences between public and private institutions, one of which is the
receipt and expenditure of public funds. Public funds include taxes paid by
me and you, and every other taxpayer regardless of colour, culture or
language.

There are very specific guidelines on how public funds should be spent,
some of which are prescribed by the South African Constitution and
entrenched in the Bill of Rights.

Technicalities aside, one of the overarching objectives is to achieve
equality, even in the spending of public funds. It thus follows that a
private institution would have more freedom to develop its own policies and
decide on how to spend its funds than a public institution of the same
nature. The University of Pretoria is a public institution.

I look at the actions of students over the past few days, and I ask myself
what the purpose of this is. The #AfrikaansMustFall students have made
their demands clear — unless all other South African languages are added as
languages of instruction, Afrikaans should be removed. A basic principle of
equality.

However, the opposing group, proudly led by AfriForum, is willing to fight
for… for what? The survival of Afrikaans? Or the perpetual implementation
of a language policy that clearly favours a small part of our population?

I am shocked at how easily students resort to violence to oppose changes
that reflect reality. I don’t understand the purpose, the strategy. Take a
step back, do some introspection and ask yourself if it is really necessary
to resort to violence — not for the survival of our language, but for the
unjustifiable privilege to receive public tertiary education in Afrikaans.
Are you really acting in the best interest of Afrikaans, and Afrikaners,
for generations to come?

There is a famous English quote that reads "the road to hell is paved with
good intentions". I am sure that groups such as AfriForum believe in their
own twisted, uninformed way that they are indeed acting in the best
interest of Afrikaans and Afrikaners.

However, I refuse to be represented by a group that is often associated
with racist remarks. I refuse that my language and my culture be defined by
shortsighted deeds of exclusion, exception and superiority. If we as
Afrikaners and Afrikaans-speakers want to have a future in this country, in
any country, we need to learn to admit when we are in the wrong, to play by
the rules and to stand up for what is right — not only for ourselves, but
for everyone.

While English is not our mother tongue, is does make sense to have it as a
language of instruction. Not only is it meaningful given that most work
environments operate in English, but it is also common knowledge that it is
the language with the least amount of social baggage in the South African
context.

It is time for Afrikaners who are serious about the future of Afrikaners,
Afrikaans and SA to look into the future, to stand up against radical
groups that threaten our existence in self-serving ways, and to become part
of this debate in a constructive manner.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/2016/02/25/are-some-groups-really-acting-in-best-interest-of-afrikaans-and-afrikaners

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