EFF rejects reinstatement of Afrikaans at Unisa

The EFF has rejected the Constitutional Court’s decision to reinstate the Afrikaans language as a learning and teaching medium at Unisa.

The EFF said the court ignored the linkage between race and language in the context of South Africa’s history.
The selective choice of Afrikaans as a superior language perpetuates superiority over indigenous languages, and is an insult to the standing of Africans and their heritage of rich languages.

“In the grace period to 2023 determined by the court, we call on Unisa to retrace its steps correctly and with lawful and procedural precision, do away with the 1976 language of national oppression, racial segregation, exclusion and supremacy,” the party said.

It said if the Afrikaans language was reinstated at Unisa, then the university must use African languages as a medium of instruction, including Swahili. The Concourt gave Unisa until the start of the 2023 academic year to revise its language policy which did away with teaching and learning in Afrikaans.

The court passed a judgment on Wednesday which found the university in contravention of Section 29(2) of the Constitution, which relates to the right to receive an education in an official language or language of choice.

The Concourt upheld a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last year, following a battle between Unisa and lobby group AfriForum. The university made changes to its language policy in 2016 which removed Afrikaans as a dual medium of teaching and learning. AfriForum then took on the university to have its decision reversed and Afrikaans reinstated.

Source: eNCA

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