The Economic Freedom Fighters has rejected the Constitutional Court’s decision to reinstate the Afrikaans language as learning and teaching medium at Unisa.
In a statement on Friday night, the EFF said it was not impressed by the Constitutional Court decision that Afrikaans should be reinstated at the University of South Africa (Unisa) by 2023 after AfriForum successfully argued for its return.
The EFF said the court ignored the nexus 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 time until the beginning of the 2023 academic year to revise its language policy, which abolished teaching and learning in Afrikaans.
The Concourt upheld a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last year following a dispute between Unisa and the AfriForum lobby group.
The university changed its language policy in 2016, abolishing Afrikaans as a dual teaching and learning medium. AfriForum then reversed the university’s decision and resumed Afrikaans.
