Pretoria - A storm is brewing at the University of Pretoria over the perception that the intention to review the institution’s language policy is in fact a ploy to remove Afrikaans as a medium of instruction at the university.
The Gauteng youth wing of the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Wednesday accused vice-chancellor and principal Professor Cheryl de la Rey of caving in to the pressure exerted by a few unruly students who do not want the language used in lectures.
The party’s provincial youth leader Jean Kriek said: “She is a coward who is allowing herself to be bullied by a bunch of no more than 100 students.”
He said De la Rey’s indication that she would review the language was an obvious attempt to exclude Afrikaans from Tuks, in a battle they had been fighting with her over many years. Kriek vowed that they would take the university to court if their suspicions proved true.
‘We have been in court over this countless times and we will go back again to maintain the place Afrikaans has at Tuks,” he said.
He said the FF+ had evidence that many students on Tuks campuses did not mind the presence of Afrikaans. “A majority of the black students really don’t mind; it is a few unruly students who have taken it upon themselves to cause chaos at our expense,” he added.
But university spokeswoman Anna-Retha Bouwer said the review had nothing to do with any particular language. “The vice-chancellor has undertaken to review the language policy in its totality,” she said.
Consultations with the senate, the council and all stakeholders, including the Department of Higher Education, had been initiated by De la Rey, she said. An internal task team had been appointed and reports on the matter expected by the end of the year.
“Assumptions should not be made as to the outcome at this stage. All stakeholders will be consulted on the way forward,” said Bouwer.
“Afrikaans was not in any way targeted by the investigation,” she added.
But Kriek said the battle to kick the minority language off campus was evidenced by the treatment of white female students by small pockets of black students.
“They were captured on video yelling obscenities at them outside the gate last week, saying stuff I would not even be able to repeat,” he said.
According to the youth leader, the situation around the language issue had become racial: “It is no longer about the language, these students have crossed that line,” he said.
He said the FF+ was convinced that De la Rey had plans to exclude Afrikaans: “How can she bow to the pressure of fewer than 100 students in an institution of more than 40 000 students?” he asked.
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Pretoria News