DA demands immediate release of SAHRC report after fresh revelations of Stellenbosch University’s ban on Afrikaans
12 February 2023
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is appalled that various residences at Stellenbosch University have again allegedly implemented a widespread ban on even the informal use of Afrikaans during the university’s welcoming period.
The information in the DA’s possession indicates that this latest ban on Afrikaans is even more systematic than the one implemented by residences during 2021, when students were banned from speaking Afrikaans in their rooms, on campus, and even on park benches.
In what appears to have become a standard operating procedure across campus, groups of students conversing in Afrikaans – even when everyone in the group speaks Afrikaans – are now being instructed to switch to English.
Widespread intimidation and shaming of Afrikaans students by so-called student leaders at residences have also been reported in a series of affidavits currently being compiled by the student organisation StudentePlein.