27 November 2019
Judgment reserved in AfriForum’s appeal case on Afrikaans at Unisa
Judgment has today been reserved in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein in the appeal of AfriForum against the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s) monolingual English language policy. This follows after the North Gauteng High Court had ruled on 26 April 2018 in favour of a language policy determining that English is the primary language of instruction at this institution.
Henk Maree, Spokesperson for AfriForum, stated that the appeal is essential as the circumstances of Unisa are unique. In the case of the language policy of the University of the Free State (UFS), the Constitutional Court declared that Afrikaans classes result in segregation. In Unisa’s case, there are no classes.
The management of the University of Pretoria (UP) argued that Afrikaans student numbers had declined dramatically, but in Unisa’s case more than 20 000 of the students are still estimated to be Afrikaans speaking.
Recently, in the case of Stellenbosch University (SU), the Constitutional Court had found that cost considerations should play a role, but for decades Unisa has perfected the ability to offer modules in Afrikaans. Furthermore, as has just been reiterated by the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Affairs, Prof. Fernand de Varennes, the costs resulting from students who discontinue studies due to language problems are much higher in the short and long term than the cost of multilingual education.