Government breaches 1994 settlement with planned amendments to the Schools Act, targeting Afrikaans schools
6 June 2022
This is a public statement from stakeholder parties striving for sustainable Afrikaans education in public schools. It is addressed to Minister Angie Motshekga, as the political Head of the Department of Basic Education as a party to the amendment bill.
We declare as follows:
1. A promise that language and culture would be protected in the new dispensation was made as part of the constitutional settlement in 1994. This would include tolerance and space for the preservation and development of Afrikaans and other indigenous languages. The preservation of Afrikaans as academic and scientific language was presented as an asset in this settlement, along with the development of other
indigenous languages. It is also entrenched in section 6 of the Constitution.