Western Cape interest groups standing together to fight for Afrikaans in the Western Cape
17 September 2015
Various Western Cape interest groups today during talks held with the management of the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute joined hands in the struggle for Afrikaans and undertook to take the talks further and enter into discussion with the Western Cape premier, Hellen Zille, as well as the Western Cape MEC for agriculture, Allen Winde.
The talks were held with Mr. Darryl Jacobs (acting deputy director general, department of agriculture in the Western Cape) and Mr. Marius Paulse, (chief director, Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute).
They once again committed themselves to the retention of Afrikaans as one of the three official languages as contained in the Western Cape constitution and reaffirmed that the security of all persons on the premises enjoys top priority.
We, who have held the talks and wage the struggle for Afrikaans, declare that:
The brown and white minority community of the Cape wish to send a clear message that we are jointly committed in this province to the retention of Afrikaans in terms, amongst others, of Section 6, 29, and 30 of the Constitution.
We request that broader consultation should take place at the institution in the province which includes parents and leaders from the different political groups who have an interest in the matter as the EFF had already clearly involved itself in the matter with its actions at Elsenburg.
It should be made clear that Afrikaans in the Western Cape is not the language of individuals, but the language of a bigger community in the Western Cape.
In the meantime we insist that the Western Cape demographics are used in the allocation of bursaries and the entrance of students at institutions for higher learning.
Statement issued by Dr. Pieter Mulder (FF Plus), Dr. Peter Marais (Movement for Brown Interests and Cape Federal Alliance), Mr. Ricardo Sedres (Social Democratic Party of South Africa) and Mr. Des Palm (Western Cape Action Forum), September 17 2015
