Lesufi’s utterances regarding Afrikaans are offensive and violate the dignity of Afrikaans speakers – AfriForum 

20 May 2019

The civil rights organisation AfriForum accused Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng MEC for Education, that his utterances concerning Afrikaans are offensive and amount to a serious invasion of Afrikaans speakers’ dignity. This follows after Lesufi said, among others, that it is “beyond his comprehension” that the battle for Afrikaans education still continues and that the insistence for it will cause Afrikaans children damage.  

According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, Lesufi’s depreciatory attitude concerning Afrikaans and Afrikaans speakers is displayed by his point of view that Afrikaans isn’t worth fighting for and that the speakers of the language will be hampered if they insist on their mother tongue. “Lesufi is pretending to be a protagonist against racism, but simultaneously doesn’t hesitate to express offensive utterances towards the Afrikaans speaking section of the population.” 

Kriel mentioned that if the ANC is in any way interested in helping to establish unity in diversity, as well as mutual acknowledgement and respect, the party will need to reflect on the desirability of appointing Lesufi in any post in which he can cause further polarisation. “Lesufi contains a serious threat for good human relations in the country,” says Kriel. 

According to Kriel, AfriForum will proceed to fight for Afrikaans and multilingualism on the basis of mutual acknowledgement and respect by means of opposing Lesufi’s polarised agenda in every possible manner. 

Issued by Hesti Steenkamp, Media Relations Officer, AfriForum, 20 May 2019