Jansen commits community fraud against minorities

"The Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Jonathan Jansen, is committing fraud against minority communities because he was supported for his purported stance in favour of mother tongue education and specifically education in Afrikaans," AfriForum Youth said today. This came after Prof Jansen's statements during the Percy Baneshik Memorial Lecture at the UFS.

"It remains a mystery why Prof Jansen would turn his back on all vernacular languages for the sake of English, and since there are so many examples of the successes of mother tongue education," said Willie de Waal, Chairperson of AfriForum Youth Kovsies in reaction to Prof Jansen's statement that students had to "give up" their language in favour of English in order to bring about reconciliation.

In 1979 Mali switched from educating students in French to their mother tongues. The pass rate for learners educated in their mother tongue was 10% higher than the national average.

"Prof Jansen underestimates the value communities in South Africa attach to Afrikaans. It is not merely a language, it defines who we are. If Jansen is serious about following the international trend, students must study in Mandarin, as this is the language with the largest number of mother tongue speakers in the world," De Waal said.

AfriForum Youth regards the statements by Prof Jansen as an attack on the dignity of minority cultures in South Africa and a confirmation of South Africa's lag in terms of international standards for mother tongue education.

Statement issued by Willie de Waal, Chairperson, AfriForum Youth Kovsies, October 2 2013

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