Johannesburg - Language at university is under the spotlight again as AfriForum Youth today handed over a letter to North-West University (NWU) Vice-Chancellor Dr Bismark Tyobeka, of the Potchefstroom Campus, as they fear Afrikaans could be gone as a medium of instruction at the higher education institution.
They said that they feel compelled to hand over a letter in which they take a strong position that the future of Afrikaans on the Potchefstroom Campus must be secured after an investigation of the university’s policy documents revealed that a radical transformation is an integral part of their core policy.
"Strict race quotas in the NWU’s appointment process and a language policy that enables a statutory body to prescribe a language applicable to all campuses during any academic year, in any qualification or module, indicate that the Potchefstroom Campus is pushing Afrikaans out at a rapid speed under the guise of transformation," said an AfriForum Youth statement.
The youth organisation says although Tyobeka has already made statements about the seriousness of keeping Afrikaans on the Potchefstroom Campus, policy documents indicate the opposite.
AfriForum Youth said that on October 19, they sent a formal application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to the Potchefstroom Campus to determine the future of Afrikaans.
René van der Vyver, the spokesperson for AfriForum Youth, said that the Potchefstroom Campus is currently going down the same path as all the other universities in the country that slowly pushed Afrikaans to the side and eventually abolished it.
"The questions posed in the PAIA application will indicate what the future of Afrikaans is on the Potchefstroom Campus, while AfriForum Youth is already extremely sceptical following an investigation into the university’s policy documents.
"However, the answers to our PAIA application will be decisive so that we can equip prospective students and donors with accurate information about the use of Afrikaans on the campus so that they can make an informed decision about where they want to study or want to donate money," said Van der Vyver.
The Star