A group of pro- Afrikaansdemonstrators at the University of Pretoria during a protest on Tuesday — PICTURE: ALON SKUY
Why should a minority language like Afrikaans enjoy elevated status in the new South Africa?
That is the latest poser from students at the University of Pretoria who are part of the broader student protest movement at universities.
“Afrikaans” is a very emotive issue. In the minds of many blacks it is synonymous with apartheid.
Don’t forget that it was the rallying point that saw hundreds of thousands of black youth put their education and lives on the line in the student protests of 1976.
Afrikaans is not only prominent in formerly white universities but in high schools and primary schools across the country.
I’ve heard people in my own circles express their preference for these Afrikaans schools — despite the language — lauding their ability to produce better results than other schools.
Custodians and beneficiaries of this language advantage have rigorously defended it, fighting the battle on the school governing body (SGB) front.
They defend SGB autonomy in schools not primarily to promote parental oversight and involvement in ensuring the success of schools — as important as this is. But they do it to retain the discretion to determine language policy in these schools.
Black students, 22 years into democracy, rightly ask why it is that this language, Afrikaans, still occupies such a coveted position in academic tuition.
Let me play devil’s advocate and say that the students are addressing the question to the wrong people.
Although the University of Pretoria has supported dual use of English and Afrikaans for some years now, it has been progressively moving towards having English as the only language in which lectures are given.
The protests at the university erupted when vice-chancellor Cheryl de la Rey had just made public the report and recommendations of a task team that reviewed language policy at the university.
Revealingly, the report recommends scrapping Afrikaans as a medium of tuition, leaving only English. Students who need it will access Afrikaans and Pedi support outside lectures. But that is not the only reason why students should not be directing their discontent at university management.
This struggle against the elevation of Afrikaans highlights the glaring reality of our society.
Blacks and whites roam the same streets, use the same public spaces and amenities, can live in the same suburbs and sit next to each other on all forms of public transport. That notwithstanding, the transformation we’ve achieved is not one of integration of the races but assimilation of blacks into the white world.
It is true that white people have the obligation to accommodate blacks into the South Africa they were barred from enjoying for some 300 years, but it was always naïve for anyone to think that they would do so speedily and willingly.
The Rainbow Nation narrative blinded society into thinking that the white world would set aside all reluctance to the idea of equality — in all its forms — with blacks.
The assumption that they would voluntarily sacrifice those things that have contributed to their feeling of superiority — their language and culture — was ill-advised.
That Afrikaans is still such a threat not only to the psyche of black people but the equality of opportunity and quality of education of black youth speaks volumes of the paucity of vision of the black majority government.
Black young people today lack monuments to point to that would instil in them pride and restore to the abused psyche of black South Africans dignity and confidence.
Where are the world-class universities that have been constructed under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and the collective leadership of the ANC?
Notwithstanding the Sol Plaatje and Mpumalanga Universities established in 2013, these are disqualified by their infancy.
They are long overdue legacy projects in a country that has spoken and written volumes about the need to widen access to higher education.
Creating new institutions to rival existing prestigious universities, which will always be associated with white privilege and progress because of their history, is one of the most effective ways of elevating black excellence.
Having a sense of ownership over these institutions, black South African youth could feel confident to celebrate their own identities and pursue and perpetuate black success in spite of Afrikaans’s academic prominence in some limited spaces.
African students, though, must understand that destroying Afrikaans will not elevate their own languages and culture or make the many challenges to academic success disappear.
The coveted place of Afrikaans in 2016 does not only reflect the stubborn effort of Afrikaners to preserve their heritage — right or wrong.
It reflects a failure to create platforms and institutions that elevate African languages and culture to sit proudly next to Afrikaans as mediums of academic instruction, scholarly pursuit and production.
The blame does not sit with the black government alone.
Black business moguls and billionaires have not seen the necessity for and their obligation to be at the forefront of creating this black institutional legacy for present and future generations.
Successful black leaders in business and politics must understand that they, their achievements and fortunes are not safe if they don’t carry out their historical mission of laying a solid foundation for the collective destiny of their people.
The student movement must agitate for this.
This article first appeared in Sowetan
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